Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1936-12-12

When the railroads were first
built into Montana they found
business waiting for them-wOOl,
cattle and ore TO be shipped out,
merchandise Of every description
waiting to be shipped In. Prior to
the advent Of the railroads trans
pOrtation had been difficult mat
ter. II has ever been the keynote
OF the wilderness.
Long before the coming Of the first
white men to the high plains Of Mon
tana the Indians had learned to cap
tire and tame the wild horses which
during several centuries had drifted
north from the southern country where
they had escaped from or been turned
loose by the Spaniards. Before that,
the Indians we're limited to foot travel,
on land. They, of course, had the canoe
and the river courses at their disposal
The bull boat, round craft made by
stretching the hide Of buffalo over
frame of interlaced willows. and the
ordinary raft, also were in use.
After the Indians acquired horses.
they invented the travois by lashing
two poles together at the small ends,
placing the lash across the horses back
and letting the heavy ends of the poles
drag on the ground. This gave them a
crude but effective means OF moving
heavy loads from place to place. Other
horses were used for riding, and hunt
ing the buffalo-the Indians staple
article Of diet. The Indians became
horsemen. His individual degree Of af-
fluence was measured by the number
of horses which he owned.
The keel boat was introduced to the
waters of the upper Missouri by the
fur traders who followed Lewis and
Clarks blazed trail across this country.
1t was just what its name implies
boat with a keel. 1t was q heavy and
unwieldy craft. Bearing heavy loads
Of merchandise, 1t had to be poled or
pulled by long rope held by men who
walked along the shore. Poor as it was
when judged by present day standards, /
it still was an advance over the frail 4
and cranky bull boat Of the Indian.
Steamers Made Fort Benton
When steamboats, began to chug up
the Missouri river to Benton, trans
portation adjunct developed in the form
of bull trains, which hauled the river
freight from the various ports to re-
mote inland points. The bull trains I
flourished in Montana for so years
They were heavy and cumbersome af-
fairs Each unit was usually composed /
Of three wagons hooked together and
drawn by eight to IL yoke of oxen, the
number depending upon the weight Of
the load.
Strangely enough, the arrival of the
railroads increased the bull train bust
ness for number of years, but diverted
it into different channels.
Railroad Doomed Billings
Billings, for instance, upon the adj
vent there of the Northern Pacific, be-
came after few years one of the larg-
est wool shipping points in the world.
Wool was hauled into that city with
bull teams from all over central and
southern Montana and northern Wy
oming. The thousands of head of cat
tie and sheep shipped from there, were
driven in from the range under their
own power. But the sheep man, for the
most part, sheared his flocks and
hauled the wool to the railroad.
Vast herds of cattle and large bands
of sheep roamed the country that the
farmers of today have developed into
an agricultural region. Sheepherders,
with their flocks of $500 to 5000 head,
roamed the grassy plains that have
been turned into fertile fields. The cow
boy on the roundup camped where the
dairyman now milks his registered herd.
Billings for several years shipped as
much as 100000 pounds of wool an
nually to eastern markets, principally t
TO Boston, although some of it went {
to Philadelphia and Chicago. During 6
the years before the Burlington, Great {
Northern and Milwaukee railroads came 9
into the state, bull teams hauled wool 7
into Billings and other Northern Pa
cific towns, from great distances. From
the Lewistown country, from the Lake T