Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1879-06-10
For THE 0xroRD DEMOCRAT.
A DAY ON OUR RANCH.
GREELEY, COLORADO, /
MAY -, 1879.
Dear Mr.. Editor.

huJ -, loay'
Dear Mr.. Editor:
Let US bridge over the two thousand
miles that lie between Us, with one slight
effort of the fancy, and spend the day to-
gether at our cottage In town. Your YER
liable presence would be much better; but
| would not expect you to break the ties
that bind you to the Pine Tree State for u
single hours enjoyment elsewhere, save in
fancy.
Here We all are then, ready to greet you /;
father and mother, three girls and two
boys, in fancy, we presumed one house
maid and three young men, who carry on
the place. The whole landscape Is tinged
with a soft green, for there have been heavy
rains. 1t will not be SO long, for the air is
dry and the heat great and the bluffs VIII
soon be brown and parched. Still the
cattle That you see, dotting the landscape,
will continue to laugh, as It were, and
grow fat. The grass will curl down into
sweet and nutritious uncut hay, and If too
much rain does not fall, IL will hold its
fattening qualities for mouths. Capital
keeps coming TO find Investment In cattle
ON these plains, and will continue to do so,
so long as steers, rolling fat, can be grown
to the weight of 200 lbs. for i've dollars
or less.
L. lrott AZ
yes have been telling you only half OF
the truth. The powers that be, don't allow
the course of true love TO run smooth or
fortunes TO be- won without risk or effort.
The man who built yonder white cottage
among the trees, turned out good share
OF all his earthly wealth in cattle. think
there were twenty-six head. That was
seven years ago. He has since seen only
one OF that brand aud she went forth
calf and came back almost an elephant in
size. Numbers or men have turned out a
few head, only To lose them all. The field
is too large, say 600 miles long, and the
owners so many that to look for n dozen
animals Of any one brand Is like hunting
for bird shot in a sand-bank. The rich
stock men, with their thousands and tens
OF thousands OF cattle, absorb the poor
men. And then the stealing on the range
is enormous, but almost past finding out.
Men have been caught and punished for
driving hundreds OF animals east in one
drove, and shipping them as their own.
You ask what grove that is yOnderf
Why, bless your soul that is the town OF
Greeley. The people have planted so many
cottonwood and box elder trees, and they
have grown SO fast in this land that was
desert nine years ago, under the coaxing
OF the irrigating water, that the town II
all covered up. A third OF mile west
ward is the house Of \. c. Mukee, founder
OF this colony, but it is totally hidden by
the trees. You can see the tops OF the
brick stores, and now and then a portion
of dwelling house; but soon the town
will look to him who approaches It, like
patch OF green IN the desert.
Yonder are the mill and warehouse OF
5. ). Kennedy < Co. There is not better
OF this mill may be heard night as well as
day Some OF this Hour was sent to the
yellow fever sufferers, and straightway
word came that the Greeley aour was best
Of all, and the price per car load was
asked.
Look out for the prickley pear! The
thorns penetrate thin calf-skin. Our chill
drcn and our ponies soon learn TO avoid
them. This rill Of water enables US TO
irrigate our crops and trees. Here the
children obtain water TO drown out the
festive ground squirrel and the baby wades
to cool his hot and tired limbs. These
cottonwoodS that now are loaded with
little cotton balls that will soon burst and
I'LL the air with fleece, now afford an agree
able shade, as one lies in the hammock
beneath them. l brought these trees here
on my shoulders eight years ago, when
they were not thicker than my thumbs.
Now they are six 10 nine inches in diane
ter, and twenty feet high. The larks and
blackbirds perch here and sing. The
butcher-blrd sometimes slaughters his vic
tins in these trees, in most businesS-like
way, empsling his grasshopper or mouse
Ill h, cl ttpier
then pulling 1t in pieces in very deliber-
ate fashion.
The garden is getting green with peas,
beans and corn. The fruit trees planted
this spring, are coming into leaf We are
fencing them in lest some stray animal
injure them. The great outside fence, 80
miles long, which encloses the colony, pro-
tects us from the inroads of the range
cattle, but the internal foe that prowleth
about at midnight, must be considered.
We have splendid view of the Rocky
Mountains, all covered with snow. The
hot weather is touching them, too, for the
river is rising fast. When we need water
the sorest, the river is fullest.
1t is almost five O'Clock in the morning,
but the young men sleep peacefully in the
hay-stack. They are in love with sleeping
out-of-doors Let us call them from their
sky-can6pied bed. 1t is time for them to
leave their dewy couch OF bunilo robes and
blankets, and hasten to milking the thirty
odd cows. Up one sits at our third call,
and like Lord Marmion, doth wildly
stare" 1t is Herbert, ex-comedian and
bookseller from the Hub. With eyes