Montana. Brands-Enforcement Division

The office of the General Recorder of Marks and Brands was established in 1872 by a legislative act providing that the Clerk of the Supreme Court maintain an office for recording brands for cattle, horses, and sheep. An act approved in 1877 moved the duties to the Territorial Treasurer, who maintained these duties until 1887 when they were transferred to the Board of Stock Commissioners. The Secretary of the Board of Stock Commissioners filled the position of General Recorder of Marks and Brands from 1887 until 1917, when the Board was abolished. From 1917 until 1971 the Secretary of the Livestock Commission filled the position. In 1971 the duties of Recorder of Marks and Brands were transferred to the Brands-Enforcement Division in the newly created Department of Livestock. They have remained within that department until the present.

In February 1865 the first Montana Territorial Legislature passed "An Act concerning marks and brands" which barred two people from using the same brand in any one county and required the registering of all brands with the county clerk. Brand registration was made a territory-wide requirement in 1872, under the Clerk of the Supreme Court. Beginning in 1877, registraton was handled by the State Treasurer. The Board of Stock Commissioners was created in 1885. The Secretary of the Board was, ex officio, the Recorder of Marks and Brands, and had the power to hire stock inspectors for Montana and for selected out-of-state markets such as St. Paul, Minnesota. All stock shipped out of the territory had to carry a brand. In 1915, the inspection law was amended to require inspection whenever livestock was transported across county lines. Proceeds from the sale of cattle branded with other people's brands had to be turned over to the stock inspector for distribution to the brand owners. In 1917 the Board of Stock Commissioners and the Board of Sheep Commissioners were legally merged to form the new Livestock Commission. For the next 12 years the Commission shared a secretary with the Montana Stockgrowers Association. In 1929 Paul Raftery was appointed as the Commission's first full-time executive officer, acting ex officio as Recorder of Marks and Brands. After Raftery's death in 1946 Ralph Miracle took over the position, to be followed in 1954 by William G. Cheney. Under the executive reorganization of 1971, the Department of Livestock became the administrative arm of the Livestock Commission and the Livestock Sanitary Board. The functions of the Recorder of Marks and Brands were taken over by the new Brands Enforcement Division.