St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-09-02

ly by the following mass. On and on
they rush as long as the storm lasts,
which is seldom more than two hours,
and as the storm subsidies they grad
ually slacken their pace, and finally lie
down en- masse completely tagged out.
The herders find themselves twenty
or thirty miles from home, with moth
ing to eat and night coming on but
they don't mind that. They take
pull at their canteens, which they al
ways carry, picket their ponies and
rolling themselves in their blankets, lie
down on the wet ground to sleep. In
the morning they start the herd slowly
back on to the range, sometimes being
two or three days on the return. Her
ders' wages are from S25 to s35 per
month and board.
The number of cattle whose proper
ranges front on the Canadian is over
300 900. A great beef country this is ;
consequently, you say, a country where
every body has plenty of fat beef, but
ter, milk, cheese, etc. Not at all,
milk for your coffee is a rarity and
luxury long to be remembered, but
ter is seldom seen, and when seen 1t
has been brought 200 miles, from the
railroad. and is better fit for wagon
grease than for the palate of mankind.
Cheese is altogether unheaTd of. A
Texas heifer to be MIXED must first be
caught, which is no small job. She
must be singled out of the herd and
literally run down, lassoed, cast and
bound. For all this trouble you will
probably get two quarts of very poor
milk. Verify, the Panhandle is not a
dairy country and there are not many
months in the year when the people in
the Panhandle have good fresh beef
for their own use. In summer meat
spOils very rapidly on the plains. The
flesh of an animal killed i'll the morn
ing will be alive again before sunset
alive with "crawlers." Ice of course
is not to be had. The population is
thin and scattered, so that to kill a
beef would be wasteful, as not half OF
it could be eaten. Hence for the great
er part of the year it is like the shoe
makers children, going barefoot. But
if the beef is sometimes hOrrid, when
it is good it is very, very good, like
the little girl in the story book. Never
in the best appointed butchers stalls o.
the East could better beef be fOunC
than they have on the Panhandle ran
ges in the fall of the year. The herdel
then puts his teeth through as fine /
steak as a London alderman.
Five years ago Andrew Carlton haC
stock on his range valued at 5000
This falls drive of beeves to Dodge
City, Kansas, will complete the sun
of the original cost and running eXpen
SEES. and the value of stock remaining
on the range will be 5000 900 or more
f Per head, the cost of raising cattle t.
the age for shipment generally three
or four years., increases as the numbe
E of animals diminishes. A bad yea
may cripple the man of small means
while to him of larger operations ther'
is still enough left to enable him t.
recover his ground quickly. The cat
tie concerns of the Canadian are most
H. b;,, - fairs ruuninp from IL 600 [,
$4,000 head of cattle, and those OF onl!
5000 are apt to be thought rather one
. horse concerns. 1t is estimated that a
least 10000 head of cattle died from eX
f posure in the Panhandle during TIN
r excessively cold weather oflast winter
f At some other time | may speak o
I the grand spring roundup" ant
4 branding time. E. H. b.