Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-10-09

LIE 4ou -uOISc lOdQ 70 l6eQ LIiElT nHIlQe
5 AS late as 1904 one big store in Whit
J Sulphur Springs bought a straight car
: load Of packing house products-ham
3 bacon, salt pork etc, every six weeks
/ Those old kitchen necessities, canned
J corn and tomatoes, headed the list o.
: canned goods Of that sort, but mos
: Of the other common vegetables were
well represented; Fresh fish. Of course
we're unobtainable. Canned oysters
clans, shrimps and Holsters were
bought in quantities, and box after
box Of the finest preserves. called
glass goods" Dried fruits we're sold
by the ton, peaches and apricots having
the call. Prunes also had big play.
The consumption Of many of these
/ things was increased during the home
/ stead days when central and northern
and eastern Montana's cattle ranges
we're dotted with homesteaders' shacks
occupied to large extent by bachelors
who lived for the most part on flap
jacks, bacon and dried fruit.
Dried Apples Not Fruit
In that connection is recalled the
story of Frank Knight, who home
steaded on what was known as Bear
Springs flat on the west side of the
Judith river in Fergus county Knight
had been reared in Tennessee and was
used to eating fruit fresh off the trees.
Several years of homesteader's diet
made him good and tired of dried fruit,
and when he proved up sold out and
was leaving the country his parting
shot was:
TO he'll with a country where they
call dried apples fruit"
The attitude of the customers of /
those days was that the best was none /
too good and 1t was only the best of /
everything that the merchants stocked.
A LewiStown merchant once placed an .
order for 100 twenty-five pound boxes
of New York fancy dried apples They
cost him IA cents pound laid down
at his store, $3.50 worth of Just one
variety of dried fruit, and that was
the smallest part of the order Of goods
that he had freighted in from Great
Falls.
Jars of preserves that sold for as
much as $1.50 each we're ordered by
the hundred. Cowpunchers in a thous-
and lonely line camps spread them
upon sour dough hotcakes and smacked
their lips over them.
Large Trade Territory
AS previously stated, Lewistown was
an exceptionally large market. Its re-
tail merchants had as customers large
sheep and cattle outfits, which, when
their line camps and home I
-ancheS for the winter, would haul out ,
provisions by the wagon load. In adj :
iition the larger LewiStoWn stores /
for the benefit of merchants I
n many of the smaller towns, they I
Usually having their own freight outfit \
or what were comparatively short
lauls. But that required the Lewistown
merchants to carry stocks that would Z
laye staggered merchants in towns of
imilar size in eastern states.
LeWiStown'S trade territory extended Z
lalf way to Billings and other towns
n the Northern Pacific to the south, =
laf way to Great Falls and from a y
hundred to hundred and fifty miles y
asst, where it caught all the trade for
hat distance south of the Missouri r
liver.
The freight teams which were in Il
ervice consisted of strings of four, h
tx, eight, ten and sometimes IL head Il
horses or mules hitched to from V
wo to four wagons. The wagons were u
arge and strong with deep boxes and it
uilt specially for the service to which n
ney were put. For long trips, the cC
allied "caboose" which was tailed q
nto the last wagon on the string. 1t
as usually a two-wheeled affair coy ell
red with canvas, and was QUILTED IN
18th stove, cupboard and bunk. There &c
le freighter ate and slept while on his III
lpSs IN more or less comfort. depend ca
g upon the season of the year and IN
lie condition of the weather wi
The loading of the wagons was a d
fence. Heavy stuff on the bottom, pr
yht on the top was the first rule. wi
18th mixed cargo skill was required Ca
distribute the load equally Some ip
asses of freight had to be separated. ur
lgar and kerosene, for instance, WI
uldn't be packed in the same load. tn
,her improper combinations, bring
g the possibility of something being be
oiled in case of breakage or leakage, -
re numerous The life Of the freight -
was a hard one, and in the last ND
ars of the business, which was about In
e beginning of the present century, 81
had ceased to be profitable.
The haul from Great Falls to Cho- "a
III, for instance, was So miles. It re- q
ired four days to make the trip with
load and the freighter received only
cents a hundred for his cargo. The z
I'd limit was 1900 pounds to the {
rse. The freighting season was short l
teams sometimes waited days for {
load. Horses had to be kept in con- /