Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-06-14
THE TEXAS COWBOY.
a Member Of the Craft Has a kindly
Word for Him.


class in the Macon (Ga-) Telegraph. He says
that the name cowboy originated in Texas, and
-is applied to those hired to herd and handle
cattle raised wild on the prairles The life being
outdoor and full of hardship and danger, re-
quires a healthy wiry, active man to endure
It. Nearly all those following it for wages are
young men, hence the name cowboys Cattle
man and stock man is the more digniied term
used in referring to cattle owners and live stock
raisers. In old Mexico, California Nevada and
Arizona. where Spaniards are largely eInployed
in the business. and where Spanish is more or
less spoken. the cowboy is called a yaauero.
o0'' Kay rd- a cowherd. In Buenos Ayres and
the vast pampas OF South America on account of
ms noinadlc life, he is called a Guacho qc1h-
clio, motherless. fatherleSs. homeless one. In
Australia he is called a stock rider. In Colo
rado, wyoming, and nearly all the Rocky noun
tain grazing region. lie goes by the ridiculous
name OF cOwpuncher.
A full trail outfit consists of foreman cook
horSc-herder, two pointers. two fankers and
four drivers. With this force from | coo to
1.5OO OF western cattle, and from Z. 600 to 8, 600
bead II Colorado natives Or Texans can be driven
over the trail at an average speed OF eight or ten
miles per day and to distance of 500 to /. 600
miles For shorter distances speed of twelve
TO twenty miles per day is often attained
Whether on range or trail. the cowboy has sufIi-
Gent always of danger and hardship to endure
but it is on the long drives over the trail
often lasting over six months. that all the grit
and sand i'm his nature are needed to enable him
to stay with it till the drive is done Between
hard riding all day, sleeepiess hours on guard
around the herd at night rain. hail SNOW frost
bistern9 hot days on the treeleSs plains blind
ing suffocating dust half blind buckinr Monies
stampedes, the possibility of losing his scalp.
sometimes snort ratiO1s, and almost daily STAG
nant alkaline water, the trail man needs TO be
made OF good leather to last we'll
whether on range or trail. each cowboy has
tt.i' 70 4.
riding. from three to six ponies These like
the cattle. are raised wild and free on the range
Till caught TO be broken. They seldom become
entirely gentle. but are always more or less
WHO ana intractabie. whenever needed for use
they have to be 'TOped' (lassoetD and every
mothers son of them will buck whenever it
1eeis fresh and lively. This buckin" is q vice
peculiar to the western horse The writer has
never seen horse bred east Of the Mississippi
river buck Bucking consists of bowling up the
back, lowering the head and Jumping stiff
legged. just as buck deer does when killing a
snake-hence the name. If an inexperienced
rider is subjected to "a severe bucking he is
apt TO wish he never had been born. The lar is
simply agony. and riders have sometimes suf-
fered conclusion OF the BRAIN bleeding of the
lungs. and died from bucking From so to l25
head OF ponies, according to size are sufficient
for an outfit. They are small and if is snDly
astonishing how the dininutive little grass fed
ponies Will carry a rider and riding rir-abOut
2oO to 80 pounds all day long in a sweeping
1ope that covers easily from forty to sixty miles
There are several breeds of them, prime favor
ties among which are the mustang OF California
and Texas, and the Indian pony Of the north
west.
The method Of raising and handling wild cat
Tie may he briefly stated thus: In winter the
cattle. unherded and uncared for run loose
wherever they please. In the spring the various
outfits 90 ont or general roundup Every
day all the cattle within radius of ten miles or
more are driven together and . rounded-up" at
enc place Each outfit ''cuts out and herds
separately its own brand of cattle The calves
and short yearlings are trimmed branded and
marked III contracts have been made to drov-
ers. the required number are gathered classed
Tailed and turned over TO them at the date
promised Day by day the rOund-upS move on
often working over scope of country 200 miles
square 10000 square miles, till the Indictment
weather of fall begins. Then the roundup sea-
son Is done. Wherever the outfit moves it car
ries its bedding. grub and cooking utensils in
wagons. where the country is smooth. and ON
pack animals where il is rough At nirht the
boys sleep. soldier fashion, on the earth i'm their
blankets, very seldom possessing the luxury of
tent.
If the average cowboy have any love for the
beautiful at all it is for his silver-ElOunted horse
rlg, his candy sash and tasSels and for the
buxon prairie girls of whom he sings songs
every night on nerd around the cattle. Lo. the
Indian. Is becoming rather suppressed and HARM
less but still in the far away regions of the
northwest and southwest. there is sometimes
Just enough possibility of his raising hair to
Keep cowboys Interested and awake on guard
However, he is never sorry when the drive and
It's terrible hariships are over The PONIES are
either sold or sent back to the range on hoof i'm
care OF some of the most trusty bows The cattle
are either sold outright or shipped by rail to the
great cattle markets OF st. Louis Kansas Civ
and Chicago. Most Texas and southwestern cattle
get TO the two former all northwestern and MANY
Texan go to Chicago. One COWBOY to every
nve carloads is required to 90 along with the
cattle TO keep them punched up from living
down in the cars and being trampled to death
oy the other cattle This is how the Cow
puncher" obtained his Colorado name Every
twenty hours the cattle in the transit are I'M
loaded at immense stock yards. where they are
permitted TO resi-, feed and water for four hours
This is done both as a humane act and to pre-
vent shrinkage and loss of flesh Arrived AFT
market the cattle are unloaded finally at the
STOCK yards and pass into the hands of the stock
commission men, who sell them. Some are re-
shipped To points farther eastward some 90 to
Europe alive. some to packing houses and beef
canneries, some to wholesale butchers some to
Illinois and iowa farms to be corn-fattened some
10 dStIserles to be stopped. a few are sold for
work oxen. and if il be cold weather MANY are
slaughtered and shipped abroad in refrigerators
After doing the town for few DAYS the
eowpuncher, being provided with return passes
rolls out for his old range maybe 1900 miles
away. Most of the southwestern roads RIM a
rough kind of emigrant sleeper free, especially
for him.
In a region where competing railroads are
largely dependent on their live stock traffic
cowboys and stockmen are carefully fostered by
them.
Arrived back on his Old stamping grounds. he
seeks some kind of WORK for support during the
winter and generally swears never to .punch
up another bovine quadTuped while he lives.
but IN the spring he is sure to hire ont as cow
boy at the very first opportunity and joyously
gives himself up to the free rech less life of the
range or endures again the hariships and ro-
mantle incidents of the trail:
Having shown who the cowboys are we will
now endcavOr to describe what they are Being
made UP OF such mixed material the task is diff
hcult One writer has said they are half angel.
with hearts compassionate and tenderly liberal
with comrades in distress and half devil indif-
ferent TO the sufierings of q wounded enemy.
cruel in the Use of nirth and spur C their ponies
and totally unmindfIl of the a9oI iZing bawls of
cattle enduring the bloody edge of the knife and
the red hot torture Of the branding iron. An
other writer. mindful Of some gallant COWBOYS
Who have stamped their names indelibly on b0r-
der history, has said that the now unwritten- up
hero of the coming novelist will be a COWBOY
Many cowboys, and they the best are bred
To the business from childhood hut tho major