Grass Range
Travel
Montana
A view from 1939:
GRASS RANGE, (3,488 alt, 212 pop.), is a prairie
town, spread out, in the words of one resident, "most
as big as Chicago." Here, as in many other Montana towns,
it is not unusual to see a rancher driving a late-model automobile
with a sheep dog, a ewe, or even a calf in the back seat. Livestock
paid for the car—livestock ride in it if the need arises.
Most ranchers prefer the "pick-up" or station-wagon
type of automobile, which can haul a load of salt, supplies
for camp tenders, a ewe with lambs, or a barrel of water without
difficulty. The typical Montana rancher puts the modern high-powered
car to tests never thought of on the proving grounds; he drives
wherever there is a track for one wheel, climbing rocky ridges
that, a few years ago, he would have negotiated on foot leading
his horses and wagon.
Source: Montana: A State Guide Book; Compiled and Written
by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration
for the State of Montana; September, 1939.
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