102 THE BEEF BONANZA. 



General Bradley says : " For stock-raising no country 

 could be finer, and the conditions are such as to insure 

 the minimum of expense and labor and maximum of 

 profits. The fine air and water insure health to the herds 

 and the pasture food all the year round. The country 

 including and bordering on the Big Horn Mountain is 

 particularly fitted for sheep -raising. Sheep like the 

 high land and dry air of such a region, and these, 

 with the fine, rich grasses of the mountain slopes, would 

 produce fleeces not excelled in any part of the world. 

 Sheep-husbandry is as yet in its infancy with us, but 

 the time will come when the Big Horn country will be 

 as famous for its flocks and wool as any part of the old 

 world, perhaps as famous for its looms and mills too."* 

 The climate of these mountains is admirably suited to 

 the culture of goats. The Angora, the finest goat in 

 the world, would grow and thrive here. His fleece 

 would be, too, a valuable addition to our wool market. 

 A Eussian traveller, writing of this little animal, says : 

 " His home is on the great mountain slopes, on dry soil, 

 and among feldspathic rocks. His fleece is white as 

 snow, and of dazzling purity, softness, and lustre. The 

 shearing is no sooner concluded than he takes to the 

 mountains, and there, above dew-falling points, he feeds 

 and flourishes on the aromatic plants and dry grasses. 



* This country was for a long time closed to settlement by Ked 

 Cloud's hostile bands, but the Sioux war has opened it up to 

 civilization. Fort Custer is located in the very heart of the Big 

 Horn Valley, and Fort Keogh is only about one hundred miles 

 by land farther down the Yellowstone. The country will ere 

 long be as safe as Nebraska or Colorado. 



