Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-10-21

ence, often found the neighborhood OF
Cheyenne the end of the road. The loss
from this cause was often great-an au-
thority on the subject claiming that he
knew of one instance where rs per cent
of a shipment died from exposure to a
storm of mingled rain and snow.
Once having reached Montana, Will C.
Barnes, in western Grazing Grounds
and Forest Ranges" describes what hap
pened.
1.-THE manner In which these young
southern steers spread out under the
influence of the luxuriant northern
grasses was surprising. Steers that under
ordinary circumstances in the south
would never have weighed more han
900 pounds reached Chicago tipping the
beam at 1900 pounds. The writer has
seen shipments of his own steers-miser-
able little runty affairs sent up from
Arizona-unloaded in the Chicago yards.
After two winters in Montana. they had
become great full-ribbed broad-backed
fellows which but for the brand and ear
mark he never could have believed were
the same animals. They were sold in
Arizona for S12.50 each and brought In
Chicago more than S75 per head, netting
he company owning them about $40
each"
With such resulting profits, the rapidly
increasing popularity among cattle men
OF the northern range is wha might
have been expected. and those who were
on the. alert for good Investments, be-
came cattle raisers. Many here are famil-
lar with that page in our states history.
Great tracts of land were taken up by
fair means or foul. and the cowboy be-
gan to dominate the stage Of real life.
later to enliven fiction ant the screen,
after making his farewell appearance
in the body. He passed on" only to be-
come immortalized
Popular Conception
Today in h popular conception, he
still cavorts over the plains OF Montana,
shooting up towns: Nsregarding prohibit
ton: rescuing maiden In distress: ad-
ministering rude justice; aiding civil Of
ficers In capturing desperadoes, n mar
rying schoolma'ams with no apparent
effect on the English Of the groom, who
is supposed to slaughter with the same
nonchalance he exhibited in early days,
when he shot the head from q RATHER.
This, mind you, when 1t Is a well-known
fact that university graduates have been
cowboys.
An unusually severe winter was sure
TO work havoc on the range. The cattle
either froze, or starved to death. A thaw
followed by freezing weather was fatal
to cattle, as the ice locked from them
the feed 1t covered. But what the cattle
men dreaded most, was the advent OF
the sheepmen, who turned their fiocks
onto the ranges with a sublime indif-
ference to the interests Of cattle owners
Fencing was slight protection from the
wandering flocks, which could easily go
through 1t with no preliminary wire
cutting, and their shepherd found no
difficulty in following.
BY this time the cattle industry had
reached Its apex. More and more the
settlers infringed or its domains, until
at lenght its rulers, acknowledging de-
feat. gave up the strife to enter some
new business that promised to be more
enduring; the cowboy shed his chaps
and sombrero; laid aside his lariat and
revolver. to enter a less picturesque &C.
cupation as the curtain fell IN one scene
of the Montana range.