The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1910-11-10
A MONTANA RANCH.
A Ride Through 1.-THE Egypt of America
A "Tenderfoot'' on .Cayuse."

Correspondence of The Republican Journal
BOHEMIAN, MONT, October 81, 1910.
We had been looking forward to visit
to Claude's ranch ever since I got here,
and so when he telephoned one day that
he was leaving for Elk Creek and would
take US out if we could be ready in about
half an hour, we hurriedly closed the
house and got ready. When the team
arrived we found we had big open
mountain wagon, loaded with supplies,
chain for the blacksmith outfit, ETC., and
soon we were part of the load. The
"cayuses,' behind whom we had some
lively rides this spring, were much SUBJ
dued by their frequent trips to town
during the summer, and looked quite
small and meek compared with the two
lead horses, paddy" and DUTCH"
which were recent acquisitions and were
bound to the ranch to share in the fall
work. We took the road to Belgrade,
where business called Claude. 1t was
twelve mile drive over a good country
road, bordered with fine ranches. We
crossed the N. P. tracks several times.
They run straight as die from Bozeman
to five miles below Manhattan, west of
Belgrade, but the road, unlike most of
those in this western country, which are
laid out along the section lines, wound
around like the letter ''S.'' About four
miles outside of Belgrade it straightens,
and the huge grain elevators doomed up
ahead like giant towers guarding the
roadway. Magpies, which look like
crows in a dress suit, and gophers, who
sat up and stared at our approach and
then hurried to their holes again, were
numerous, and were the Only forms of
animal life we saw, except the cattle
and horses, Of course, and the barnyard
fowls, which included many turkeys and
a few ducks. Belgrade, though thirty
ing and enterprising town, is not yet
beautiful to look upon, and one side of
Main street is lined with the usual array
of saloons-the cred Dog" ''The Old
Place THE Pastime,' ETC., whose
names are relics of the old days when
the west was really wild and wooly."
One handsome brick block, the home of
''The Belgrade Company, where one
can buy anything from paper of pins
or pork chop to traction engine or a
mahogany dining room set-redeems the
place. and the elevators and flour mill
remind one that business is business"
There are number of attractive resi-
dences, too, and Belgrade's future is
painted in glowing colors by those ia
miliar with its resources and situation.
Outside the town some few miles we
made our first stop at one of the grading
teamsters and a hundred or so horses
and mules-of the Chicago Milwaukee
Puget Sound R. R., which has just COM
pleted its branch line through the valley.
While our host was talking business with
one of the men curiosity drew around us
an ever-changing circle of mules-all
shades and colors, from jet black to pure
white, but all huge fellowship finest
specimens we had ever seen, and worth,
the boys said, from $500 to $500 the pair.
We watched them with interest and saw
two open the door of what | suppose
might, by courtesy, be, called barn. A
sleepy looking, yellow, almost pink, mot
tied pinto, saddled, stood sleepily by the
fence, looking as if he had just stepped
out of one of Remington's or Russell's
pictures, and we could almost imagine
that his owner might be a copper-colored
chieftain, left over from the old days
when the Backfeet roamed the valley.
Sleepy and tired and meek he looked,
but woe betide the tenderfoot who would
think him ''easy' and try to mount him!
The roads We're rather heavy, and as
we had made about half the distance of
our trip Nellie and Teddy were unhar-
messed, and exchanged places with Paddy
and Dutch, and we We're off again, cross
ing the West Gallatin, on whose banks
the camp was, and going through one of
the finest ranching districts in the valley.
Although it was October, huge field after
held of grain, cut and stacked, was wait
ing to be threshed while the owners
fumed and fretted. The size and fertil-
ity of the valley may be better imagined
when one realizes that the 200 threshing
outfits owned within its borders have
proved inadequate to take care of thet
grain properly.
After we left the river the gradual
rise began that was not to end until we
reached our destination. The sun was
gradually setting in the splendor that is
one of the glories of this western country,
and its mellow light turned the wheat
fields stubble into golden carpet that
stretched for miles and miles. In little
valley surrounded by the foothills we
would sometimes find ourselves in what
seemed a world of grain, for as far as we
could see we're stacks of it, or shacks of
it, or the stubble of it. Up, and still up,
we went SO gradually that we hardly re-
allied it, but before long the sun had sunk
-. s--l.L L