Rangelands9(1), February 1987 3

Winter of 1886-87: The Death Knell of Open Range

John E. Mitchell and Richard H. Hart

Mother nature is a gorgeous lady—shehas beauty,patience, anda industry had reached heights unforetold in the annals of great abilityto forgive. But when she is pressedtoo far her angeris history. Involved were stockmen areas of awesometo controlling huge behold. open rangeland, owning herds in the tens of Thisstory is a true account of whatcan happenwhen man simply numbering goes too far in his use or abuse of our most precious renewable thousands, and capitalized by millions of dollars. Twenty resource—thegentle giant, the rangelands. years later, however, thisextraordinary era had all butended. Ifyou are young or lucky enough tohave not had the misfortuneof Events and conditions causing the declineand eventual experiencingnature's wrath, readthis paper carefully. There is much extinctionof the cattlemen can betied to factors tolearn from mistakes open range past aswe planfor the future. Itteaches you to both outside his control and within it. John takespecial care ofthe land, have agood reserve of basic supplies Perhaps Clay like hay, andnever over extend beyond yourmeans. described thetime most befittinglywhen he attributed their Disasters like this could happen again in manyfarms, perhaps downfall tothe confluence of "three great streams ofill luck, tomorrow or, even worse, maybe it's starting right now. mismanagement,and greed." Nonetheless,by the end of Stop, look around. Areyou creatinga disaster?It's nevertoo late the 19th Century range managementhad begun tobecome a to a V. Jackson right wrong.—Peter part of western ranching operations, and the days of the I may notsee a hundred open range were being relegated to pages of history. The Before I see the Styx, winterof 1886-87 provided the pivot point of a way of life But, coal or ember, I'll remember neverto be seen again. The conditions that came together Eighteen eightysix. 100 years ago to precipitate such a calamitous event, how- The stiffheaps in the coulee, ever, are still with us; these are the vicissitudes of bad The dead eyes in the camp, weather and low livestock prices. And the wind about, blowing fortunes out, Like a woman blows out a lamp. The First Cattlemen —Old cowboy song Thirty years afterthe Louisiana Purchase,the American frontierhad westward the lowerMissouri Riverto Theera ofthe great western cattlemen began rather pushed up insig- the town of Independence.Here it was to pausefor at least nificantly before the Civil War. By 1885, the livestock range two decades whilecivilization filled in behind. The primary Authors are USDA range scientists, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Fort Collins, Colorado, and High Plains Grassland 'Clay, John. 1962. My lifeon the range. New edition. Universityof Oklahoma Research Station,Cheyenne, Wyoming, respectively. Press, Norman.

