Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-10-08
A COWBOYS LIFE.
Crossing the Mountains With 1900
CattIe--A Stampede in che Noun
tains on Dark Night.
San Francisco Call.

San Francisco Call.
Gabriel will require large club
attachment to that horn of his, or else
he will never be able to rodeo the
mountain cowboys" remarked Ben
Henwood, a Utica cattle dealer to a
Chronicle reporter.
"Why 500" asked the reporter.
Because, replied Henwood, "there
is no circumstances under which a
cowboy will not sleep if not physical
ly molested. In the midst of noun
tain storm, when the crashing thun-
der comes simultaneously with the
glaring sheets Of lightning, the COW
boy sleeps peacefully; in dry creek
bed, with his head down grade, he
slumbers sweetly; in view of terantu-
lus, rattlesnakes and centipedes for
bedfellows he closes his eyes and
dreams of heaven OF unlimited plug
tobacco and unstinted sleep. Gabriel's
trumphet would indeed sound in vain
when the time came TO check off a
drove of cowboy.
'Last spring l was driving 1900
head Of cattle over the Rocky Noun
tains by the South Wyoming Pass,
and a 'run'-the terror of cattle
drivers-too place under circumstan-
ces which showed just how sound is
the sleep of cowboy [ had fifteen
boys-a boy with the cow prefix
may mean 4G-year old man with me.
It 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 and they give us very little
trouble
"Well, we were camped one night
on the very summit of the mountains.
The sleeping ground for the stock was
IN 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 a circle round them.
This is done by relays of men ia
watches, the watches being changed
at midnight. [ have many time
seen a cowboy on broncho, riding
round and round a drove at night
fast asleep in his saddle.
con the night in question happens
ed to De standing the First watch N.Y.
self and bad 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 sleeping cattle.
The air seemed surcharged with cleo
tricity, 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 practical explanations of runs or
stampedes-generally by men who
never saw one III their lives. It is
well enough to say that something
frightens tn en-, if you know nothing
about it; but that don't explain it, no
way.
'They say that cayote, Or some
other proving beast, frightens one
of q drove and that one infects the
others with panic and the stampede
begins. Well, it amt so. If you
have drove of 1000 or 10, 900 the
panic effects every one of them at ex>
actly the same instant. It's some
times harder to account for than a
bowling coyote, and because run
never occurs except on such nlght
as [ have described. I leave it TIC
those who know all about atmospher-
ic influences and such, to tell just
what 1t is.
Anyway, was little uneasy thai
night, for one OF the two boys on
watch with me was only tenderfoot
understands A man new to tAe bus
mess and fresh from the east. It was
nearly twelve o'clock, and [ had Just
turned nay 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 1900
was On its feet like a flash, and al
exactly the same instant. With a
rush like a whirlwind which levels a
forest, they were off in the darkness,
the strong and heavy ones in the lead,
of course. The rafting of horns and
the laundering of hoofs was deafen-
ing. The effect it has on the person
who experiences it for the first time
was shown by the action Of the tender
foot.
HE turned his horses tail toward
the stampede, buried his spurs in the
bronco's 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 thirteer
years experience, | naturally acted
different. By the spectral starlight
could see the cattle outlined as q
black, rushing, gathering, laundering
stream, rushing wildly, and at each
instant becoming wilder, over rocks
and stretch of sagebrush.
my horse was trained in the bust,
ness and knew what was the trouble
as well, and just as soon, too, as
did.
ST did not have to guide him.
followed along by the side of the
stampede, and soon overlook the
leaders. It don't do to try and turn
run too quick l kept by the side o.
tho iaado,,S a,,d 0,,orfo,si,ac ON them