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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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091889
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09188900.044
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1990-09-17
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NATION, Page 39American NotesMONTANAA Historic Load of Bull
Dreamed up as an "epic" and "historic" way to celebrate 100
years of statehood, the Great Montana Centennial Cattle Drive
turned out to be an epic logistical headache and a historic
huckster's delight (kitschy western "art" and $3,000 gold-plated
Winchester rifles for sale). To allow 2,400 people (including a
handful of real cowboys), 200 wagons and 2,800 cattle to plod 50
miles and six days from Roundup to Billings, U.S. Highway 87 had
to be closed for two days. Saturday mail service to 15,000 Billings
residents was canceled in anticipation of the drive's arrival,
which produced something unknown in days of yore -- gridlock. One
human death (a 68-year-old spectator suffered a heart attack)
occurred during the drive, and half a dozen injuries were reported.
Another casualty, noted by few, was the historic fact that the
legendary killer winter of 1886-87 wiped out the open-range cattle
business in Montana. Great long-distance cattle drives were fading
memories before Montana became a state.