Map ofthe Great Plains during the 1870s and 1880s. 4 Rangelands9(1), February1987 reasonfor such a delay couldbe seen in reports from travel- the discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874, followed by ers who had ventured farther west. Lewis and Clark, the Custer's defeat alongthe Little Big Hornon June 25, 1876. In Astorians, and the expedition of Major Steven Long des- 1881, the Northern Pacific reachedthe lower Yellowstoneat cribed theGreat Plainsas a frightfulwasteland, suitable only about the same time as 1,600 Sioux were being loaded on for Indians and buffalo. steamersat Miles City for the trip to a reservation in North Gradually, the GreatPlains becametraversed by more and Dakota.The last obstaclesto thecattle boom inthe northern more emigrants. Then, in 1848 came the magic word that Plains had been eliminated. turnedthe trickle into a flood—gold! The discovery ofa few nuggets In a California millrace was destined to crowdthe The CattleBoom Oregon and California trails with an army of adventurers, The 1880s marked the economic peak of theopen-range each seeking the easy fortune promised in stories from the livestock industry. Following the depression ofthe previous west. decade, the time was ripe for investment. Eastern publica- When overland travelers departed Missouri and Iowafor tions were replete with articles describing how vast profits the west coast, their mindset was one of moving through a couldbe madeon the range. Readerswere told that becom- vast 'desert"stretching onevery sideto the far horizOn. Only ing wealthy required only a minimum investment and afew the small garrisons at trading posts strung along the way years time, no risks involved. In The BeefBonanza, Brisbir, servedto dispel such illusions. Itwas along this trail system wrote, "In the West...the cattle run at large all winter—the that the cattlebusiness in the High Plains began. natural grassescuring on the ground and keepingthe stock The trading posts, which had languished following thefur fateven inJanuary, February, and March. Thebeef business trading boom, quickly learned that money could be made cannotbe overdone. I have nodoubt buta company properly from theemigrants trekking west.Three new activities arose managed would declare an annual dividend of at least 25 along the trail, each actually a part of the businessof trans- percent."4Because of its vast empire, Great Britain was the portation rather than supply. These were the operation of financial center of the world and, hence, had huge sums of river crossings, thesale of hay, and the exchanging offresh availablecapital which it freely disbursedthrough large cat- for worn-out work cattle. This demand for fresh stock tle companies.5 Induced many traders to enterthe cattlebusiness. In 1858, Between 1880and 1885, the demandfor stockers on the the discovery ofgold in the Rocky Mountainsadded greatly northern ranges greatly outstripped the supply. Longhorns to the demand for cattle; a market for meat was now estab- from Texas could not begin to meet orders for them, and lished that augmented that for work animals.Thus, by the eastern stock, commonly called "pilgrims" by cowboys, late 1860s, there existed herds ofconsiderable size along the began to be shipped west. During this period it is possible High Plainsand in theadjacent mountainvalleys. However, it that as many cattle were shipped west as east. was the penetration of tracksof the Union Pacific into this Introducing easternbreeds into theHigh Plainsdrastically country that precipitated the cattleempire. increased the risks involved in livestock operations there. By 1867the Union Pacific had enteredWyoming, and soon They were much morevaluable than longhorns; they were after, thefirst stock trainbound for Chicago signaledthe fact less suited towithstand theextreme weather conditions; and that the utilization of the northern and central ranges had they carried the risk of introducing new diseases,especially begun inearnest. Therefore, it is not surprising that thesame pleuro-pneumonia. year marked thebeginning ofmajor cattletrailing northward To investors, however, the opportunity for making a for- out ofTexas. tune completely overwhelmedany thoughts of risk. Montana Becauseof its geographic position, Colorado first felt the growers reapeda profit of from 25% to 40% for their investors Impact ofthe Texas influx. By 1869a million cattle and twice during 1882. Given such news, eastern capital literally as many sheep were reported within its territorial borders. flooded the region. Cattlemen who had kept records on a Two years later, significant numbers of Texas cattle had shingle suddenlyfound themselvesresponsible for hundreds been pushed into the northern Plains, primarily along the of thousandsof dollars comingfrom eastern and European North Platte and itstributaries. Montana rarigeland became corporations whose directors relied totally upon their judg- fully stocked more slowly because of the lack of railheads ment. The notorious "book count" was little improvement and the so-called Indian barrier; that is, lands occupied by over ashingle. Instead ofcounting all cattleon the range,an tribes suchas the Blackfeet, the Crow, and the Sioux. owner or prospective buyer checked the books to see how As early ranchersoccupied lands adjoining "empty" Indian many calves had been branded, then multiplied by five (or country,they became increasingly aware of how restricted four if hewas a cautious man) to arrive at an estimateof the they were. Nothing pervades western history more fre- whole herd. Liberal allowances were made for "natural quentlythan the recurring demandsfrom territorial citizens increase"while death losseswere given butvery small allow- forreductions ofIndian lands. Old-time cowboy E.C. "Teddy ances.John Clay commented,"It is safe to say that in many Blue" Abbott recollected,"They can't show a place in history casesnot halfthe number ofcattle represented on thebooks wherethe Indians ever broke atreaty. The white menalways were in actual existence."6 broke them becausethey always madea treaty they ... knew couldn't This came toa headwith 4Brisbin,Gen. James S. 1881. The beef bonanza;or, how to get rich on the they keep."3 painfulperiod Plains. J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia. 5Atherton, Lewis. 1961. The cattle kings. IndIana UniversityPress, Blooming- 2The demandfor beaver pelts, used primarilyin makingmen's hats, hadended ton. 308p. suddenlyin The18308 following the introduction ofsilk hatsby Paris fashion 6Clay, op. cit. designers. Abbott, E.C., and HelenaHuntington Smith. 1955. Wepointed them north. New edition. Universityof Oklahoma Press, Norman.247p. Rangelands 9(1), February 1987 5

