The Osceola times., 1882-05-27
A COWBOYS LIFE.
Crossing the Mountains with 1000 Cattle
A Stampede In the Mountains OH Dark
NtUhf
San Francisco Chronicle


Night.
San Francisco Chronicle.
Gabriel will require large club at
tachment to that horn of his, or else he
will never be able TO rodeo the mountain
cowboys" remarked Ben Haywood, g
Utah cattle dealer to a Chronicle repor-
ter.
"Why so ?" asked the reporter.
Because" replied Haywood, there is
no circumstance under which cowboy
will not sleep if not physically molested.
In the midst of a mountain storm, when
the crashing thunder comes simultane-
ously with the glaring sheets Of lightning
the cowboy sleeps peacefully in dry
creek bed, with his heap down grade, he
slumbers sweetly in view of tarantulas,
rattlesnakes andcentipedes for bedfellows
he closes his eyes and dreams of a heav-
en- of unlimited plug tobacco and unstin-
ted sleep. Gabriels trumpet would in
deed sound IN vain when the time came
to check of drove of cowboys.
Last Spring l was daiving 1000 head
of cattle over the Rocky Mountains by
the South Wyoming Pass, and ram
the terror of cattle drivers-took place
under circumstances which showed Just
how sound is the sleep Of a cowboy. l
had fifteen boys-a boy with the cow
prefix may mean 40 year old man with
me. 1t takes that many to start drove
of 1900 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 expected Of them
they give us very little trouble.
"Wen, VIC were camped one night on
the very summit of the mountains. The
sleeping ground for the stock was in a
little five acre patch of grass. All around
were sage brush and rocks Of volcanic
formation.
"You understand that after cattle are
quietly settled at night on good sleeping
ground three or four men slowly ride in
in circle round them. This is done by
RELAYS of men in Watches the watch be-
ing changed at midnight. l have many
q time seen a cowboy on broncho, rid
ing round and round a drove at night
fast asleep in his saddle.
'On the night in question i happened
to be standing the first watch myself and
had only two boys with me The night
was overcast and dark, the few stars that
shone between the riffs of driving clouds
just serving to outline the mass of sleep
ing cattle. The air seemed surcharged
with electricity, and though there had
been no lightning, it was just such a
night in which runs always occur. have
heard no end of scientific and practi-
cal explanations of runs or stampedes-
generally by men VINO never saw one in
their lives. 1t is well enough to say that
something frightens them, If you know
nothing about it; but that don't explain
it, no way.
"Then say that cayote, or some 9TH
or prowling beast, frightens one of a
drove and that one infects the others
with panic and the stampede begins
Well, it amt so. Ifyou have drove of
900 or 10000 the panic effects every
one of them at exactly the same instant.
It is sometimes harder TO account for
than by proving cayote, and because
run never occurs except on such a
night as have described. leave it to
those who know all about atmospheric
influences and such, to tell just what it
is.
Anyway, was a little uneasy tina
night, for one of the two boys on watch
with me was only tender-foot; under
stand? A man new to the business and
fresh from the East 1t was nearly II
o'clock, and l 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 1000 was
on its feet like flash, and at exactly the
same instant. With rush like whirl-
wind which levels a 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 per-
son who experiences it for the first time
was shown by the action of the tender
foot.
"He turned his horses tail toward the
stampede, buri I'd his spurs in his bron
cos TANKS. 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 having
had thirteen years experience, | natu-
rally acted different. By the spectral
starlight could see the cattle outlined
as black, rushing, clattering, thunder
ing stream, rushing wildly, and at each
instant becoming wilder, over rocks and
a stretch ofsage-brush.
"My horse was trained in the business
ard knew what was the trouble as well,
and just as soon, too, as did.
did not have to guide HIM. / followed
along by the side of the stampede, and
soon overlook the leaders. 1t don't do
to try and turn run too quick. kept
by the side of the leaders and quartering
on them, striking their flanks and push
in gradually against them on the left,
slowly turned the leaders slightly 10 the
right If that can be done, it is only
matter of time before the line of cattle
will 'mill' 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, aud overlook the fag end
of the line.
"They were running around in cir
Gle, the center Of which soon closed up
and they were milling that is, they had
formed a solid wheel and kept going
round and ronnd themselves in the same
space Vi grouhu. ,eii you .ia' ""
boy and myself did some tall riding
round that mill to keep the outside
stock from flying ofrat 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 and talking to them.
"There is nothing which will bring a
crazy steer TO his senses as quick as the
sound of a human voice, and il you can
only sing little you can do the work all