The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1935-11-08

pert veterinarians, for the cooperation
of railroad officials. Grant Smith was
nonplussed. The horses, when he pur-
chased them back in Washington, had
all seemed strong and well. The rail-
road officials came and the veterina-
rians, and the latter diagnosed the mys-
ferrous ailment as %strychnine poison
ing. That pointed to foul play some
where along the line. Hour after hour
during the six days of idle, helpless
waiting, Mr.. Smith watched the profits
of his investment slowly vanish. Then
a stomach analysis solved the mystery.
There had been rust in the water and
it had reacted upon the horses like
strychnlne poisoning and the fatalities
increased.
Finally Grant Smith was given per-
mission to continue his journey with
the remnant of his band, most of them
sick. He planned another stop-off at
Cut Bank for the rest they sorely need
ed and for nourishing food and clear
water. But it CHANGED, in this drama
of errors, that a wreck ahead, near
Cut Bank, held them IA hours. And so,
at length, the train load of wild, hun
| cry, thirsty, weakened horses vas back
ed to Galaddi. Galaddi was a ghost
VoW11 dI1u NI. o11l1t1 IcCdAS GIldG tllcIc
were only two humans there, a man
and his wife, and that there was an
abundance of water, but no hay. The
horses could not 60 on without food and
water. He unloaded them but to keep
| them corraled without hay was equally
impossible. There was only n thing
to do-put them out on the range, and
that meant herding them. And out of
the whole band Grant Smith had only
n saddle horse left.
The man at Galaddi suggested a solu-
ton to the problem. There was a sheep
camp, he said, about 16 miles away,
and there was a chance Smith might
get the loan of a saddle horse there.
Grant Smith took that chance. He had
to. He rode out to the sheep camp,
and, he says, he found the sheep man
"crabby." He was having troubles OF
his own A recent storm had scattered
his sheep and he needed every man
and every horse to DUN them up.
However, he eventually consented. al
though with obvious reluctance, to lend
Smith one saddle horse. And so, for q
day, the gaunt band was put on grass
already nibbled close by sheep, to crop
what meagre nourishment they could.
Herding them was no difficult task
for sickness and hunger had success
fully quoted their wild spirits. The
creatures were unanimously intent up
on one aim-acquiring food to I'LL
empty stomachs. When night came and
Mr.. Smith began rounding them up to
drive back to the stockyard corral at
Galaddi he found that somehow 16 OF
them had managed to get mired II
gumbo along Willow creek. And there
they wallowed, too weak to extricate
themselves. Mr.. Smith expected a train
| tHof oxyoripp fo foGo him Oa,f Tirno UQs
precious. He and his herder worked
frantically, trying to get the horses out
of the alkali mire, but their efforts were
fruitless. To him it seemed there wa
nothing to do but 60 on and leave them
to their fate. He rode on a ways but
the memory of the terror in their suf-
fering eyes haunted him until he
couldn't bear it. So he returned, took
out his pocket knife-and this, he says
took all the nerve he had-and cut
their Threats. one after the other
while they looked up at him with plead
ing eyes.
The poor remnant of his band he
drove into the corral all ready for the
train. But that night it didn't come
Nor the next morning. He received dis
patches informing him that a train wa
on the way. There was unavoidable de-
lays. Every hour he thought that by
the next 1t would surely arrive. AnC
so he dared not turn the horses out tc
grass again. For two days, he says
there at the ghost town Of Galaddi. he
smoked, and walked the track, up anc
down, and watched and waited. And
for those two days. the horses were
kept in the corral without food. Ar
interminable time for a mar who lovec
horses and was helpless to do anything
but watch their torment. Even now
as he tells the story, his face is grim
BY night of the second day a train
did roll in and the lean fragment Of his
band of 1000 horses was loaded anc
taken to Havre. where there was ar
abundance of feed and water, and from
there, on through Miles City to Chi
cago. the trip was pleasantly unevent-
full. At Havre. Grant Smiths story
ends. He concludes with a chuckle:
II think I hold the record for having
more horses die enroute than any other
nan in the west"
His loss in profit must have been
considerable. OF that the old pioneer
horseman has little to say. That was
just one of the things every cattlemar
of the west had to face now and then
Just one Of the experiences woven into
the intricate pattern of the cattle in
dustry that has evolved into smooth
efficiency. But back Of the laughter, as
Grant Smith tells his story, there Ii
still, after IS years, vivid memory Of
long days Of stark tragedy, the pro-
longed suffering Of animals for whose