Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1890-09-03
THE LAST ROUNDUP.
Scene Presented by the Collection Of Six
Thousand Hosd OF Cattle.

Thousand Hosd OF Cattle.
The last general roundup ever to be
made on Indian lands was made, says q
Cedarville (Kas.) correspondent OF the
New York Herald, when r. M. Hewins,
president Of the Cherokee Strip Live
Stock Association, rounded his herd Of
1000 cattle in the Usage Nation, which
was the only large herd In the Indian
country then remaining. The roundup
Will he remembered as the end OF cat
tle-grazing, not only in the Usage coun-
try, but In all the territory heretofore
leased by the Indians to the cattle men.
The spring round-ups began on the
western edge Of tho Cherokee Strip"
Tho FOUNDERS worked from pasture to
pasture eastward until the Usage Ma
ton was reached and the end had come.
All the cowboys on the Hewins ranch
were in the saddle at four o'clock, and
by eleven o'clock the 65,000-acre past
.ure had been thoroughly surrounded
and the cattle were gradually moving
toward the center of the range, where
the roundup was to take place. by
nine o'clock nearly 1000 cattle, includ-
ing strays had been gathered into a ra-
dius Of about three miles square. Then
began the careful work of closing in
without causing stampede. Slowly
the cattle were brought up over a raise,
the summit of which overlooked Alum
Creek Valley, about ten miles south of
the northern Territorial boundary. Be.
yond the summit was q basin forming q
huge circle, comprising an area con-
tanning 1000 acres, and in that the
roundup was to take place.
A moment later and stampede
seemed inevitable. The steers had
sighted the grove OF shade-trees and
the daring and skillful riders were
scarcely seen and nothing needed as
the mad rush was made toward the
grove.
Those OF the spectators who had seen
such sights before knew at once what
the result would be, and they immedi-
atelY appraised the others that it would
DO wise for every one to make hurried
arrangements to climb the nearest trees.
And this was done barely in time, for
on came the herd running madly, heed
ing nothing until fully half of it had
dashed across and beyond the stream,
raising cloud of dust that for time
obscured all the surroundings, and lay
ing waste all that was in their way.
After another hours hard riding the
entire herd was again surrounded and
forced into submission down in the low
land.
When this was accomplished the
picture became intensely interesting.
The outsiders were indeed masters of
the situation as they patroled the rear
line OF the herds onward march. A
hundred expert horsemen were then in
sight forming ring on the outside of
the herd that was meant to be and did
prove to be impossible. Each
horseman led from two to
three horses, changing from time
to time to fresh steed. All this
time the ''cut-out' experts leading
these extra horses came up lejsurely in
the rea: At eleven o'clock the round
up had been made and the majority Of
the FOUNDERS galloped away toward the
''chuck" wagon for dinner, while few
of their number kept the herd from
spreading The cattle we're at this time
thoroughly massed and standing side BY
side.
AS they stood they covered the area
of from twenty to twenty-five acres.
AS they moved slowly and rest
lessly among each other they
had the appearance of great
swarm of bees. Presently there began
concerted slow movement called mill
ing" and soon the dust became so
dense that the whole scene was en-
veloped, and not even the daring cow
boy could be discerned. This was kept
up for about fifteen minutes, when q
passing gust of wind bore the clouds
of dust west and revealed the herd once
more Quilted and the cowboys in COM
mand,