Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-01-02
OUR NEIGHBORS,

Kansas, there is almost always cayote
two not far away. And wien one Of
,.c,e animals begins bowling at night,
'r just before daybreak in the morning,
person not accustomed to their noise
~oull think there were dozen of
:lem; for every cayote cur is so gifted
that he can howl in two or three differ
"nt voices; first yelp, then falsetto
howl, then dog-ike bark, and then all
three at once, blended in one wild out
rry,
Tho sudden bursting forth of these
cries in the silence of the night is at
once startling and incompArably doleful
The first time I heard them, the wild,
'lissonant, doleful sounds fairly made
my heart sink. It was the night after
we moved on to our new stock farm,
and, being little homesick, the. wild
howlings depressed me all the more.
But one gets used to their noise, and,
strange as it may seem, sometimes
actually comes to enjoy it. If one OF
these animals is about, you always know,
ut least, when to get up in the morning;
for at daybrcak Mr.. Cayote is pretty
sure to lift up his many melodious
voices in a long polyglot howl. It is
the cock-crow of the plains.
The Kansas cayotes-and cayotes are
much alike all through the West, am
told always seemed to me to be inter-
mediate between tho gray fox and the
timber wolf They remind one Of the
fox, not only in their rusty gray coats,
but in their movements and habits;
and vet they seem somewhat wolfsh.
The peaked nose, prick ears and
bushy tail arc much like those of the
fox; and the dark and dusky markings
round tie jowls and on the legs look
foxy. In their yapping and bowling,
they are fox and wolf combined. In
size they are about halfway between
the two. Nature, in getting up ma
rauder for the open plains, appears to
have struck mean betwixt p1Ilpes and
lupus.
The first year of Our herding, we had
our main cattle-pen OF "crick" pretty
well down to the Indian lands, and the
cattle ranged over the line. Nothing
was then said of trespass, though there
has since been trouble about it.
We started in business with eighty,
seven young COWS, thirty-four 2-year.
old steers, and twenty-six yearlings, and
that first fall we mustered seventy-siz
calves. These made q considerable
herd, about as large as my brother and
I could comfortably look after
We did not build q house the first
year, nor even make "dig-out," but
lived in our SCHOONER" or large COW
cred wagon. 1t was good place tc
sleep, and we picketed our ponies round
it,
We had small stove. with funne
len or twelve feet high, and big stone
set on it, to keep the wind from blow
ing it over. We should never have
made "dig-out" at all, but for tor
nado. which tore the SCHOONER" il
pieces, toward the last of the SECOND
spring we were there.
About hundred rods farther up thu
>reek, in the bluff-ike bank, oayott
had his burrow. It was hole some
what like that made by fox, . little
larger, perhaps, and there were three O.
four entrances leading into it.
One OF these entrances, or outlets
was on the very top of the bank, wher'
the creature could poke his head III
and take survey Of the vicinity. An
other was down the side of the bluff
a kind of back-door, opening towar.
the water; and still another emerge.
beside rock, twenty yards or NOR
farther up the bank.
We afterward surmised that this las
was sort of secret portal, whence tn
animal could escape in case any on
tried to corner" him in his burrow.
Then there was fourth hole, til
purpose of which was best known t
the proprietor himself. For, no doub
he had his dig-oatt arranged in mar
ner best to suit his own style of living
Judging from the piles of yellow di1
which he had thrown out, the burro
must have been quite commodious.
Here our fellow-settler spent his da,
times, in slumbering, it is likely. Nea
ly every night, after dark, We could hes
his evening salutatory of yelps, snarl
aud barks. That meant that his hui
fo1 iack~rabbits was about to begin-ft
This was his customary business in tt
night.
He was bad neighbor. Anythin
eft about the stove, in the way OF baoo
,r fat, was sure to be gone in the morl
ing. Once the brute carried off near
whole ham. My brother shot at
,wo or three times after that, al
'.otched one of it's ears with bullet
Very early in the morning, we wou]
sometimes see the cayote, sitting U
''ke a dog, near his hole, looking wit
- wistful expression at the cattle in Il
corral chewing their cuds. This vi
probably after poor night for jack
Going to bed on an empty stomach wit
50 much good nice beef in sight W
hard lines"
Edward (my brother) would som
times send ball up that way. If Il
cayote saw MIN about to shoot, he wou
instantly disappear. Sometimes T
would fire from the wagon. At Il
puff of smoke, the animal would due
there would be momentary glimpse
it's bushy tail, and that would be last
him for that day.
The sheep-herders sometimes 10
heavily by wolves. But even in pacl
cayotes never attempt 70 pull do1