The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-10-22

grass, and the profit of raising sheep
was considerable. They were not sub
ject to rot. and the ewes commonly,
often the first time, brought two lambs
at once"
The Pilgrims also brought sheep to
New England. Wiltshires were the
favorite breed because of their fine
wool which could be used for weaving;
and production steadily increased in
spite of the inroads of wolves. On May
5, 1884. quaint Obadiah Turner of
Lynn records in his diary: And wee
doe hope soone to have plentie of
sheepe, too, for wool as we'll as for
meate. And our women car do We spin
ming and weaving"
With flocks established from Panama
to New England, the introduction of
sheep into the western states was a
natural consequence. Mexican sheep of
the Merino strain from CASTLE in
Spain spread north into California and
from California into Oregon, Wash
ington, Idaho and Montana. Montana
turned out t o be a merging ground
for the southwestern and eastern
flocks, however. and before many years
had passed purebred strains from both
sections began to appear.
In consulting the files of the Mon
tana Wool Grower Carman found the
OlON lily tACeIpg "llCI OllSllldlly dp.
peared in the Daily Miner of Butte,
in 1886: 1T is believed that the first
sheep brought into Montana were
owned at St. Peters mission, which was
established in 1859 near the mouth of
the Sun river. The sheep that were
brought to the territory came from
various directions but mainly from
California and Oregon. They were gen
orally a grade Merino but many quite
a high grade. Some of the early
breeders, however, brought in coarse
wool rams-CotSWold, SouthdOwn and
the like from Canada and the eastern
states-producing at the start all grades
from coarse to fine, in the larger flocks
of the territory"
The Montana Farmer" however,
differs with the Daily Miner as to-
Montana flock as follows: Current
reports state that the first flock of
sheep ever brought to Montana came
from the Pacific coast in the summer
of 1867, and were located somewhere
in the Prickly Pear valley, in the
present county of Lewis and Clark:
The band comprised about 500 head,
or winter feed having been made, the
whole outfit persisted before the sue
ceeding spring."
Years of bitter range warfare cul-
minated the advent of sheep to the
expansive unfenced pastures of the
west and a deplorable history of the
struggle between the cattleman and
blood from the Mississippi to the Pa
cific and from Canada to Mexico. Hap
PLY. advancing civilization and m
proved methods of range management
have ended all of that, and both great
industries still remain as financial
bulwarks of the country. Passing years
have c~onclusively proved that there is
a place for both.
Whether imported from south, east
or west, it has been shown that sheep
brought into the northern Rockies are
ultimately improved in size, and the
quality Of their fleece becomes drier,
more dense and of greater length OF
staple. Because of the SalubrlOuS ellis
mate and the nature of the range,
sheep of this region have developed
until today they are in great demand
for breeding stock throughout the
world.
Although the basic flocks were pre-
dominately founded on the Spanish
Merino strain, there has been constant
cross-breeding with the French Merino
or Rambouillet and the Hampshire,
Lincoln, Columbia, Corriedale, Romney
and Suffolk strains. until today the
all-around quality of u sheep is I'M
surpassed.
One outstanding example of the work
that has been done in cross-breeding
is the Columbia which is the only breed
of sheep that can really be said to have
originated in the United States. The
Columbia was developed by crossing
Lincoln rams with Rambouillet ewes
at the Dubois, Ida, range experiment
station. Largely responsible for initial
ing this successful piece OF work was
William Denecke who is now in the
sheep business near Bozeman, Mont.
Competition between sheep and cattle
owners and between stockmen and
wildlife enthusiasts over use of public
range has for years created a major
problem for government adminiStra-
tors. Due to this i%ncessant demand,
scientific surveys have been made and
are still being made of all available
public range: When these surveys are
completed, the nutritive n produc.
range land will be known and it will
be possible to determine the exact num-
Der of animals that can be successfully
grazed without crowding wildlife and
without injuring the inherent forage
resources.
ter use, The mountains Of the Rockies
have always been choice grazing lands
of stockmen during the summer
months. On the high, moist slopes
from north to south, vast herds of both
cattle and sheep are fattened every
years.
For the purpose of preserving DUR
wildlife resources large tracts of those
mountain lands lie within the boun-
diaries of national forests. Weeds, the
chief diet of sheep, various kinds Of
grass, and several species Of nutritive
shrubs are found beneath the great
stands Of confer timber in these. re-
serves: Since this annual crop Of for.
during the summer months. since it lies
beneath a heavy blanket of snow dur
ing the winter and is inaccessible to
all animals, and since it IS lost for
ever II not harvested in the year in
which it is grown, annual allotments