Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1880-01-14

pass into mon0tonous round and then
the cold weather comes, and the horder
puts on q thicker coat, and reads less,
and walks about rapidly, and stamps
his feet for warmth. And then some
day, when ho is far away from the
ranch, there comes on that dreaded
enemy of fsheep,raising-a prairie snow
storm. With but little warning the
clouds have gathered, and the snow Is
falling in thick and heavy fakes. The
sheep hurriedly huddle together, and
no power can make them move The
herder may have had time to get them
into gulch, or under bank failing
in this, there is nothing tor it but TO
stay with them, sometimes day and
a night, and trust to getting them home
when the storm is over. Not far from
Colorado Springs is gulch called the
Big Corral, in which moro than one
thousand shcHp were lost a year or two
ago, having followed each other up to
the brink, and fallen over into the
deep snow. Nor did the Mexican
herder ever return TO tell the tale, for
he shared their fate. II is with the
snow storm, indeed, that the dark side
Of the Colorado shepherds life is asso-
ciated, and the great tempest of the
Spring of 1878 left sorrowful record
behind it, 1t must be mentioned that
sheds are an innovation; that somo
ranches have none even now, and that
before they were built the sheep were
exposed, even in the corrals, to the
fury of the elements. Per contra, II
should be said that no such storm as
that OF March, 1878, has been known
since there were any sheep in this part
OF the country On this occasion thou
sands and thousands of sheep perished.
The snow was eleven feet deep in the
corrals, and sheep were dug out alive
after being buried for two and even
three weeks Their vitality seems very
great, and many perish, not from the
pressure of the snow, but from sutfoca-
ton caused by others falling or crowd
ing upon them. It Is asserted that
they sometimes, while still buried,
work their way down TO the grass and
feed thereon, But our shepherd has
taken care to have plenty of sheds, and
he knows, too, that by the doctrine of
chances he need not count on such a
storm more than once in ten years,
aud he faces the Winter with q stout
heart. Whenever il is possible TO send
the sheep out, the herder takes them,
despite the weather but when that is
impossible or indiscreet, they are fed
at home.
In May comes "lambing," and the
extra hands are busily occupied in
taking care of the young lambs. With
their mothers, they are separated from
the rest of the flock, first in small
"bunches," /" then in larger ones and in
October they are weaned In June
comes shearing--an easy and simple
operation and, if need be, "dipping'
or immersing the stock ingroat troughs
containing solution of tobacco or
lime, cures the 'scab" and completes
the years programme Our shepherd
sells his wool, counts the increase of
his flock afcer weaving, and If. as is TO
be hoped, he is good bookkeeper, he
sits down ard makes up his accounts
for the year. 1t is hard to picture a
greater contrast than that which ex-
lists between the sheep and the cattle
business, the freedom and excitement
of the latter bearing about the same
relation to the humdrum routine of the
former as does the appearance Of the
great herd Of often noble-looking ami
mails widely scattered ever the plains,
and roaming sometimes for months by
themselves, to that of the timid flock
bleating in the corral, and frightened
at the wavingofa piece of white paper.
Aud then to think Of the difference be.
tween the life OF the "cow-puncher"
(as no calls himselD, riding his spirited
horse in the company of his fellows,
and that of the herder, on foot and in
solitude, is enough to make us wonder
how men can be found for the one,
while there is the slightest chance OF
securing the othor.- Hdrper's Magazine.