He hated to see that wide upland dotted here and there with new, raw buildings, which proclaimed themselves claim-shacks as far a one could see them.

Andy hated the sight of claim-shacks with a hatred born of long range experience and the vital interests of the cattleman.
A claim-shack stuck out on the prairie meant a barbed wire fence somewhere in the immediate vicinity; and that meant a hindrance to the easy handling of herds.

A claim-shack meant a nester, and a nester was a nuisance, with his plowed fields and his few head of cattle that must be painstakingly weeded out of a herd to prevent a howl going up to high heaven.

Therefore, Andy Green instinctively hated the sight of a shack on the prairie.

On the other hand, those shacks belonged to the Happy Family--and that pleased him.