The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1908-08-12
THELAST OFTHE
TWOHUNDRED
THOUSAND
THE RANGE IST0CKMEN'S PA.
RADlSE NOW PRACTICAL
LY DESERTED BY THE
BIG STOCKMEN

Within a few miles Of Malta a
bunch of cattle has been rounded
up and in a few days they will
be shipped to the eastern mar
ket. In the eyes Of the tender
foot it Is a ''great big bunch of
stock" but to the old timer who
has seen the Malta range COW
cred with cattle as thick as ants
in a full grown hill. it is the last
stand made by one of the great.
est and grandest industries
Montana has ever had without
any exception.
Today, shipment will be
made of several cars, perhaps,
but only a mere bagatel com.
pared to that of ten years ago,
Yet there are present at this in
significant shipment those same
men who traversed over the
ground where Malta is today
situated and were the nonarchs
of everything they surveyed.
There was no solemn church
bells to sadden for a brief mo-
ment the hilarious cowpuncher;
nor did the crow of the cock turn
the wranglers attention to the
fact that the early rays of dawn
were flirting with the fleeing
night; nor was there the sympa.
thetic voice of a woman near
the foreman to cheer him IN his
bad moods, save for the dark
Minnehaha, who occasionally
mingled at big beet shipments.
Nay, kind reader, those were
early frontier days when piety.
sorrow and happiness were al.
loyed and the festive puncher
and his cayuse were almost
brother and friend. With the
various and numerous periodic
ais of the present day featuring
stories that have for their sub
ject matter word pictures of the
COW puncher, the wagon boss,
the wrangler, the foreman, or
the manager, and scenes in
which they are supposed to live.
painted with all the dash and
clumsily gilded with the some
what rough romance that un.
doubtedly made their lives less
of burden when not engaging
in the prosaic work of handling
the critters. the writer's are
forced to dig back into history
to find the picturesqueness that
they must have to attract read.
ers and publishers. Some OF
the big stock managers present
here today can tell stories of
the range that read more fas'
cinatingly than the widest
dreams of the fiction writer. and
occasionally one is luckily
thrown in their presence when
they are in a reminiscent mood,
and hears history that has never
been published.
This year will mean a com.
plete exodus of all the stock
owned and controlled by the big
outfits for the cowman has a:
last surrendered these great
broad and fertile fields to the
!tiller of the soil, who has slowly
but successfully forced his once
successful brother to throw the
gauntlet down and surrender
Internationally. Today in oul
midst are found some of the bes]
farms in the state, and thou
sands of acres are yearly cult
waited.
Twenty-eight years ago thu
Malta range was known as th'
Orange Stocknen's Paradise"
; At that time the old Nm wa
the only outfit running cattle il
what is now Valley County
They trailed up from Texas il
t the early 80's. Soon after tha
the Coburn, Kohr and Siebel
outfits brought their big bunc)
Z of cattle here from the Flat Will
low country. Then in 1890 tn
oEMllner Cattle Company meve'
9 in with their stock and pros
Q pered equally as we'll as tn
. other large outfits. About tn
Hast of the big.outtits that strucl