“‘Everyone push on the count of three.’ The mud was nearly knee-deep in places after two days of heavy rain, and the stage wouldn’t budge. All the passengers had to climb out, the women stand to the side as the men all pushed. ‘And three!’ The wheels slogged out of the mud with a sucking […]
“The Vermilion is the Goggins’ headquarters, but is only one of several ranches the family owns. The Diamond Ring Ranch runs commercial Angus cattle on 55,000-plus acres along the Yellowstone River. The Pryor Creek Ranch has 30,000 acres of dry-land ranching. If you watch any Western movies, you’ve seen the Pryer Creek ranch – the […]
“When Lewis and Clark explored the Great Falls Plains southeast of the Salmond Ranch, they expounded on the vast herds of majestic buffalo. Short of the buffalo’s decline, this land must look much the same as it did when President Jefferson’s Corps of Discover made their way through the Northwest. I can almost hear the […]
“Every spring, the Vermilion Ranch breeds about 5,000 cows by artificial insemination. They sell 90% of their bull calves; it’s not uncommon for the ranch to sell 600 head of outstanding breeding bulls and over 4,000 commercial Angus heifers at their annual Fall auction. They keep the remaining 10% of bull calves for their own […]
Night after night, sixteen-year-old Libby Smith listened to the cries and screams of fellow prisoners beaten and killed by their Indian captors. Warriors dragged Libby to the gauntlet on several different occasions. This deadly sport required the prisoners to fight through two lines of men wielding clubs and tomahawks. Few made it through alive. The […]
