THE CATTLE COUNTRY OF THE FAR WEST 3 



the Little Missouri Bad Lands before finding what was then untrodden 

 ground far outside the range of any of my neighbors' cattle. But if a 

 large outfit is going to shift its quarters it must go much farther ; and both 



AN EXPLORING OUTFIT. 



the necessity and the chance for long wanderings were especially great 

 when the final overthrow of the northern Horse Indians opened the whole 

 Upper Missouri basin at one sweep to the stockmen. Then the advance- 

 guards or explorers, each on one horse and leading another with food and 

 bedding, were often absent months at a time, threading their way through 

 the trackless wastes of plain, plateau, and river-bottom. If possible they 

 would choose a country that would be good for winter and summer alike ; 

 but often this could not be done, and then they would try to find a well- 

 watered tract on which the cattle could be summered, and from which they 



