OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 143 
less difficulty in shrinkage and waste during the long ship to 
Chicago. When he first started marketing, he was forced to 
drive from Montana down to Laramie City or Cheyenne on the 
Union Pacific, a distance too great to permit their delivery in 
good condition and at a satisfactory price in Chicago. The 
construction of the Northern Pacific across Montana induced 
Mr. Kours to move his cattle to Tongue River, some 150 miles 
south of Miles City. He made his first Chicago shipment in 
1882, consisting of 400 four-year-old Shorthorn steers. The 
cattle were a long time on the road and suffered from a heavy 
shrink but they weighed 1,585 pounds at Chicago and brought 
the top price for range cattle, $5.85. Later in the year he 
shipped 700 three-year-olds, of mixed breeding, that averaged 
1,365 pounds, but received $5.85 for these as well. 
The severe season of 1886-1887 practically ruined Mr. Konrs. 
His herd was reduced over 90 percent by death from the cold 
and starvation. Financial help at this time from JosepH RoseEn- 
BAUM (51) of Chicago enabled him to pull through, however, 
and in the 90’s Mr. Kours was able to purchase the entire pure- 
bred herd of the CHILps’ estate, a good lot of cattle descended 
from the stock of Adams Earl. About this time, Mr. Kours’ 
son-in-law, Hon. JoHN M. BoarpMAN, became associated in the 
management of the Pioneer Cattle Co. and took charge of the 
breeding of these Herefords. Due to a dispute between the 
herdsman and the administrator of the CuiLps’ estate, the pedi- 
grees for the cattle were not secured, and the animals were 
therefore bred as a non-pedigree herd, with registered bulls con- 
stantly in service. This herd usually numbered about 300 head, 
while a purebred Shorthorn herd numbering 700 head was also 
