The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1881-05-05
A COWBOYS LIFE
Crossing the Mountains with 1000 Cattle
"A stampede In the Mountains Dark
Nigh

Gabrlel will require o large club ut
tachment to that horn of his, or else he
will never be able to rouse the noun.
tain cowboys" remarked Ben Haywood
Utah cattle dealer, to a Chronicle re-
porter.
''Why so?' inquired the reporter.
Because" replied Haywood, ''there
is no circumstance under which cow
boy will not sleep If not physically mo-
storm, when the crashing thunder
comes simultaneously with the glaring
sheets of lightning. the cowboy sleeps
peacefully; in dry cfeek bed, with his
head down grade, he slumbers sweetly;
in view, of tarantulas, rattlesnakes and
centipedes for bedfellows, he closes his
eyes and dreams of q heaven of unlim-
tied plug tobacco and unsiinted sleep.
Gabriels trumpet would indeed sound
in vain when the time came to check of
a drove of cowboys. Last spring was
driving 1000 head of cattle over the
Rocky mountains by the South Wyom-
ing Pass, and 'run'-the terror of cat
tie drivers place under circum-
stances which showed just how sound is
the sleep of cowboy. 1 had fifteen
boys-a boy with the cow prefix
may mean 4O-year-old man-with me-
1t takes nearly that many to start a
! drove of 1000 cattle, though half
| dozen boys can take care of the drove
after the first week on the road. BY
that time the cattle know what is ex-
pected of them and give us very little
| trouble. st .ssf=.
''Well, we were camped one night on
the very summit of the mountains. The
i sleeping ground for the stock was in a
little five-acre patch of grass. All
| around was sage brush and rocks of
volcanic formation. You understand
that after cattle are quietly settled ut
night on good sleeping ground three or
four men slowly ride in a circle round
in Watches the watch being changed
at midnight. have many a time seen
cowboy ON broncho, riding round
and round drove fast asleep in his sad
die. On the night in question hap
pened to be standing the first watch
myself. and had only two boys with me.
The night was overcast and dark, the
few stars which shone between the riffs
of driving clouds just serving to outline
the mass of sleeping cattle. The air
seemed surcharged with electricity. and
though there had been 10 lightning, it
was just such q night in which runs al
ways occur. 1 have heard no end of
scientific and practical explanation of
runs or tampedes-generally by men
who never saw one in their lives. 1t is
well enough to say that something
frightens them, if you know nothing
about it and want to explain it; but
that don't explain it, no way.
''They say that coyote, or some
other prowling beast, frightens one of
drove and that one infects the others
with panic and the stampede begins.
Well, it amt so. If you have drove
of 1000 or 10000 the panic affects ev-
cry one of them at exactly the same
instant. 1t is something harder to ac-
count for than by prowling coyote.
and because q run never occurs except
on such a night as have described. l
leave it to those who know all about
tell just what it is. Any way, was lit
boys on watch with me was only ten
derfoot; you understand? A man new
to the business and fresh from the East
1t was nearly IL o'clock, and had just
turned my horses head towards camp,
which was about fifty yards in the rear
of the sleeping ground, to make up the
relief watch, when the run commenced.
Every one of that drove of 4, 900 was on
its feet like flash, and at exactly the
same instant. With rush like whirl-
wind which levels forest, they were
off in the darkness, the strong and
heavy ones in the lead, of course. The
rattling of horns and the laundering of
hoofs was deafening. The effect it has
on the person who experiences it for the
first time was shown by the action OF
the tenderfoot.
HE turned his horses tail toward the
stampede, buried his spurs in his bron-
cho's flank. and never stopped until he
was out of hearing. He was crazier
with fright than the widest steer in the
drove. Well, seeing $4,000 worth of
stock running away from me. and hav-
ing had thirteen years experience.
naturally acted different. By the spec
trail starlight could see the cattle out
lined as = black, rushing, gathering.
laundering stream, rushing wildly, and
at each instant becoming wilder, over
rocks and stretch of sage-brush. My
horse was trained in the business and
knew what was the trouble as well. and
just as soon, too, as l did. l did not
have to guide him. 1 followed along
by the side of the stampede. and soon
try and turn a run too quick. kept by
the side of the leaders and quartering
on them, striking their flanks and push
ing gradually against them on the left.
slowly turned the leaders slightly to the
right. If that can be done, it is only a
matter of time before the line of cattle
will smilr itself The leaders only need
be turned, the rest all blindly follow.
BY constantly keeping them turned to
the right, the leaders were swung clear
around finally, and overlook the fag-
end of the line.
''There they were, running around in
Il circle. the center of which soon closed
up and they were milling; that is, they
had formed a solid wheel and kept GO
ing round themselves in the same space
of ground. tell you that cowboy and
myself did some tall riding round that
'milP to keep the outside stock from fly
ing off Mt tangent, as they will do
sometimes. Little by little they slowed
down. and as soon as we could make
our voices heard we quieted them by
singing aud talking to them. There is
nothing which will bring Il crazy steer
to his senses as quick as the sound of Il
human voice, and if You can only sing
little you can do the work all the
quicker. The clashing and cracking of
horns and the pounding of hoofs grew
less and less dcafening; one after an
other would recognize our voices and
slow down, until finally. almost rs sud-
denly as it had started. the run was Mt
an end, and the cattle as quiet and
well-behaved as ever. In the morning
the circle where the mill had been was
as devoid of vegetation as a dancing
hall. The sage-brush was ground to
powder, and the ground looked exactly
as though it had been prepared for a
circus ring. Through the sage-brush
where the stock had run straight
smooth swath was cut, as il by NOW
ing machine with a potato digging at
tachment. started to say how cow
boy could sleep; throughout that run.
throughout the excitement. the deafen-
ing noise and the danger, these cow
boys in camp slept as they might if in a
feather bed in the Palace Hotel"