Cattlecompanies multiplied; for example,in 1883 compan- the cattle market the previous year.9 Prices had tumbled to ies worth more than $12million incorporated withinthe terri- less than twocents per poundat Chicago inOctober 1885. In tory ofWyoming (Table 1). The Swan Land and Cattle Com- a prophetic statement, the August 26, 1886, issue of Rocky pany, itself, came in with $3 million to purchase 500,000 Mountain Husbandmaneditorialized, "Beef is very,very low, acres near Cheyenne. (Note: James A. Michener had this and prices are tending downward, while the market con- outfit in mind when he devised attributes of the fictional tinuesto grow weaker every day... Butfor al that, it wouldbe Venneford Ranch in his historical novel Centennial, al- better to sell at a low figure than toendanger the whole herd though its location more closely coincided with the old by having the range overstocked." Warren Livestock Company.7) Unfortunately, theopen-range stockman had few options for protection. SomeMontana herdswere driven intoAlberta Table 1. Numbersof cattle companiesIncorporating in three Plains where grazing leases were still available. Other smaller statesdurIng 1881-1890.' groups were moved onto farmland where forage could be obtained. These departures had no real effect on theoverall Year Colorado Wyoming Montana stocking rate across the range, however. The and summer of 1886were hot and 1881 4 9 1 spring dry, adding 1882 23 7 3 to the uneasinessalready permeating the region. With the 1883 29 24 6 overstocked range, grass was quickly over-utilized. By the 1884 58 24 17 end of July, the ranges of eastern Montana and Wyoming 1885 43 23 15 had become devoid of both feed and water. 1886 252 15 27 essentially 1887 17 9 7 Creeks and water holes always considered to bepermanent 1888 9 5 2 had completely dried up. On September11, 1886, the Great 1889 14 6 3 Falls Tribune reported that onlytwo inches ofrain had fallen 1890 11 5 6 during the year, and, ominously, noted, "Much depends 'Taken from: Frink, Maurice, W. Turrentine Jackson and Agnes upon the coming winter." The livestockwere in anextremely Wright Spring. 1956. When grass was King. University of Colorado weakenedcondition as late fall approached. Press, Boulder. 465p. some old-timers an oth- 2The southern Plains suffered a worse winter in 1885-86 than In Although predicted open winter, 1886-87. ers pointed to different signs. For example, Granville Stuart noted in his journal, that on his ranch southeast of Great Falls, migrating birds had started south early. For the first In this periodthe domination of "cattle kings" reached a "white arctic owls came on the and into the water mark in states and territories the time, range high throughout Judith Basin. The old Indians pointed to them and drawing Great Plains.T.A. Larson8 notedthat theterm was firstused their blankets more about them, a and in the 1870sto the most successful ranchowners. closely gave shrug recognize 'Ugh! Heap Cold!' expressiveof some terribleexperience in By the next decade,however, "cattle king" took on aderoga- the that still in their connotation, in the eastern and long past lingered memory."° tory especially European Thosewriting about thewinter of 1886-87 havediffered on press. the of individual storms, but all that were Under the conditions described from timing agree they above, rangelands numerousand ferocious. On November16-18, an arctic Montana to Colorado became overstocked. This very quickly storm covered the entire High Plains. Central Montana suf- increased costs as some stockmen began to buy more land fered the brunt ofthe wheresix inches ofsnow and build to storm, quickly fences protect their own investments.Less sol- driftedbefore the subzero winds. Afterthis storm came sev- vent who afford new operators, could not investments, eral of drizzle, which partially melted the snow. This movedtheir herds into or unsuitable areasthat had days marginal slush then froze into an impermeablecrust, making it impos- not been grazed. And, so, the land was filled entirely with sible forthe cattleto feed. cattle. Asecond blizzard came out of Canadain mid-December. Blizzards and Low Prices TheMissouri River had completely frozen over by Christmas, and the temperaturedropped to370 at Fort Assiniboine near The boom of the early 1880s showed few signs of an the present townof Havre,Montana. The cold temperatures impending disaster. Although the winter of 1880-81 was were unabated during January, 1887, except for a brief chi- severe, causing many cattlelosses, most operators had not nook early in the month which again crusted the melted yet entered the business,and those who werethere probably snow to a hard sheet of ice. Fort Keough (by Miles City) becameforgetful during the mi'd years that followed. In the southern Plains, however, the winterof 1885-86 was worse 9Generally speaking,cattle prices rosesignificantly between1879 and 1882, before slumping somewhat in the Fall of 1883. The following year, 1884, than that five years before when a terrible blizzard struck marked thelast profitable marketfor cattle during theopen-range era. Accord- Kansas and Oklahoma. Frank Dobie, in The ing to records of the Swan Land and Cattle Co.. the average price for all Longhorns, animals sold, from fatsteers to old bulls, dropped from$40.67 per animal in chronicled the lossesof tens of thousands of cattle along the 1884to $33.80in 1885 and to about $26.00 in 1886and 1887. Shipping costs Canadian and the of stock in Texas from Wyomingto Chicagocommonly exceeded$130 per railroad car (about River, reported finding $10-$12 per head) during this period, which cut the net price received by thefollowing spring up to 500 miles from their home range. one-half during these last twoyears. OPhillips, Paul C. 1957. Forty yearson the frontier asseen inthe journals and By 1886, a general state of anxiety had set in throughout reminiscencesof Granville Stuart, gold-miner,trader, merchant,rancher and theHigh Plains,spawned primarily bya catastrophic crash in politician. Vol. II. The Arthur H. Clark Co., Glendale,Calif. 265p. 'Personalcommunication. 8Larson, T.A. 1965. History of Wyoming. Universityof Nebraska Press, Lin- coln. 619p. 6 Rangelands 9(1), February 1987

