The Dickinson press., 1889-01-12
SPOTTED WILD CATTLE.
A BREED OF THE BOVINE FAMILY
THAT is PULLING HUNTERS.

the Skill Of Trained Generals-Au Efforts
to Cultivate Their Friendship Havo
Proved Futile.
In the lonesome defles of tho Coquille
mountains there has roamed at will for half
o dozen years q band Of strange wild cattle.
Hunters pronounce them q distinct breed
from those which have been SO long in.
habiting the Umpqua river. They are leopard
like in color, being dotted with black in q
skin Of dun.
Their horns are thin and long and as
smooth as though polished with emery.
Moreover. they are pony built, and their tails
are long, sweeping and brush like. Their
hoofs, like their horns. from constant contact
with vigorous underground, are smooth and
glossy Quick of eye, fleet of foot and with
a strange power of scenting out enemies, they
have proved more than q match for the local
sportsmen who have ut various times gone to
the heights in pursuit Of them.
FATHER DE voE's SPOTTED COW.
"Well, those cattle are an anomaly, sure
enough" said c. ]. Andrews, II resident Of
Coquillc, forty-flve miles up from the Pacific
ocean. to q reporter at the American llS
change hotel here today. Their origin is
shroudcd i'll mystery. Some say they are de-
SSllAC vi q siOLlSNl wv nLIS Stl ASSo
away from Father De Voc in $50 Tho old
man Dc Voc lives at the mouth Of tho Co
guile. He was the first settler there, and
brought three or four COWS with him when
be came by wagon from tho lower Platte.
About q year afterward he lost a COW that
was about to calvc, and, though no hunted
far and near throughout the heavy pines
which skirt the Coquilie, he could never find
her, but when news began to come in after
three Or four years that there We're some wild
cattle up in tho mountains, he half thought
it must be- his COW and her progeny There
are others, however, and De Voc is inclined
to share their belief, who think that this
breed of cattle has always been wild, that
they arc indigenous to that region, tho same
as tho wild cattle of Mexico.
Certain it is, at any rate, that all attempt,
to subdue these cattle have been futile. In
1878 Tom Withrow, u hunter of the Coquilic,
after n long attempt to kill Some of them,
succeeded in capturing u calf. The calf was
newly born and too weak to get away and
the old COW would not leave it, and ut once
charged furiously upon him. He WAS
mounted OH u fleet Oregon mustang, and lie
put spurs to him and got out of there US
quickly Us lie was able. Tho COW and the
pony tore down tho hill through the brush ut
a loSSs 1llA olA AOIlI luolSuG tC WIZ
dono for. There was blood in tho cows eye,
and a vindictivc, menacins look, which put
speed into both rider and horse. Tho hun
ter's gun was strapped to the pony's side, and
10 had no time to use it. The COW pursued
him for nearly half u mile, and until the
mustang had chuciied Withrow over his
head, down II steep dccllvity, and both horse
and horseman were separated and routed.
Then bos-bovis returned to her calf.
AN OLD UNIT oUTwITTED.
TON was mod. He WIS an old hunter,
and didn't much relish being routed by n
COW. He rccapturcd his pony, tied him to Il
tree. and, unstrapping his gun, started in o
roundabout way up through the bills afoot.
He lodged from treo to tree, aud finally
climbing one he was able to descry tho wild
COW, with her head and tail up, her eyes
blazing, shifting tho air. lilo was within
rile shot, aud succeeded in putting two balls
into her. Shu beloved luriously, but tho
wounds were mortal aud she could not attack
him.
Capturing the calf, which was spotted
like its mother, Withrow strapped it to his
saddle and carried 1T home. For TWO yeurs
he tried TO domcsticatc that calf. Just when
he thought he was succeeding it broke aud
got uway to the mountains. lao never saw
1T alterWard.
lin 1854 Henry McLanc and Bill Jcilrics,
two Coos bay men, went up into the CoQuIllo
mountains and spent two weeks there. They
went bunting for these cattle, us well us for
bear and cougar. After tho most skllltul
manipulalions they finally succeeded Ill kill
ing an Cd bull. lie was the outpost of
u band, WAS u fighter from way back,
and would have made it hot for them, but
they got the dropon Inn, alter following tho
band asslduously for several days. The
others, 10 TIC number of twenty or thirty,
got away. All were spotted with black, no
one spot being bigger than u silver dollar.
You may he sure they were very pretty, as
they were tal aud their hair was short. |
suppose There urc no tandsomcr cattle any
where than these wild ones in tho Oregon
wilderness.
This old bull was q good ono, He was not
unusually large, weighing about l, 100 pounds,
but he was clean llnbcd us u race horse, lust
about us fleet, and US pretty us q picture.
"Slncc that time various people have gone
after these queer cuttlc, but nobody has sue
ccedcd III getting any. 1t is uphill business.
Nobody lives up III those mountain tops. 1t
is rough, wild nnd lonesome, q tit home for
oil Kinds of wild ANIMALS. and all kinds
abound there. AN exceedingly nutritious
grass grows there. 1t is 80 succulent that
horses, when they can get it, need no other
feed. The country is SO rocky, cut up with
canyons, aud With profusion of weird noun,
tain tops SO Enthusiastically formed as not only
to give Il beautiful effect, but to form a safe
retreat for these wild denizens of this remot,
corner of Oregon.
Just how many of tho leopard like wild
cattle there arc there it will take u long TIM
to find out. Nobody can arrive at it will
any degree of certainty. There may lie forty
there may DO a hundred. "-San Francisco
Cor. New York Sun.
An Electric Dog Cart.
The sultan of Turkey has had an clectri,