Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1934-01-25
GETTING DOWN 10
.BRASS TACKS'
A PLEA FOR A HUSTLER
CBy Tom Moodie)

Snow mantles prairie land in IN
Upper Missouri country TO the dept
of more than is inches as this ]
written. But on the south side @
the snow banks where the sun an
warm south winds have had thei
effect they are beginning to appea
a bit ragged under the influence 0
recent conditions. The days gro'
longer. The time has come when "
can look forward to spring. Thre
DAYS of chinook weather and mucl
of our record snowfall will be gone
Prairie land is a rather stark. COX
picture about this season of tn
year. Traced across its reaches ar
the signs of the struggle TO ifv'
that every living thing has in thii
country under present conditions
There are broken trails where ths
r~esourceful range horse paws Inn
patiently at the snow to get at ths
grass underneath. He is our great.
est hustler. This year he ought tx
have every BIT of help it is possible
TO give him. The battle is not easy
Hungry ~pheasants appear along the
roadways and hedges. The jack
rabbit works en- The underground
and strips much of it of bark. Bird
life has disappeared except fo1
game birds.
The horse siIhouetted against the
evening sky. patiently paving away
the snow. is an eerie figure. The
instinct 10 live controls him. He Is
out there trying. sometimes work
ing under by far too long a handi-
cap. Highway blockades have
brought isolation to many OF the
farmers. There is little travel even
on he main highways. The Upper
Missouri country seems to have
gone TO sleep under a great white
blanket. which well becomes 1t, II 1t
were To- for those marks of the
struggle TO live in the snow, In the
thickets and along the roadways. II
our country has rare beauty 1t also
has is savage moods. Midwinter In
a season like this brings one OF
them. It brings also stately beauty.
The hills stand out cold and white.
A ~ - O. I'M li~iEL VII GfEtln WHEEL
the sun shines. They are like great
heaps OF jagged marble. white and
maiastic-rough wrought grandeur.
The casual visitor to us at this
season would find us perhaps a bit
frigid and uninvitfng. These moods
of prairie land seldom last long,
however. Tomorrow we may wake
to find a chinok blowing from the
west or south. A chinok wind has a
touch like velvet. 1t is a caress OF
warmth and a promise OF spring.
away. in subduing the steely. cold.
l~ifeless. forbidding atmosphere that
the middle of a winter of unusual
snowfall brings to our country. IT
is a challenge to activity after the
holing Up that severe cold brings.
Tired horses will turn TO face ii
and rest. They turn tail to a storm.
1t seems to give them new life The
farmer who has holed UP gets out In
the air and finds something to do
and Is better for 1t. The town dwell
Ter mans the snow shovel and tackles
the impossible sidewalk. The chin
ook is a new lease for al life In
winter.
Tn all prairie land there Is moth
ing more gorgeous than a moon
Light prairie night. however. We
had some gorgeous beauty OF the
night along about Christmas time.
where the spirit of Christmas was
the land. the Yule lights twink
led everywhere, the sky was blue.
the air clear and cold. the moon
high and every star a scdntilattng
diamond. That greatest OF hustIers,
the range horse, made the most OF
that too. You could see him ont
there In the open, hustling. Nature |
has given him a warm coat. He has
hair as long al a goat. In a winter
like this. like the bee, he must
improve each shining minute
heart goes out to that hustler
especially ii he is gray and looks a
bit old. But you know that Is an
other scene more Inviting BY the
of of April he will be lux
nriating In the finest pasture In the
world. Young horses will have new
shiny coats. They will have as much
tire and spirit as the desert horses
OF the Arabs, more strength and
than any horse raised any |
In the world. Nature takes
good care of our horses raised any
occasional seasons when they must
fight to get at the worlds greatest
There have been times this
year when they worked in more
than IS inches OF snow.
It has been nearly 200 years
the first horses came to these
prairies. The Indians brought them.
Inside OF SO years there have still
been horses here which bore the
Did Spanish brands. There probably |
still r here horses descended from
the stations of Sitting Bull, the |
Crows and the Biackfeet. A hundred
years ago the Indian measured his
wealth by the number of ponies he
owned. A lot of stamina has been
bred into those range horses. He
much better under the worst
OF conditions than the casual OBJ
server would believe.