The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1928-02-23
CARBON COUNTY
NOVELIST VISITS
HER CODY HOME
Caroline Lockhart Now
Interested Primarily in
Raising Cattle

Caroline Lockhart, author OF wes-
tern novels, is spending few weeks
at her Cody home, after several
months writing and ranching in the
Dry Head country in the eastern part
of Carbon county. Though it is gem
orally assumed that at all times there
is novel in the making, "Beef on the
Farm" bulletins are more conspicuous
on her writing desk at the present
time.
The author of best seller, ''Me
Smith," and later of "The Fighting
Shepherdess" and other books por-
traying life in the west, love of ira
dition and life in the open attracts
Miss Lockhart to her little isolated
ranch near the Grow reservation, to
reach which motors are left behind
for the blackboard.
Miss Lockhart has always been an
ardent champion of the red people,
and during her six years presidency
of the Cody stampede, the Grows look
ed forward to her invitation to at
tend and avail themselves of her tent
hospitality supplemented by an am
pie supply of barbecue steer.
While author of "The Dude
Wrangler,' the film rights to which
have been purchased by the Mrs. Wal
lace Reid Production company, Miss
Lockhart likes the old ways of doing
things, and old sourdoughs are more
apt to be seen at the Dry Head ranch
than is the modern dude in chaps and
puttees.
Entirely modern in her declaration
that pe5ticoats are no bar to progress
in either writing or ranching, she de-
clares that the building Of log house
! and The fencing Of the Montana ranch
: have delayed the completion Of the
! current novel, which has been in the
} back of the head" and promises to I'M
e fold during her stay in Cody. Between
!. the contrasts of the isolated ranch
It and occasional visits to the cities
y Miss Lockhart enjoys her "smal
:. town" home, where the atmosphere OF
1 the west has entered into her books.
: Previous to her return to Cody Miss
Lockhart bought cattle for stocking
her extensive ranches in eastern Kan
sas and Oklahoma, which with a sis
ter she inherited at the passing last
year of her father, an old-time cattle
man, known throughout the south
west. These ranches have been in
operation since the Civil war, and
this new departure, said Miss Lock
hart, rs in the spirit Of carrying on
rs we'll as being a commercial ven
ture. Even with the repair of 80 miles
Of fence on the Kansas ranch alone
each spring, we prefer to keep these
ranches in the old native prairie
and not cut them up into small farms"
"Cattle are hard to buy now, good
grades bringing almost prohibitive
prices, dangerously high, running the
risk of loss. Most of the cattle that
are being purchased now and fed in
Kansas ~ ne from the foothills Of
New M,Ylco The Texas ranches are
pretty we'll cleaned up. A recent com
munication from the John Clay Com
mission house stated that they had
just delivered five carloads of Here
ford steers at $18.25, record breaking
prices. This is the reason SO much
pork and chicken are being generally
used as substitutes for beef"
Miss Lockhart manifests keen in
terest in her Montana ranch, upon
which she looks forward to running a
bunch Of longhorn steers, not wholly
from a standpoint Of sentiment, but
believing she can range them at
profit. The longhorns are the original
Spanish strain Of cattle, with long
legs, long horns, and long bodies, "the
old range boys known as 'dogies,
rapier-like horns pointing off to the
North star They have more nerve
than any domestic ever produced and
the mothers are better able to protect
their calves against wolves and other
wild animals.