The Glasgow courier., 1916-10-20
HOW M0NTANAN
MADE A MILLION
NORTHERN PACIFIC FORCED
FLOCKMASTER TO BUY
LARGE ACREAGE.
Had to Have it for Grazing Purposes; /;
Railroad Insisted on Price of 81
Per Acre; Flockmaster could now
Sell it for Million Dollars.

It is not often that big railroad
forces man into making million
dollars, but that is what the Northern
Pacific railroad did to Rudolph Molt,
one Of the plutocrats of southeastern
Montana.
Molt is a flockmaster. Years ago
he grazed his sheep on the open range
north Of Billings on land owned by
the Northern Pacific. The sheep in
creased and multiplied uptil Rudolph
was a man of substance. The range
was free, the grasses We're succulent
and nourishing. All Molt had to do
was to attend to the marketing Of his
wool and mutton.
Then from the clear sky of his con-
tent came a thunderbolt. The legal
department of the Northern Pacific
decided that the company would Ell
ther collect grazing rentals from the
company's land, or sell the land to
flockmasters and cattlemen on easy
terms and long time payments. The
land had come to the road as gov
ernment grant in consideration Of the
road being build into the west.
The Railroads Offer.
The proposition to Molt was that he
could lease $4,000 acres of land from
them in the Lake Basin country, for
grazing purposes, or the company
would sell it to him outright. In the
event of a sale, which was preferred,
Molt was to pay for the land at the
rate of ST. per acre, 10 cents per acre
down, and 10 cents per acre per year.
Molt waxed wroth at the proposal
Of the railroad attroneys. He had en-
joyed the grazing privileges so long
that he considered it public domain, as
did every other man in the sheep bust
ness. He declared that he would nei-
ther rent nor purchase.
But he had to have $4,000 acres on
which to Craze his growing flocks. He
canvased the country thoroughly.
There was no available tract of land
in all Montana sufficiently large on
which to pasture his sheep. After
several months Of investigation. he de-
cided that he was up against it. He
capitulated. He bought the land.
But he did not surrender gracefully
He was loud in his protest at what he
considered an injustice.
The years rolled on, ten of them. AT
the end of ten years he had paid for
his land. He made a handsome for
tune out of his sheep. Owning the
land he could keep other sheepmen
who sought to encroach upon his pas
lures, away. He began to realize that
he had not made such bad invest
ment after all.
Comes the Dry Farmer.
Then some homesteaders went into
the Lake Basin country. Irrigationists
laughed at them because in those days
outside of the irrigated sections, Mon
tana was considered an arid waste, fiji
only for grazing purposes.
But the dry land farmers put in {
crop of wheat. The wheat grew. The
irrigationists poked fun at the dr.!
landers. The wheat ripened and was
harvested. It's yield was equal to thai
Of the irrigated acres. The irrigation
lists said it was a freak, that the pro
cess could not be repeated. The mex
year the dry farmers grew more
wheat. Then more dry land farmer:
came and grew more wheat. and hav.
been doing it ever since. They dem
onstrated that wheat could be grown
year in and year out, with a mucl
larger profit, the price of land con
sidered, than could be made Of irri
gated land.
Bargain Looks Better.
With the demonstration of dr..
land possibilities Molt began to thinl
more kindly of his bargain. The lant
he was forced to buy began to take OF
value. Land buyers opened negotia
tions with him. He was offered tel
times what he had paid for it.
The land which Molt paid 81 pc
acre for, under protest, could now b.
sold for % times that sum. 1t i
worth in round figures $1,OO0.O00.
Incidentally it might be stated tina
Molt started in life in the Billing
country without any means. Now h
is affluent. He rides about in a bi!
limousine car. and goes to Europ
once year. Aside from his land hold
ings he has made a fortune out Of hi
sheep. And while he does not con
slider the Northern Pacific as exactl,
a philanthropic institution, he has
kindly feeling for the big railroa'
which forced him into his realms o
plutocracy.