"HardWinter" by W.H.D. Koerner(1878-1938). ThIs paintingis a part of the W.H.D. Koerner Studio in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY. (Copyright Ruth KoernerOliver, to whom the authors aregrateful.) recorded a temperature of -60° on January 14th.The Lara- behind you...The horses' feetwere cut and bleeding fromthe mie Daily Boomerang of February 10, 1887, reported, "The heavy crust, and the cattle had the hair and hide wore off snow on the LostSoldier division ofthe Lander and Rawlins their legs tothe kneesand hocks. Itwas surely hell to seebig stage route Is four feet deep, and frozen so hard that the four-year-old steers just able to stagger along. It was the stagesdrive over it like a turnpike." sameallover Wyoming,Montana, Colorado, western Nebras- Perhaps Granville Stuart's journal best chronicled the ka, and western Kansas."2 devastatingeffects thatthe blizzard of January 28-February With a likely wind chill index hovering around -80° C, 4, 1887 had onthe cattle. "Conditions were so changed from stockmen were forced to keep to their houses for weeks as whatthey were in 1880-81. Thethick brush and tall rye-grass thisterrible blizzard decimated the livestock. Unacclimated along thestreams that afforded them excellent shelterat that "pilgrims" huddled in the draws or piled up against down- time was now all fenced in and the poor animals drifted wind fences to die. against those fences and perished....Our herd...were all It was impossible to tell how bad the losses were on the northern grown range stock and occupied the best range in northern Plains when the storms ended. At first, some who the northwest. We kept plentyof men on the range to look should have known better made light of possible losses. afterthem as best theycould... Theherd could be said to bea Luke Murrin, tending bar atthe Cheyenne Club, needled his favored one, yet welost fifty percent ofthem in thisstorm." clients with, "Cheer up, boys. Thebooks won'tfreeze!"3 The "Teddy Blue" Abbott wrote, "The cowpunchers worked Cheyenne Weekly Leader of February 10, 1887, chirped, likeslaves. ..no one knows how theyworked but themselves. "The range cattle business in Wyoming has suffered no Thinkof riding allday in a blindingsnowstorm, the tempera- unusual loss duringthe present season. Should thespring be ture fifty and sixty below zero, and no dinner. You'd get one asfavorable as the winter has been, theseason will closewith bunch of cattle up the bill (away from the airholes in the a remarkablysmall loss." Missouri River Ice) and another one would be coming down Those Out on the range had otherideas. Abbot estimated

