The Cattle Drive of 1866

The panel ends with Story founding Montana's cattle industry. What his beef did next is left out. In 1876 a federal inspector charged that Story had cheated the Crow Agency, packing pork barrels with offal, stamping flour sacks twice and passing calves off as grown cattle, and accused him of trying to bribe an Army captain. He was never indicted, and the inspector reported him boasting that he had bought enough of the grand jury. Most historians now accept the charges. Even the herd is uncounted: six hundred head here, a thousand or three thousand elsewhere.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• The Crazy Mountains — steps away
• The Great Highway of the Northwest: The Yellowstone Trail — steps away
• Montana's Jurassic Park — steps away
• The Bozeman Trail — steps away