When Wool, Not Cotton, Was King

In the early part of the last century Montana was a major supplier of wool to the U.S. and international markets. It was a hard and dirty job. If you look closely at the sheep shearers, you can see the lanolin from the sheep’s’ wool staining their clothes. This photograph was taken in Billings, but the exact date is unknown. You can see the hand-powered clippers in the men’s hands, so it was before the advent of electric clippers. You can see Sacrifice Cliff in the background. Ranching and agriculture are an important part of the Montana Historical Society collections.