'lbid. I2Abboft and Smith, op.cit. iSmith. Helena Huntington. 1966. The war on Powder River. University of NebraskaPress, Lincoln. Rangelends9(1), February1987 7

that at least 60% of all cattlewithin the region had died by Perhapsjustly, the biggestwinners duringthe boomyears mid-March 1887.' T.A. Larson suggested a smaller death becamethe ones who lost the most following the winterof rate of 30%to 40%.' Losses among new arrived stock were 1886-87. Large corporations which had purchased land putat a staggering 90%! As GranvilleStuart assessedit, "This and/orcattle using borrowed money at high interest rates was the death knell tothe range cattlebusiness on anything were gone almost immediately.The Swan Land and Cattle like the scale it had been run before."6 Company,for example,went into receivership in May, 1887. As a result, thousandsof head were sold even though prices sank to all-time lows at the Chicago market. By fall, 1887, some ranges contained no livestock at all. As so often happens in nature, the timesfollowing such a bleak period were glorious indeedl The heavy snowpack, responsible forthe deaths of so many cattle, paradoxically became the source of sufficient soil moisture to produce excellent standsof grass for those animalsthat survived. The following year, 1888, was also favorable. Among some stockmen,then, there emergedan optimistic hope thattheir way of lifehad suffered only a passingdefeat. John Clay took comfortfrom thefact that "wewere still alive...a great many of our people (the cattlemen) had courage and, better still, they had lots of range."9 Nonetheless,the old open-range livestock industry as it was known was over. Stockmen were now aware of the tre- mendous risks associatedwith placing cattle on the plains CharlesM. Russell'spainting of "Waiting for a chinook—Last of the without the benefit of reservefeed and shelter. Along with 5000." this awarenessof risk came a realization of the high costs Cowboy artist CharlesM. Russellportrayed thestory most involved in providing these necessities.Just as importantly, eloquently in his watercolor sketch entitled, "Waiting for a the sources of outside Investment,especially from the east chinook—The last of 5,000". Charlie worked for two stock- and the British Isles,all but dried up. A new era was about to men living in Helena who ran some 5,000head in the Judith begin. Basin. Their foreman, Jesse Phelps, also operated his own small ranch, the OH. Russell was atthe OH later that winter IntroductIon of RangeManagement when one of theowners, L.E. Kaufman,wrote Phelps inquir- Although the events described above had decimated the ing about the condition oftheir herd. To helpshow had bad cattle herds of the Northern Plains, the rangeland still thingswere, Charliepainted this sketch on a piece of paste- remained, awaiting use by a new generation of ranchers. board to gowith theletter Phelpswas to write. Uponseeing These men and women would learn that the livestock busi- the painting, Phelps remarked, "Hell, Loule don't need a nessrequires a stewardship of both the animalsand the land, letter."7 When Kaufman received it, he promptlywent out that is, range management.Of immediateconsequence was and got drunk. the realization that an assured source of winter feed was In spring, when cattlemen were finallyable to ride out to necessary for all livestock operations' survival on the High assess the damage, a dreadful sight awaited them. Dead Plains. As a result, the amount of hayland in Montana and animals were piled in coulees, along streams, and against Wyoming more than quintupled between 1880 and 1890, fences. The live animals amounted to little more than skele- according to census figures. tons; most were in such weakened condition that a they Table 2. Beef cattle and sheep numbers(thousands) In Montana couldmove only with great difficulty.Such carnagearoused and Wyoming during 1880, 1890, and 1900, as reported In the a sense of disgust among many of these men. Years later, Censusof 1910. Granville Stuart wrote in his journal, "A business that had been me becamedistasteful. fascinating to before,suddenly Montana Wyoming I wanted nomore ofit. I neverwanted to own ananimal again Year Cattle Sheep Cattle Sheep that I couldnot feed and shelter."8 TheCheyenne Daily Sun, representing one of the cattle-oriented towns in 1880 417 279 517 450 strongest 1890 1418 2,353 922 712 the High Plains, was moved to editorialize on December8, 1900 735 4,215 542 3,327 1887, "A man who turns out a lot of cattleon a barren plain without making provision for feeding them will not only Initially, it was sufficient to merely fence off haylands;2° suffer a financial loss but also the loss of the respect of the however,as time wentby, people began to researchways to community in which he lives." produce bigger and better crops of hay. The Northwestern Livestock Journalof March, 1887, on the introduc- "Abbottand Smith, op. cit. reported 'Larson op. cit. tion of improved grassesonto hayland belonging to several 'Phillips, op. cit. "McDowell Bart. 1986. C.M. Russell: Cowboy artist. National Geographic '9Clay, op.cit. 169(1):60-95. 2oRuthKoerner Oliver (seeFig. 2) recallsa common phraseof farewell among "Phillips. op. cit. Montanaranchers during the1920's: "Hope youwinter well and have a stack to 901" (Personal communication) 8 Rangelands9(1), February1987

ranches along Wyoming's Powder River, for example. and animal husbandry, followed the creation of land grant Some stockmen diversified rangeland use by grazing universitiesthroughout theWest. Attimes progress was slow sheep instead of cattle. By 1900, the number of sheep had or setbacks,such asthe introduction of undesirable annuals greatly surpassedcattle populations on the northern Plains and noxious weeds from foreign countries, would occur. (Table 2). Nonetheless,the range livestock business has come a long Finally, advancesin range management,then called plant way since thatcalamitous winterof one hundred years ago.

