Changes

===Law and order===

===Law and order===

In early 1864 in southwestern Montana some 2500 law-abiding citizens, responding to the increasing lawlessness plaguing the gold-mining towns in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, formed a vigilante society and hanged 21 villains after drumhead "trials", while warning hundreds of others to leave Montaan immediately (which they did).<ref> Frederick Allen, ''A Decent Orderly Lynching: The Montana Vigilantes'' (2004); Merrill G.  Burlingame,  "Montana's Righteous Hangmen: a Reconsideration" ''Montana: the Magazine of Western History'' 1978 28(4): 36-49 </ref>

In early 1864 in southwestern Montana some 2500 law-abiding citizens, responding to the increasing lawlessness plaguing the gold-mining towns in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, formed a vigilante society and hanged 21 villains after drumhead "trials", while warning hundreds of others to leave Montana immediately (which they did).<ref> Frederick Allen, ''A Decent Orderly Lynching: The Montana Vigilantes'' (2004); Merrill G.  Burlingame,  "Montana's Righteous Hangmen: a Reconsideration" ''Montana: the Magazine of Western History'' 1978 28(4): 36-49 </ref>

Gangs of cattle thieves and individual rustlers threatened law and order in the late 19th century. Ranchers starting in the 1870s organized Stockmen's associations to fight back. A minority of stockmen organized into vigilante groups to protect their stock, but most stockmen worked with the legislature to create a stock commission that could oversee their interests. After 11 years of lobbying stockmen finally succeeded in getting a protective law. By working within the legislative process, stockmen transformed themselves and their frontier from a place characterized by isolation and violence to one of organization and law.<ref>T. A. Clay, "A Call to Order: Law, Violence, and the Development of Montana's Early Stockmen's Organizations." ''Montana: the Magazine of Western History'' 2008 58(3): 48-63, 95-96</ref>

Gangs of cattle thieves and individual rustlers threatened law and order in the late 19th century. Ranchers starting in the 1870s organized Stockmen's associations to fight back. A minority of stockmen organized into vigilante groups to protect their stock, but most stockmen worked with the legislature to create a stock commission that could oversee their interests. After 11 years of lobbying stockmen finally succeeded in getting a protective law. By working within the legislative process, stockmen transformed themselves and their frontier from a place characterized by isolation and violence to one of organization and law.<ref>T. A. Clay, "A Call to Order: Law, Violence, and the Development of Montana's Early Stockmen's Organizations." ''Montana: the Magazine of Western History'' 2008 58(3): 48-63, 95-96</ref>