Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1934-12-08

80 *4@.H# ks@A AAG&t4 A4E&&&4s~
II continued in the cattle business
without anything unusual for the years
1879. so and 81, gradually increasing
the herd and selling the beef each year
to local buyers In the spring "a s88z
the range Was getting to be overstocked
and got good reports from the Flat
willow country. left Chestnut valley
the 10th Of March on my way down to
Flatwillow Went from Chestnut to
Shonkin and stayed all night With a
man by the name Of Joe CobelI. Got
what information I could IN regard TO
the FIatwillow country, and the next
night went to q place they called the
Big Sag" and visited q man by the
name Of Joe Lepley. The third night
I went TO Governor Brooks ranch tthe
T. @. Power ranch) and stayed all night
with him and got what information I
could get in regard to the country. The
fourth day I went to Fort McGinnis.
Granville Stuart was located there at
that time. He was the manager Of the
Pioneer Cattle company and got my
directions from him to go to Flat
willow. There was a man by the name
of Len Mcfarland, who was manager
of the Montana Sheep company, 10
Gated over there. stayed four or five
days with Mr.. Mcfarland and then I
went from there down TO FlatwiIlow
and picked out my location and started
back home. The second night out I
landed at McGinnis on my return trip
the third got back to Governor
Brooks, and then I left to make Blank
enbaker's Sheep ranch on Box Elder,
but I found the distance too great and
had TO camp out and hold my horse all
night. It was dark and cold and stormy
and it took me until 200 o'clock the
next day to get to Blankenbaker's AZ
ter resting there FOR two days / came
back to Chestnut valley and sold my
ranch to Henry Austin.
TN the spring made arrangements
for the roundup and Bob Coburn and I
went back with team, moving ma
chimes, and two men, and located our
ranch. We left them in there to put
up hay and we came back and made
arrangements, gathered the cattle and
drove them down to F'latwillow. Got
there with the cattle in the latter part
Of August. stayed there with the cat
tie until winter set IN and then went
East. Spent the winter there and In
the spring Of 1883 came out, attended
the roundup, gathered the beef In the
fan of the year and shipped them, and
spent part of the next winter East.
Stayed there until December, when II
came back and then joined John Lep-
ly In Helena and went to California in
January We went by way Of Ogden,
Utah, and took the Union Pacific train
to San Francisco and stayed there for
about month, then went to Los An
geles until spring. In the spring, we
came back and attended our regular
II stayed in the F1atwillow country
until 1889 when with Con Kohrs, Bob
Coburn, the Pioneer Cattle company
and others Of the FlatwiIlow roundup,
our cattle were moved to the Little
Rockies. The winter of 1885 and 1887
had been disastrous After the spring
roundup Of 1883, the best estimates in
Dictated we had lost about rs per cent of
our cattle. When we crossed the Mis-
souri, river at Rocky Point with about
5000 head, we lost quite a lot OF them
In quicksand. It was after the win
ter of 1886 and 1887 that Charlie Rus
sell, Montana's famous cowboy artist, |
replying to an inquiry from Stadler 81 /
kaufman as to the condition OF their
herd, painted his famous answer, The
Last OF Five Thousand, showing a
starving animal with the wolves at his
heels, waiting for the end.
My outfit was moved to Sweetgrass
county for three years and In 1893 I
vent to CuIbertson and formed par
nership with my nephew, F. @. Arnett
We bought 900 head Of Pooled Angus
cattle from q man named Hendrix and
also brought ia 2,10O head Of one and
Two year-olds from Oregon. We paid
sI8 head for these and they melted
Is s66.50. We cut plenty Of hay here
10 winter our stock, for one experience
ike F1atwi1low was enough. -Four years
after locating at CRIbertson, Jim Hill
brought In a bunch OF Mennonite coll
,nists, and the cattle business soon be-
,ame Improbable, 50 sold out and
moved to Helena and bought the Mart
Mitchell ranch on Prick1y Pear creek,
'orming partnership with Thomas A.
Grimes. Mr.. Grimes had been rum
ling cattle Ia the Judith Basin round
II. later bought out Charles W. Cam
lon and hts brother Henry Cannon whol
'wned the Cannon Sheep company at
Adel in Cascade county. George Null
cry was their foreman for many years.
The partnership continued until MIR.
Grimes death Ia 1921, after which /
ook over his interests, and the Sieben ,
nd Abel ranches have given me plenty
o do ever since"
In q reminiscent mood, Mr.. Sieben
Old the writer of an incident during
resident Clevelands administration.
ome stockmen were running their cat
le on the Grow Indian reservation. One
lorning the Indian agent woke up with
headache or some kind Of a peeve
nd ordered the stock off the reserva-
on. The cattlemen had meeting,
nd as Theodore Roosevelt was then
INNING cattle in eastern Montana, ne
tended the meeting. A committee APP
Dknted to present resolutions to the
resident, brought In a report con-
amning the agent and practically de-
-