MONTANA LIVESTOCK 



Cattle were introduced into Montana as early as 1832 by fur traders who wanted 

 the luxuries of beef and butter at their posts, but John Grant is credited with estab- 

 lishing the first beef herd here in 1853. According to the first report of the territorial 

 auditor there were 4,325 head of oxen and 1,896 cows and calves returned for assess- 

 ment purposes in 1865. In 1868 the first market shipment was made by J. D. Hogan 

 of Augusta of cattle owned by Patrick Largey of Butte. They went to Salt Lake City. 

 The first Texas drive to Montana was made in 1869 and the last in the late eighties. 

 The first shipment by rail was made in 1874 by Conrad Kohrs, who trailed the beef 

 overland from Sun River to Ogden, whence they went by rail. After 1876 many 

 shipments were trailed from Montana to Cheyenne and thence over the Union Pacific 

 to Chicago. The completion of the Northern Pacific in 1883 markedly stimulated the 

 industry. That year the Eastern Montana Stockgrowers' Association was organized at 

 Miles City, which two years later was absorbed by the Montana Stockgrowers' Associa- 

 tion that still enjoys a virile existence. In 1885, the first year for which figures are 

 available, 79,089 head of cattle were shipped to market. In 1891 the number increased 

 to 250,000 head, and shipments aggregated more than 200,000 head a year up to 1912, 

 except in 1900 and 1901. Shipments declined in the next four years and then sharply 

 increased to the peak of 1919 when 641,337 head were shipped out, followed by another 

 downward swing. 



The ^^ ^^s i^ *^® ^i^^t decade of this century that encroachments of the 



lanirinff homcstcaders began to be felt by the stockmen. Prior to then the 

 industry had been conducted on a range basis. As the steady influx 



'' **" of homesteaders continued, many old time outfits gave up the range. 



Others, desiring to continue in the business and recognizing the changed order, acquired 

 large land holdings for grazing and hay purposes. Still others moved from their original 

 holdings to hay ranches adjacent to the National Forests. From 1910 to 1915 many 

 stock outfits that only a few years before had purchased large tracts of lands, took ad- 

 vantage of the many times enhanced values the agricultural development had placed 

 upon their holdings and sold them out in smaller tracts. 



The drouth of 1919, with the ensuing hard winter, and the deflation of 1920, 

 constituted a series of hard blows to Montana stockmen from which they have not 

 yet recovered. Ranges in many parts of the state are understocked, at least compared 

 with former years, but this understocking insures range recuperation. The next big 

 development in the livestock industry of this state will be the gradual stocking of the 

 smaller farms. When this is accomplished it is felt certain that Montana will annually 

 market more cattle and of better quality than it did in the palmiest days of the range. 



The While Thomas Harris is credited with bringing, in 1857, the first 



Sh D sheep to Montana, to the Bitter Root valley, a man named Dobbins is 



said to have introduced into the Deer Lodge valley the first flock of 



n ««try breeding sheep. In 1865 the territorial auditor listed 1,769 head of 



sheep for assessment purposes, which had increased to 4,212 head by 1870 and to 249,978 



head in 1880. Before the Northern Pacific reached Montana in 1883 large quantities 



of wool were shipped on flat-bottomed boats down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers 



to New Orleans and thence by steamboat to Boston. In 1890 there were 1,990,000 sheep 



reported in the state and in 1900 6,170,000 head. The wool clip that year of 26,020,120 



pounds was the largest of any state. The peak in numbers was attained in 1901 when 



6,417,000 head of sheep were listed and the high wool clip of 1904 when it amounted 



to 37,773,000 pounds. The same forces that operated against the range cattlemen 



affected the sheepmen. From 1901 to 1914 inclusive the Montana clip averaged in excess 



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