Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1888-01-21
UnsCRUFULOUs CoWDoYa
Fortunes Maae In the West on the Havsr.
ick System

Fortunes Msde In the West on tho lGavsr-
ick System.
From theiChicsao Times.l
sCattle-raising Is not what it used to
be, said veteran stockman. II don't
mean to say there's no money in the
business now, only that it is carried on
differently-more legitimately. might
ssy-than it used to be. Why, when
was just learning to stick to bucking
ponies, men without cent in their
jeans were coming into the State and
branching out as big cattle owners.
There were fortunes made in q couple
of years that could hardly be accumu-
lated in q lifetime at the business now.
how was it done? I'll tell You.
what was known as the maverick
system was in vogue then. A maverick
is yearling calf that has escaped the
branding iron. Where there were large
herds of cattle it often happened that
some were overlooked at branding time,
and many were calved in the bush and
ran wild. These mavericks were con-
sidered common property by the stock
man, and whenever he found one he'd
rope it, tie it down and run his brand
on it. Then the ears were sliced to cor
respond with the recorded earmarks of
the ranchman, and the calf turned
loose. Maybe the ranchman was brand
ing his own stock and maybe he wasn't.
That cut no figure with him.
"In those days we had no pastures,
and cattle were simply loose herded on
the range. Certain landmarks would
be set down as limits of his range by
the stockman and his herders instruct
ed to keep the stock within these linn
it's. In the morning the herders would
round the cattle in sight to points
within the limits. At night they would
be headed for the sailing or bed ground
and left until morning. Of course
there were many strays, but each ranch
sent out hunt in the spring to round
up the herds of neighboring stockmen
and to cut out any cattle found among
them bearing their ranch brand. And
under this. system of herding, cattle
stockmen considered mavericking would
even itself up in the long run. The
only qualification was that q man
should own stock to be properly en-
titled to maverick.
Here's where foreigners coming into
the State penniless get the best of us.
Some fellow worked in a COW camp
long enough to learn that there was
fortune for him in mavericks. He in
vested his wages in COW ponies, went
to the nearest town and had brand
recorded, got bag of meal and side
of bacon and took to the bush. In less
than year he had !, 900 head of young
cattle roaming over the country with
his brand on them. Then he hired
some men, built a ranch and went on
round up. All the fat steers he drove
to market, keeping the heifers to breed
from. His men were not long in learn
ing how he had worked it, and then
they branched out for themselves. In
q short time the country was overrun
with maverickers, and pretty soon the
most barefaced thievery ever recorded
got to be as common as dirt in corn
dodger. Your would-be honest stock
men had to steal to keep even, and the
calves of mich cows in the corrals were
stolen.
ut got to be q common thing for the
tame cattle that came to the ranch for
salt to be followed by calves wearing
strange brands; and this led to the
counter-branding that used to make
the hides of Texas cattle look like
drawings of choice town lots.
Here's an incident: I had little
Durham heifer-one of the finest
shorthorns brought into the State. Her
first calf wasn't ten days old when
some of the boys told me that it had
been mavericked. I hunted it up, and
sure enough some cuss had run big B
4 on it's side and undersigned each ear.
[ drove it to the ranch and put big q
after the ether letters, making the
brand read B q. Then shaped each
ear and turned it out. The next time
l saw that calf both ears had been
grubbed out at the head, and the brand
read B . 2. Was mad? Some.
@Then mavericks began to get scarce
as water on the Llano, and the cow
thieves turned their attention to alter
ing brands. Old Jim Loving, up in
LUIS Nal0y, OWu0u dOOut OsOOU OT
1000 head of cattle. They were
branded with what he called q half
diamond L on the left shoulder. The
half diamond was over the L. He and
I took herd up the Chism train to
Kansas in II, and somewhere between
Sun City and Fort Dodge caught up
with another herd that had gone up
ahead of us. It had been sold that
day. Loving counted 200 odd head of
his cattle in the herd. They were all
branded on the left shoulder with an
inverted T inside of diamond.
Jim was hopping mad. We learned
that the fellow who sold the herd was
q red-haired Mexican called Colorau.
Getting some of the boys we started
after him. He got almost to the Ma
ton Indian Territory before we
caught him. The boys set him a-strad-
die of his own pack-horse and tied his
legs under the animals belly. Then
lariat was tied under his chin, and the
other end thrown over the branch of
live oak, where one of the boys caught