The Long and the Short Horns of It

PHOTO OF SHORTHORN HERD

You can see the shadow of Bozeman photographer Albert Schlechten in the foreground as he took this photo of shorthorn cattle and horses grazing in  the Gallatin Valley in the early 1900s. Legendary cattleman Nelson Story drove the first Texas longhorns into Montana in 1866. Short horns began to be brought into the state in a few years, and by the 1900s there were only a few isolated herds of longhorns left in the state. Shorthorns provided better grade meat and were easier to work. 

                MHS Photo Archives 946-278