Omaha daily bee., 1888-09-09

ANt S'clg ~ III III a tlOct Dlltl.
A description of how the men spend
their day when on the trail will be of
interest. About an hour before day
light, one OF the men on might herd'
comes into camp and wakes up the cook
n horseherder. The former COM
mences to light his fire and get break
last, and the latter goes off to hunt his
horses. BY daylight ''the horses are
up" and breakfast is ready. Breakfast
over. two men go out at once to relieve
the last guard with the cattle. These
two then eat their breakfast while the
Others are Harvesting their mules and
loading the wagon; meantime the cattle
are being graZed. Then the .'boss1
rides ahead of the herd TO hunt a good
camping place for noon, and the other
men string the cattle out in a long line
behind the wagon and horses.
a herd of 5000 cattle when
on the trail ought to be
strung out for half a mile at least, as
they drive far better this way when i'm n
close bunch. The men are scattered as
follows: The best men are put in the
lead to keep the herd straight: then two
more on the sides and the other three
on the "drags" or tail end of the herd.
Cattle, to drive we'll, ought not to have
any water in the morning. If they
nave they Will try TO Craze, instead of
walking along. When the noon camp
is reached the boss out and. leav-
Ing two men to Craze and water the
cattle. rest go to dinner and turn
their forenoon horses loose. AT about
Z O'Clock the horses are rounded up,
and each man, catching a fresh horse.
goes to the herd, while the two who
were with it 90 and get their dinner.
Then the cattle are driven about seven
or eight miles more. to the evening
camp. Fifteen miles u day is n good
average speed to keep up.
Two men are now left with the cattle and
are not relieved until after the others
nave had supper, when the cattle are
rounded upand two men left on for first
night guard. These two stand until
10 o'clock, and then one of thom rides
In and wake up the two who go on Sec
ond guard. These two stand till
II and then two more stand till 2 Il. m.
the last two stay on from that
until the day herders came to r|eileve
them after breakfast. This round of
work is kept up all the way except
when the outfit Lays over" for IL day
or two, when the only change made is
that there is no driving. Laying
over" often becomes necessary. Some
time IL Is because some of the cattle or
horses are gone and have to be hunted
up; again, because the cattle are sore
footed n not very we'll able to travel.
but the most frequent cause of laying
over is high water in the rivers and
creeks to be crossed.
AS general thing it is easy enough
to cross the cattle and horses. but get
ting the wagon across Il creek when it
Is bank full. about ten or fifteen feet
deep, and running like a mountain tor
rent, is a far more difficult matter.
However, creek and rivers are crossed.
when the horses have to swim. The
modus operaudi with the wagon is as
follows: Each man having mounted his
best swimming horse, takes in front of
him, as much grub as he thinks he can
keep dry, such as a sack of flour, weigh
ing fifty pounds, and having thus taken
ali the perishable articles across.
tows the empty wagon across with
ropes from the opposite bank if the
.tream is not too wide. Bedding is
treated in the same way.
When the cattle arrive at their des-
~tination they are then turn ed over" to
the purchaser and branded in his brand
before being turned loose on the
range. Grown cattle are usually branded
in the following way: The best roper
in the outfit" ridesinto the herd which
are either rounded up and held in IA
close bunch by men on horseback, or
are in Il strong corral, and catches the
animal with his moose by both fore feet
this is not very difficult after some nrac-
tice). The puzzled beast naturally
struggles, and in struggling draws the
moose tighter, and is then thrown down,
when two men, who are on foot, run up
to it, and one takes the tail aud passing
il 1ndnp tho hind lar ,rhi,h hnN,n,,. a.
be uppermost pulls back with all his
strength, at the same time planting his
knees firmly in the small of the animals
back. The other holds down the brute's
head. Then another man comes up and
brands it with a hot iron. In this way
ten men can brand from 400 to 500 cattle
Il day. Often, however, grown cattle
are branded in u chute" That Is a
narrow lane into which they are crowd
ed. This space is only wide enough to
admit one at a time, and they
are unable to turn round. Cattle can be
branded much faster in this way, but AS
a general thing the brand is not as
neatly put OF as by the other process, us
difficult to keep the iron steady. The
way calves are branded is quite differ
ent. Here the herd, containing moth
ing but COWS and their calves, is either
in a corral or held in a close bunch, and
n mar rides in, and noticing the
brand on Il COW that is, if the herd is in
different brands owned by different
men), ropes the calf at her side, gener-
ally by the head, and pulling it up to
the fire, two men take it. One grasps
the rope with one hand, and catching
the struggling victim by the flank on
the side farthest away from him,
gives it "a flip with his knee and brings
1T dow with a thud on it's side then:
his companion holds down the head,
while he takes hold of one hind leg, and
sitting down, holds the little fellow as
steady as if in a wise. 1t is then branded
and its ears marked, and if n bull is cas-
trated. All this is lone in less time
than it takes to write it, and before it is
well up here comes the roper with an
other. Branding is the only real hard
work that cowboys have to perfo rm
although riding from twelve to six
teen hours a day in all kinds of weather
is much harder work, only in aditferent
way.
Cowboys are given credit for being
much finer horsemen han they really
are. OF course every cowman can ride
a horse hat won't buck, but so can other
people; the only difference being that n
cowboy is more at home in the saddle,
and Apns not mat triad Rut nn,uhnxr,