Ruined Montana Cattlemen

BtTTE, M. T., Feb. 23.- As reports from different ranges come in ït is found that the weather this season has been more severe than even reported. The loss of life will probably reach twenty-üve persons. The ciittle loss is estimated at from lifty to ieventy-flya per cent. The banks of Helena will be suffjrers to the iimount of il. 300,000, loaned and advanced to eattlemen. The loss in sheep is likewise heavy. Hay Brothers, at Ueyser Springs, lost a flock of 40,000 sheep in one storm. The sheep, getting astray from the herder in the blizzard, became all scattered, and ten days aftervvard they were found frozen to death. Several lives were lost in the Coeur Dalene country. Reports from Fort Benton show a deplorable state of affairs. Coal is $5) per ton, coal oil $5 for a three-gallon can, flour is HO per sack, potatoes can not be had, green-cut poles sell readily at $12 to Ï15. The Crow Indians say there has not been such a winter for thirty years as the present one.