Free Grass to Fences

The full story of the Montana cattle industry, from the earliest days of the fur traders down to the latest Miles City Roundup, written by a man who knows the northwestern range land and its history without a map.One of the essential works on Montana Range Books by one whose family and personal work was intimately involved with the association. Robert Athearn notes it is a fine book dealing with the entire history of the West from the fur trade to the great ranches after 1885. He further observes that though it shows a conservative complaint against the New Deal and having to deal with Federal and State Bureaucrats, he nevertheless shows that the rancher on his own has genuine environmental concerns that do not coincide with mining and allied interests. The author also was famous for the song: &quote;Don't Fence Me In&quote; sung by Bing Crosby.