Bitterroot Valley Shepherds find niche with wool trade blankets

BILLINGS — Some western Montana sheep growers are weaving history into business, hoping their line of wool blankets similar to those
Lewis and Clark carried across the West might help boost their profits.

By BECKY BOHRER
Associated Press Writer The Great Falls Tribune

"We wanted to take advantage of a naturally occurring marketing and build a following for our wool," said Jane Lambert of Montana
Shepherd’s Market LLC, a group of four family producers that has the soft shorn wool from about 750 sheep raised in the Bitterroot Valley
turned into long, luxurious blankets.

Montana Shepherd’s Market is among a growing crop of businesses trying to add value to their products. Agriculture officials are
encouraging such efforts at value-added production, and a state program is offering marketing guidance and financial assistance for the
ventures.

Lambert said the idea for the wool blankets came both from necessity and an interest in the Lewis and Clark expedition.

"I guess anger and frustration got me to thinking, ‘What can we do?’ I know we’re on the Lewis and Clark trail. So I figured they’d have to
have had wool blankets," she said.

And, she learned, they did. Through research and discussions with Billy Maxwell, who has studied historical textiles, she learned more
about the blankets produced during the era, including standard sizes and colors.

In just over a year, the producers have developed a relationship with an established Minnesota mill and an online business. They plan to
market their blankets along the Lewis and Clark trail and to expand the product line to larger blankets that could be used as bedspreads.

"We are, in a way, still finding our legs," Lambert said. "It’s very satisfying to have a dream turn to an idea turn to reality."

While Lambert was familiar with the expedition, she needed to know more about what the explorers brought, in order to make her products
more historically accurate. Maxwell told her about the blankets of the era — some issued for sleeping or warmth and others for trade or
gifts.

Next month, Lambert hopes to contact museums, interpretive centers and businesses along the Lewis and Clark trail to generate interest
in the blankets.

Maxwell, of the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at Great Falls, said the blankets resemble those produced during the period in which
Lewis and Clark explored.

On the Net:

Montana Shepherd’s Market: http://www.woolsoft.net/

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20020330/localnews/33578.html