The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1936-11-20

Inc lm1neO1aIc ODJtCtlSc u INcl-
son Story, early-day pioneer who
traiIed Texas cattle into this state
in the mid sixties, was to supply
the demand for beef in the min
ing camps of the territory. The
prices of meats of all kinds were
exorbitantly high in the north
west while in the southwest beef
was a drug on the market: Story
may have had a vision OF h fu-
ture greatness of the cattle indus
try in Montana, but at the time he
quit trading, freighting and min
ing to embark in it, he saw directly
ahead of him a home market for
all the cattle he could raise. With
in 10 years the cattle business in
Montana had grown to astonishing
proportions and Story had become
a cattle baron.
The placing of sheep upon Montana's
ranges was somewhat different. The
principal profits in sheep came from
the sale of the wool. 1t had to be
shipped east for processing, but cheap
transportation by way OF Missouri
river boats to St. Louis encouraged
men to engage III it. One concern,
among the first to begin ranging sheep,
and later among the largest owners
of those animals in the state, owed its
real start to the fact that it was I'M
able to sell its first wool crop at Hell
ena for six cents a pound. as 1t had
hoped to do. Bitterly disappointed, the
owners shipped their wool to Boston.
and did not learn for six months that
they had, by doing so. realized 80 cents
a pounds for it instead of the six
originally expected.
Until Story conceived the idea of
ranging cattle on Montana's plains, the
livestock industry in this state was linn
tied to the few milk COWS which were
brought into the country with the
wagon trains from the east, and the
bull teams which provided power for
the transportation OF goods. Story
trailed the first bunch of range cattle
into the territory from Texas in 1866
and ran them in the Gallatin and Vel
lowstone valleys. The cattle business
grew rapidly despite the depredations
of Indians and winter losses.
First Band of WOolies
Ten years after the introduction of
cattle, sheep came. The first band Of
woolies to arrive in eastern Montana
reached there in the fall of 1876, having
been trailed from California by a mar
named burgess, who started with them
in the spring of 1875. He reached Vir-
ginia City in the fall of 1875 and kept
his band there until the following
spring when he trailed them down
the Yellowstone to the present site OF
Miles City.
In the summer of the following year,
1877, the season of the Nez Perez war,
central Montana was invaded by
sheepmen when the late Martin T.
Grande and William Smith trailed an
other band overland from Idaho to
range in the Musselshell valley. From
that time on both the cattle and sheep
industries grew rapidly in Montana,
but for many years the cattle men,
with a much earlier start, were pre-
dominant.
The rapidity of the growth of the
range cattle industry may be viSualized
from the fact that when the Montana
Stockgrowers association, ar organiza-
ton Of cattlemen, met in Miles City
April II, 1883, only II years after Story
had brought in the first herd OF long
horns, there were 279 members present
at the convention.
Ranged on Crow Lands
Story's operations in the Yellowstone
Crow Indian reservation. He had a
cattle camp at Benson's landing on
the Yellowstone, and it was at this
camp that John M. Bozeman and a
companion spent the night preceding
the day on which Bozeman was slain
by Crow Indians whom he thought to
be his friends.
Story was a mar of indomitable
courage. During the years he pioneered
in Montana he had innumerable ad-
ventures and narrow escapes, ranging
from encounters with Indians, wild
animals, bandits, bad men and cattle
rustlers to experiences in storms and
floods.
One Fear of a Brave Man
It took New Workers to discover his
one weakness. When visiting that city
MnneDN N