Wibaux's ranching life (1883-1900)

He arrived in America in spring 1883 and went straight to Chicago to study the meat packing industry. There he met the Marquis de Mores, a young adventurous Frenchman, who encouraged him to settle in the plains and to get in the cattle business. Once arrived in the West, Wibaux selected for his headquarters a site on Beaver Creek, close to a whistle-stop of the newly constructed Northern Pacific railway then called Keith. At this time, Theodore Roosevelt, then an adventurous young man from the east, who came out to the frontier to win his spurs and regain his health, was also settling in the neighborhood (his ranch was the Chimmey Butte). So Wibaux became acquainted with him.

He then entered into a short-lived partnership with Gustave Grisy, a childhood friend of him. Their outfit was called the G Anchor W. Wibaux spent the winter of 1883-84 in Europe. On March 13, 1884, he married Nellie Cooper in Dover, England and then returned together to Montana. In November 1884, Wibaux and Grisy split up. Wibaux bought Grisy out of their cattle partnership and continued his ranching enterprise with the brand W (W bar).

Up through the winter of 1886-87, he was not a particularly cattleman: after splitting up with Grisy, Wibaux went on with about 800 head of his own.

During this killer winter (the cattle deaths are generally reckoned at 80% or more), Wibaux returned to France and borrowed half a million dollars and returned to Montana, where he bought out a multitude of outfits at bargain prices. Indeed, he spent the year 1887 buying up the remnants of the surrounding outfits. At its peak in the 1890s, according to reliable estimations, the W owned about 65,000 cattle and 300 saddle horses. Hence, he gained the surname of “cattle king”.

In the 1890s, his range was huge. It consisted of over 35,000 acres which lied in two states (2/3 in North Dakota, 1/3 in Montana) [traverses par] the Beaver Creek, a perpetual stream. The ranch headquarters was located about 12 miles north of the town of Wibaux (formerly called Keith and then Mingusville), which had been gradually enlarged. Another ranch was built up about 50 miles north of the main one. In addition, there were several line cabins and a camp for a wolfer and his dogs.

Rodeos were put on by the cowboys of the W for the entertainment of members of the French nobility visiting the Wibaux ranch. One of the features was a roping contest, staged on the plains without the aid of enclosures.

Pierre Wibaux was an excellent horseman and he was fond of boxing. He often rode on the spring round-up. Physically, he is described as quite tall weighted nearly 200 pounds. As someone once put it, “he had the erect carriage of a man who had spent years in military training”. As a man, he was known as “a good man to work for, fair to his men, kind and thoughtful to his proven friends, but overbearing and haughty with those who tried to use his friendship to further their own designs”.

Pierre Wibaux dressd in cow-boy

The town of Wibaux stands at the eastern gateway of Montana. It is the settlement the Northern Pacific railroad touches after entering Montana. For a while, this place was named Keith, then Mingusville when Gustave Grisy was the postmaster and held a saloon-hotel. But it was soon corrupted into Dingusville because of the mismanagement of Grisy. Then, Pierre Wibaux took the town in hand: it then has grown and improved in a marked degree. It was still a little place (500 residents) but it gave the impression of an abiding place of a thrifty and prosperous community, which is proud of the freshly painted houses and public buildings, of the well-kept door yards, with stretches of green lawn and brilliant flower beds and of that general restful appearance. Anyway, the reconstructed little town was re-christened Wibaux as a sign of gratefulness for his work. Besides, Pierre Wibaux erected his office building there, whose surrounding grounds are handsomely kept and constantly under improvement.

Wibaux's office in the town of Wibaux, MT