What started as the nostalgic whimsy of three friends has become a corporate extravaganza of 3,000 real and fancied cowpokes, 300 covered wagons and 4,000 cattle, rolling across the prairie and through the mountains of Montana for six days.
It's an Old West cattle drive like the Old West never saw, a state-sanctioned event to celebrate Montana's 100th anniversary of statehood in a nostalgic, vaguely authentic re-creation of the grand and glorious days of the open range frontier.Cold beer and entertainment every night. And no rustlers.
The Great Montana Centennial Cattle Drive is just one of scores of events sanctioned by the Montana Centennial Commission, but it stands alone for its grandiose scope, gaudy exuberance and big-time price tag.
Officials of the non-profit Latigo Corp., established to organize the drive, estimate the cost at anywhere from $400,000 to $1 million, depending on variables such as the fees for country-western talent who will entertain at the wagon train each night. Grammy Award winner Lee Greenwood headlines the final concert in Billings Sept. 9.
The drive begins on Labor Day at the tiny Montana town of Roundup, chosen as the origin partly for the name.
It will roll southward 60 miles in a leisurely six days, from the banks of the Musselshell River, through the Bull Mountains, across the prairie, ending near the Yellowstone River at the livestock auctions of Billings. That's about the same pace as the cattle drives of 100 years ago.
"This drive will not be of the Hollywood cowboy school, but rather a 1989 drive which will honor and pay tribute to all the great drives of the past," said western cartoonist Stan Lynde, an originator of the idea.
Billings officials will close some streets for the herd when it arrives, and U.S. 87 south of Roundup will be closed to traffic for two days.
"It is a federal route, but this is an extraordinary event," said Roger Scott, division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration. "There has never been a cattle drive like this."
About 100 drovers - experienced cowhands - have been hired to drive the main herd and a separate lead herd of some 300 longhorns.
The wagon train will follow with its mixture of dudes, nostalgists and adventurers, ranging from celebrities such as television magnate Ted Turner to would-be Westerners from as far away as Japan and Australia.
The youngest drover is 13-year-old Turk Stovall of Billings, who has worked cattle since he was 2.
The basic plan, as conceived by cartoonists Lynde and Barry McWilliams and a friend, Jim Wempner, was simple: Re-create an old-time cattle drive and let the public help drive it to market. Then sell the herd and go home.
It sounded so simple.
The original goal was 10,000 cattle and 5,000 riders, but that proved too ambitious a goal for the drive, which bogged down in logistics and personalities and almost died.
As recently as the end of July, a top official said Latigo would "cut our losses" and cancel the drive if the enormous logistical and financial requirements could not be met.
After complaints about lack of organization led to some firings and resignations, officials say they have things under control.
Latigo officials won't discuss some aspects of the finances, noting that Latigo is a private corporation, and say simply that such things as corporate pledge amounts are "not the public's business." They say there will be an audit and full disclosure after the drive.
Some of the financing and organization show ingenious modern twists.
When Nelson Story brought the first great herd from Texas to Montana in 1866, for instance, he paid the cowboys to help him, as Latigo is paying the drovers.
But the other riders who want to come on the centennial drive are paying Latigo - $130 to $150 for meal tickets, plus $25 to feed their horses - and contributing a cow to the herd, besides.
If they don't have a cow, Latigo will rent them one. And a horse.
Nelson Story hired a cook. Latigo hired two catering companies.
Any profit will go to a fund to provide scholarships for rural Montana youngsters and economic development projects in rural Montana. Two foundations have pledged $2 million in matching funds.
The fund will get 2 percent of the sale of the cattle, and some donors of cattle are contributing more.
Other money-making devices include sale of licenses to identify products with the drive, an auction of donated art and Western items at the conclusion of the drive in Billings and a country-western concert in Billings that night.
Riders must sign waivers freeing Latigo of liability for any mishaps to rider or horse, but the corporation also has taken an $11 million liability insurance policy as well.
Authenticity is not a major goal of the celebration, but participants are not allowed to wear baseball-style caps, tennis shoes or bright-colored jeans. Backpacker tents will be allowed only if their colorful modern fabric is hidden by plain canvas.
And in 1866, Nelson Story never had to tell his cowboys to bring sun-block and bug spray.