Cattle Brands

The N bar N in the board's first column began as a kitchenware fortune. The St. Louis brothers Frederick and William Niedringhaus, makers of enameled Granite Ironware, formed the Home Land & Cattle Company in September 1885, chose two N's for themselves and ran 65,000 head from Little Dry Creek northwest of Miles City in 1886. After the winter of 1886-87 they recapitalized at $1,000,000 and restocked from Texas; for several years almost every other herd driven north to Montana carried their brand. The N-N turns up in many of Charles M. Russell's paintings.

What the plaque says

Cattle Brands Many a dogie *(not "doggie" - dudes please note) has been decorated with one of these famous Montana irons. Running CA · Bug · Seven VM · Square & Compass Seventy nine · Circle C · Shaving mug · Quarter circle U DHS · Monogram SH · Forty · Lazy H hanging 2 Three circle · Bar R · L U bar · Reversed E 2 bar N bar N · Flying D · Umbrella · Lazy P swinging 9 Turkey track · Long X · Spearhead · Two pole pumpkin Hat X · Bull head · Rocking Chair · Seven bar seven Three sevens · Two dot · Antler · Monogram FUF N bar · Inverted TX · Three V's · Railroad track Pitch fork · Hash knife · Hour glass · Monogram PLE Fish hook · Two A bar · Rafter circle · Horseshoe bar Piece of pie · Mill Iron · W bar · Circle diamond C K · Circle · U Lazy J · Maltese cross * A dogie is a little calf who has lost its mammy and whose daddy has ran off with another cow.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Keogh — 21 mi
  Nelson Miles's post at the mouth of the Tongue, built after the Little Bighorn, a remount depot by 1909 and a range lab since 1924.
• Miles City Bucking Horse Sale — 23 mi
  A sale of bucking stock that began with thirty-five unwanted horses in 1950 and became eastern Montana's biggest weekend.

More markers nearby

• Rosebud — steps away
• The Hell Creek Formation — steps away
• Join the Voyage of Discovery — steps away
• The Miles City Air Force Station — 1.4 mi