Joe Gilchrist Remembers Ranching 60 Years Ago in Western Canada's "Short' grass Country" Sherm Ewing

The early morning sun shines through broken clouds and theterrible drouths and tough winters ofthe late'teens, and brightens the hill tops; in the valley, smoke curls up and the thetragic decade of the "DirtyThirties". Bornon the second smell of bacon fills the air. Scattered around the meadow— dayof the century, by 1914Joe had joinedhis older brothers stillsoggy from yesterday's hail storm—tentsand trailers stir asa full working partner in a ranching enterprisethat by 1945 with life as 200 campers begin rollingout for the final day of included 7well-equipped, feed-producing, deeded ranches, the 1986 International Mountain Section summer tour. Ed and hundredsof thousands of acres of "crown" grazing lease Nelson, lookingup from an enormous bowl of pancake bat- just north of the International Boundary. ter, notices a car fish-tailing down the steep trail into the What we now call "open range"was certainly athing ofthe campground. past: the Border was fenced, the railroads were fenced, "Here come Joe and Muriel," says Ed. some areasof cropland were fenced; but in the short-grass "Yep; It must be morning," says Dan McKinnon, as he country of western Canada, pastures were still very, very dumps a can of coffee into a large pot. "It don't take those large. Gilchrist Brothers ran their cattle on range that Gilchrists long to spend the night." stretched fromWhite Mud or FrenchmanCreek, south ofthe As theold folks walk acrossthe meadow from their car, son Cypress Hills in southwest Saskatchewan,to Deer Creek, Tom and hiswife Lois emerge dampand shiveringfrom their northof the SweetgrassHills in southeastAlberta. old, patched, straight-walled roundup tent. Grandsons Keith I asked Dr. Alex Johnston, Historian—RangeSpecialist at and Neal—twin teenagers—groancomfortably in their yel- CDAResearch Station, Lethbridge,for 40 years—to describe low nylon, back-packer special, thinkingof breakfast.Three the area we know in Canadaas the "short-grass country." generations of Gilchrists aren't that unusual on IMS cam- "It's classed as mixed prairie," he said. "The term 'short- pouts; other families have attended for decades. Often the grass country' is pretty much amisnomer. Dominance of real oldergenerations elects to "camp" at a motel in the nearest short-grasses such as blue grama, in that area, Is pretty town as Joe and Muriel have done. much the result of severeovergrazing. Joe, watching familyand friends crawl fromtents to form a "What these environmentalists can't get through their breakfast line, says: "It took me 40 years to get to where I thick skulls," Johnston continued, "is that severeovergraz- don't HAVE to sleep on the ground." ing is whatcaused the short-grass name and reputation. And Joe Gilchristjoined the American Society of RangeMan- when they see the large grasses come in, they think, 'Oh, agement—now SRM—ir, the early 1950s. Years earlier— geez, these ranchers don't know whatthey're doin.' before our Society was born—he and his brothers Rube, "The grasses that dominate, generally speaking, across Chay, and Sandy sold out their GilchristBrothers ranching thatwhole vast tract, are Stipa comata—speargrass, needle- operation builtfrom original homesteadsnear MapleCreek, and-thread—june grass, Sandberg's bluegrass, and blue Saskatchewan,over a period of30 years... years that included grama.In certain areas, with heavier soils, the wheatgrasses would befairly important—mostly western wheatgrass, Agro- EditorsNote: This articleshows that theearly ranching dayswere notall the funthat is shown onTV and the movies.These thoughts and recollectionsof pyronsmith!!, and that sort of thing, you know. ourpast should neverbe forgotten. Theyform the basisof our present ranch- "Most of the soil is glaciated, but a time ago... not in ingindustry. Without people such asJoe Gilchrist, the'West' would not have long been settled. the more recent glaciations. It's like the Montana situation: