The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-12-30
DID NOT FORGET FRIEND
Billings Man Made Subject Of An In
teresting Tale in Omaha
Newspaper.

few of his friends are familiar with
his past life, Or know of the struggle
he was compelled to make in order to
arrive at his present comfortable posi-
ton in life. Last week the gentleman
was in Omaha, where a reporter OF
the Bee struck his trail. The enter
prising news gatherer induced Mr..
Miller to talk about himself and the
following story is said to have been
the result, vouched for by the news
paper in which it appeared:
Next year the country will face al
most a sheep famine, unless present
conditions undergo a remarkable
change"
This statement was made by j.. G..
Miller, a wealthy stock raiser of Bill
ings, Mont, who is stopping at t1E
Willard hotel. Mr.. Miller is spending
a few days in Nebraska for th9pY
pose of investing money in lands suit
able tor sheep grazing. This is the
first time he has been in Omaha in IL
years and his last visit to the city
was under rather pathetic circum-
stances.
He left his home in Kentucky when
he was a boy of II. He was an or
phan and had been living with an IN
Gle, who did o throw many obsta-
cles in the way of his going. His I'M
Gle gave him two 500 bills before he
left.
II had $25 that l had earned and
saved" said Mr.. Miller, land while
did not know wher l was going, | had
no regret at leaving home, as my life
there was not a nappy one. had some
schooling, but my clothes were so poor
and ragged that the other boys would
not play with me. Their treatment
of me used to fill my boyish heart with
bitterness and | often made up my
mind that some day my time would
come. There was one well-dressed
boy in the entire school who was very
kind to me. He shared his things
with me and the only happy recollec-
tions have of those days is this boys
Kindness to me.
Goes Further West.
II reached Omaha and here I bought
a ticket ON the old Immigrant train.
1t cost me $40, and l had $25 left.
finally worked my way up into Mon
tana, where l got work as a ranch
man. l did no drink nor smoke like
the other young fellows l met, but
saved my money. l had a purpose in
doing SO. l wanted to go back to Ken
lucky some time and did mot want to
go back empty-handed. Well, | finally
began to invest in fat stock myself.
/ made and lost money, but gradually
/ accumulated a fortune.
-Four years ago I went back home.
There had been changes, a great
many changes. l met a great many OF
the old schoolmates, but l could buy
and sell most O them n not notice
it in my bank account. When they
found l was rich, boys that / had for
gotten came up and made themselves
known. It's all over now, but that
visit gave me more satisfaction than
anything else in all these years. The
most pleasant feature Of the entire
\trip, however, was the fact that was
\ble to meet the boy who was my
bly, playmate in youth. l put him on
l dis feet and started him in business.
Drawback in Sheep Business.
Il have devoted all my time to
sheep raising and I own my own range
lands. 1t is getting so that a man has
to own his land, as government ranges
r getting smaller and smaller every
year. This partly accounts for the
present shortage. If you will notice,
the sheep market has been high with
the exception of a short slump a few
days ago.. The weather has been
against us for the last two winters
and thousands of sheep have been
killed by the cold. Fortunes have
been swept away almost in a night. /
have a neighbor who, last winter, had
$4,000 worth of sheep destroyed. 1t
was all he had except his house and
lot. Feed also is getting more expen-
sive and this is one of the reasons 1
am down here to look for winter feed
ing grounds. Screenings that we used
to buy at the mills in Milwaukee have
been going steadily upwards until they
are almost too expensive to buy and
they have been gradually improving
their machinery so that the screenings