CHAPTER THREE 



"Garden of Eden" 



Working and Playing the Land 



'Everyone Ate Off the Land" — Hunting and Grazing 



When people in Florida. Connecticut or 

 Arkansas talk about Rock Creek— and they do- 

 chances are they're not debating logging, mining 

 or ranching; they're talking riffles and rainbows and 

 salmon flies. They're talking camping and hiking. 

 They're talking vacation. Among its residents and 

 neighbors. Rock Creek country has long been ap- 

 preciated for fishing, hunting and trapping, though 

 when these became "recreation" rather than sur- 

 vival is impossible to pinpoint. Settlers often sold 

 their cattle to pay the bills while feeding their 

 families by hunting and fishing— even when it 

 wasn't legal. Ken Handley, whose family arrived 

 after World War II, told Rock Creek historian 

 Darlcne Olson, "everyone ate off the land . It 

 wasn't poaching, it was survival ."' 



Prospectors and trappers arriving during the 

 1 8(iOs found huge herds of deer and elk in the Rock 

 t:reek area, and the homesteaders who followed 

 them reported abundant bighorn sheep, even more 

 bighorn sheep than deer during the 18908.^ Peter 

 Walbeck. who settled at the lower end of Rock 

 Creek in 188", hunted commercially with a part- 

 ner for two years, selling dressed venison for 1 1 

 cents a pound.' One winter. Walbeck reported kill- 

 ing 32 deer, and he said others took more The 

 massive destruction of Rock Creek wildlife 

 culminated during the winter of 1 889- 1 890. when 

 four men arrived seeking coyo;es and fur. They 

 brought no traps but plenty of poison; deer, 

 clustered in the low country to escape harsh 

 weather, were the victims. The men poi.soned 300 

 to -400 deer, while taking only a small number of 

 pelts. ^ 



Already, the state recognized a need to pro- 

 tect game animals. The first closed season on big 

 game in Montana was in 18^2 — the same year 

 Yellowstone National Park was created — and by 

 IH*)S. \U)ntana had a Fish and Game Board Hunt 

 ing restrictit)ns peaked in the Rt)ck Creek .irc.i in 

 I') 13 when elk sea.son closed completely .iiul the 

 i.ikc of deer w;is limited to one buck per luinier 



Hut luiniers weren't the biggest ihre.ii to 

 \\ lid ungul.ites .11 the turn of the ieimir\ . donusin 

 liMMock were riie IooiIhIK ol the K. h k Creek .irc.i 



were most heavily grazed from 1880 to 193^ '* Feral 

 horses and mules roamed the ranges all year then, 

 and cattle and sheep spread out across the 

 pasturclands from the time the snow melted in 

 spring until snow covered the forage in early 

 winter. VChen the elk. deer and moose came down 

 to the foothills in search of easy winter graze, they 

 found little left. Streams were badly damaged, their 

 banks trampled, their fi.sheries destroyed. By 1910. 

 all game was scarce." 



In 1911, the state transferred 60 

 ■^'ellowstone Park elk to the Skalkaho area of Rock 

 Creek, and more transfers followed in 1912 and 

 19S2." Most of the elk in the Rock Creek drainage 

 today are descended from these transfers. 



By 193"^. deer again thrived and elk were on 

 a rebound. But the Forest Service estimated only 

 three or four moose left in the Rock Creek area in 

 the winter of 193^-0, and bighorn sheep were also 

 on the decline.* It wasn't until the 19S0s that all 

 these populations appeared to be on the mend, and 

 hunting regulations were relaxed.' 



The revival of game populations was en- 

 couraged by new restrictions on livestock grazing 

 on public lands. Sheep grazing began to decline in 

 the 19-iOs on the upper basin lands of the 

 Deerlodge Forest, and horses were banned by 

 19S0."' At the same time, the Deerlodge reduced 

 the number of cattle on its allotments and shorten- 

 ed grazing .seasons. For example, on the so-called 

 Stony allotment, grazing has been halved from 2 1 - 

 cattle in 1938 to a low of "S in 19o0 and 100 since 

 U)09. On the West Fork Butte allotment, grazing 

 has been reduced by about a fifth, from 2-42 in 19S0 

 to 200 since 1909. Starting in 19-*0. the Forest Ser- 

 vice also adopted new rotational grazing practices: 



The rest deferment system di\ ides 

 .illoiments into at least three .sections, which .ire 

 grazed in .sequence each .season The rest rot.itii>n 

 system, initiated for the most fragile pastures in 

 10{n. allows at least one section i>n each allotment 

 to rest for an entire season In I'Ml. three of nine 

 .illotmenis in the Deerlodge N.ition.il Forest were 

 m.in.igo.1 ou the rest rot.ition s\ stem, while the re 

 m.mulcr wcii- oii tlie rest deferim-nt s\steni " 



