Books
Dusting Off the Old Ones was published in 1961 by W. B. Clarke, Miles City, Montana.
The Remount Depot -- Fort Keogh
Last week we quoted from a Chamber of Commerce bulletin titled "In the Heart of the Yellowstone" and today we will quote a story also from the hand of our good friend, "Buck" Buchanan, but from another publication, and it is titled as we have this story headed.
"This is Uncle Sam's horse ranch where they break horses for the army. It is a sort of concentration camp way out here in the center of the greatest horse country in America, maintained by the War Department and where horses are brought from all over the west and put through their paces. When a western horse comes in off the range and has never been touched by human hands since he was branded as a colt, he's chock full of ginger and pep. The average western horse wrangler breaks in his new mount by man-handling him with quirt and spur, but Uncle Sam doesn't approve of this method and the horse must be gentled according to the rules and regulations as laid down by the War Department or the brute isn't considered fit for service. So, almost any day you can see the cowpunchers at Keogh handling big, snorty cavalry mounts like they were sick kittens. Although this is an army station, the only soldiers here are the commanding officer and an orderly or so. The employees are all civilians and the wranglers are cowpunchers and expert riders. The eastern tourist looking for real western atmosphere can find it here to his heart's content, for the latter day cowboy or buckeroo is a very picturesque individual in his colored chaps, his big Stetson and his fancy rigging. There are more than one hundred civilians employed at the post in various capacities and all of the buildings are occupied.
The Remount Depot is a very important factor commercially. The Military Reservation which is now used as a range for horses, is ten miles square, 100 square miles of about 64,000 acres--quite a sizable horse ranch; in fact, the largest in the United States. There are only two other Remount Depots in the United States, neither of which approaches Fort Keogh in size. In conjunction with the training of horses, Captain Van Lear, the commanding officer, operates a very extensive farm and the fodder crop materially reduces the operating expenses of the institution."
"This is Uncle Sam's horse ranch where they break horses for the army. It is a sort of concentration camp way out here in the center of the greatest horse country in America, maintained by the War Department and where horses are brought from all over the west and put through their paces. When a western horse comes in off the range and has never been touched by human hands since he was branded as a colt, he's chock full of ginger and pep. The average western horse wrangler breaks in his new mount by man-handling him with quirt and spur, but Uncle Sam doesn't approve of this method and the horse must be gentled according to the rules and regulations as laid down by the War Department or the brute isn't considered fit for service. So, almost any day you can see the cowpunchers at Keogh handling big, snorty cavalry mounts like they were sick kittens. Although this is an army station, the only soldiers here are the commanding officer and an orderly or so. The employees are all civilians and the wranglers are cowpunchers and expert riders. The eastern tourist looking for real western atmosphere can find it here to his heart's content, for the latter day cowboy or buckeroo is a very picturesque individual in his colored chaps, his big Stetson and his fancy rigging. There are more than one hundred civilians employed at the post in various capacities and all of the buildings are occupied.
The Remount Depot is a very important factor commercially. The Military Reservation which is now used as a range for horses, is ten miles square, 100 square miles of about 64,000 acres--quite a sizable horse ranch; in fact, the largest in the United States. There are only two other Remount Depots in the United States, neither of which approaches Fort Keogh in size. In conjunction with the training of horses, Captain Van Lear, the commanding officer, operates a very extensive farm and the fodder crop materially reduces the operating expenses of the institution."