Adkin Wallace Kingsbury and the Big Sag Flocks of Montana

Who was Adkin Wallace Kingsbury?

Adkin Wallace Kingsbury (1842-1924) was one of the most important sheepmen in early Montana. The Hall of Great Westerners biography says he was born in Missouri, was running a livery barn in Helena by 1871, and became general manager of a sheep company that fall. The museum inducted him in 1971 into the Hall of Great Westerners, one of three halls of fame at the museum, which was established in 1955. The hall also honors cattle kings, cowboys and Western writers.

That puts a wool man in a hall mostly known for beef. It is a useful reminder that Montana's livestock history was never only cattle. The museum record for Kingsbury is short, so the sections below set out the verified career first and then explain the sheep business he worked in.

A Helena livery barn and a flock from Oregon

By 1871 Kingsbury was in Helena, Montana, operating a livery barn. In the fall of that year he became general manager of Davenport, Ray and Company. The company brought 1,800 sheep from Oregon to Montana, and Kingsbury looked after the flock. Over four years it grew to 6,000 head.

That growth is the first number in his record. A flock more than tripling in four years points to careful lambing and winter care, though the sources do not describe his methods, so we do not claim details.

How the Big Sag Land and Livestock Company took shape

In 1892 the company was reorganized as the Big Sag Land and Livestock Company, with Kingsbury as president and general manager. The museum reports that from 1908 to 1910 the firm ran a flock of 30,000. That is five times the flock he had tended in the mid-1870s, and it shows an operation that kept expanding for more than three decades.

The name itself suggests a range tied to land holdings as well as livestock, but the sources we could open do not give acreage, brands or the location of the home range, and we will not guess.

Why sheep made sense in Montana

Montana's sheep industry grew quickly in the years Kingsbury worked in it. According to the Digital Public Library of America exhibit on Montana ranching, Father DeSmet brought sheep to the Bitterroot Valley in 1847, and the industry grew after 1,500 sheep arrived from Oregon in the Beaverhead Valley in 1869. The first herd in eastern Montana came to Miles City in 1876.

Drought, overgrazing and the severe winter of 1886 and 1887 hurt the cattle industry, and sheep then grazed land that had held cattle. By 1890 sheep were the main livestock shipped out of Montana. The same source says sheep handled the winters well and cost less to raise than cattle, and wool brought in yearly profits. Owners eventually relied more on winter feeding and less on open range.

Great Falls: opera house and bank

In 1894 Kingsbury moved to Great Falls. There he helped finance an opera house and served as one of the original directors of the First National Bank of Great Falls. The move to town marks a familiar pattern in the West, where successful stockmen became bankers and civic backers once their herds or flocks were established.

The sources do not say how much he invested or how long the opera house operated, and they do not give his later years beyond his death in 1924.

Learn more

To see how Kingsbury fits Montana's livestock story, read the Digital Public Library exhibit above and the museum biography. For more Western livestock history, see the ranching section of farm.FM and a farm.FM story about Montana sheep ranching.