CANADA’S CATTLE KING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 13 June 1928, Page 7

CANADA’S CATTLE KING.

SALE OF BIG BUSINESS. STORY OF ROMANTIC LIFE. “The biggest man, heart, soul and hank account from Winnipeg-' to the Pacific,” is the description given of 'Mr. Pat Burns, of Calgary, whose meat tracking plants and produce stores, located in evrrry-centre of size in Western Canada have been sold to the Dominion Securities Corporation, Toronto, for £3,000,000. The vendor lias accepted the presidency of the new corporation.

Mr. Burns is the last cattle king oi the. West. He ini.its from a. district that oreeds big men. At Kirkfield, Ontario, Mackenzie. Mann and Ross were born. Pat made his first cattle deal when lie was 11. and turned in a profit to iiii* father, who had a .small farm. With the •pairing up of the West Pat iturned his eyas toward Manitoba, and (settled on •a. quarter .section of 160 acres. _ Mr. Mackenzie came along, laying: the Canadian Northern, and drove a stake in Pat’s farm, to call it a .station. Pat went further West and commenced hie lifiVc vocaition of cattle dealer. In those davs, the early eighties, cattle roamed at will over thousands .of square miles, and , the fall round-up was the only means of separating the brands. Pat rode the ranges l with his punchers, 1 and was known ais a hard rider. They fell a. story to-day .in Calgary, famous or its cattle stampedes, where Pat makes his headnunrters. of how his horse stepped in a gopher hole and threw him, breaking both wrists. Pat j aught his horse and rode IB miles to a. doctor. Mr. Burns missed getting an education, and he recently stated rut an uncle rgraduaes’ banquet that they haye something that came too late for him to inquire. But what lie lost in book leaning he made up with a keen intellect vnd a finely-balanced business judgment Two thin as lie can judge beitter than anyone ei.se in the West —<a good steei vnd an honest mail. Spot cash on the I oof has been his slogan throughout. In London, Liverpool and • Yokohama ire representative agencies of Mr. Turns’ businesses of meat packing, sm*>luce stores, wholesale groceries, and reamirries'. which number 94 establisuments. He followed the lines of .steel westward, and brought • with him hk confidence in the new country. His vast me ratio nis;. to-day commemorate that, confidence, and are a big factor in providing for the Western farmer the videst available market for his cattle, hogs, sheep, poultry, eggs and cream. Unlike Kidman, the cattle king of Australia, Burns extended his operations until they embraced all the rancher's side-lines, in each of which he was himself a practical specialist.