Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-09-04

For old and new brand burns, going
entirely through the hide, are easily
detected that way. Such cases called
for summary courts of the range and
quick execution.
It was the history of all of the west
ern states in the old range days that
the effort of managing a ranch eff
an equally arduous effort to protect
the nerds from "owlhoot" crews and
the brand doctor.
Granville Stuart, in his description
of Montana early range days tells how
a brand changers operations were cur
tailed by lethal threats: Near our
home ranch we discovered one rancher
whose cows invariably had twin calves
and frequently tripletS, while the range
cows in that vicinity would persist in
hanging around this mans corralS, en-
vying his COWS their numerous child
rem and bawling and lamenting their
own childleSs fate. This state of affairs
continued until we were obliged to
call around that way and threaten
to hang the man if his COWS had any
more twins"
Stuart also describes at some length
the work of the range Vigilantes in
cleaning out the "owlhoot" gangs
along the Missouri and MuSSelShell
rivers who, coupled with the Indian
depredationS, cost the pioneer ranchers
from three to five percent of their
herds each year.
Brand Changer PrOspered
Despite a large pile OF statutes made
in range states in the past two-thirdS
marks, coupled with rigid inspection
OF shipping and slaughtering, the
brand changer and the rustler pros
pered more or less as long as the range
days continued. And today the motor
truck and good roads are good allies
of the rustler in making quick disposal
far away, of small numbers of live
stock. The old problem is still present,
but in q new dress.
AS the open range disappeared and
more intensive operation and better
breeding became the vogue, nearly
everything about the cattle industry
has changed, except the use Of burned
brands to mark ownership. In recent
years a chemical brand has been tried,
brands as the best protection the
stockman viii have for generations to
come, so far as the western states
are concerned.
And burned brands are older than
modern civilization.
Psychologists have discovered brands
on the mummieS of the sacred bulls
Oh bltC EudIOdllS, DuI1cQ III Lie IOJd1
tombS with their owners. For what
reason and to what extent branding
was practiced is mere speculation. Per-
haps 1t was merely a religious rite
only the sacred bulls; may
be 1t was to mark only the property of
royalty to discourage the greed of
ancient cattle ruStlers
Burned brands next appear In Spain,
again probably as the prerogative of
the nobility, used to identify the
entries from the herds Of the great in
the bull ring. Spanish noblemen burned
their coatS-of-armS on their choice
cattle, often covering the whole side
of the critter with the brand.
Branding came to Mexico with the
Spanish Conquistatores, and here for
a means of identifying ownership
where the herds Of many men ranged
together. Into the territory which later
became Texas and California the Mex
lean herds drifted as they increased.
Large Herd
At about the beginning of the nine
teenth century Don Luis Terrazas'
herd covered the greater part Of the |
state OF Chihuahua, probably the great |
est single herd of cattle the world has |
ever known 1t was the Don'S boast |
that on 30 days notice he would de- |
liver, under his brand, 10000 head of |
cattle of q given color or age, from |
calves to five-year-oids.
American settlers in what was to be- /
come Texas adopted branding, as they
ADOPTED and adapted-Nexican range /
practices, at the beginning Of the great 1
western cattle era Of the last century. /
Where the MexicaHs used a meaning