The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-06-16
LEARNING TO BE COWBOY
RANCH LIFE IN THE HEART OF
THE ROCKIES.

A Graphic Description Of the Ban
Luis Valley Interesting Account Of
a Cowboys Camp-Who the Cow
boys Are-Why They Like Life on
the Plains-Where Their Money
Goes-Exclting Scenes at a Round
up-A Bull Fight Tame Affair in
Comparison With "Outting Out"
Cattle From Herd - Squabbles
About Water Rights-Productions
of the Soil-starving Cattle and
Polluted streams-A Perilous Per-.
sonal Experience.
SAN LUIS VALLEY,S Col, June SIT Is
| impossible for one eastern or southern bred,
| whose eyes have always been accustomed to
| the harmonious scenery OF waving fields
| and abundant forests, TO form the slightest
conception of the mise en- scene in which
| this valley of San Luis is located. 1t is
called valley, but it is a UdLtey pillared
| 1900 feet up in the air. and from north to
south it runs 150 miles, and from east to
west sixty miles. and on every side of it
stands the snow-capped Rockies. SO clear
| is the atmosphere. and therefore so
short do the distances appear, that
the Imagination might well take the
| whole scene for an ancient amphitheater,
with tiers of seats the circling
mountains, and the dry, shining prairie for
the arena. When the eyes are lifted up
ward to the mountains there is nothing to
be desired in the scenery; to the north, the
| three college peaks-Yale, Harvard and
| Princeton-close Ia the outlet of the valley.
If strength be given me- shall certainly
do honor to my alma mater by climbing her
shining peak before the summer Is over To
| the south, the Sierra Blanca. the highest
of all the Rocky mountains, and sur
passed by only one other mountain
on the continent stands like
| like a grim sentinel Of the ages, whose
| head is white with the snow of centuries.
| Down the western side of the valley runs
the main branch Of the Rocky mountains,
| whils upon the east is the Sangre de Christie
range, so-called by the Spanish monks after
little red flower that covers the snow OF
| the mountains, in which their religious fer
vor saw the "blood OF Clrist" How do
| these various mountains start up like other
ranges with which we have been ac-
| quainted-from the prairies Unfortunate
climber Of Rocky mountain peaks who formn
| any such conception of his taskl Foot-hIll
after foot-hill, peak beyond peak, canon after
canon, guich beyond gulch, are to be ira
versed by his weary feet before he conquers
the privilege Of sitting down upon the
snowy esoarpment. These are not mountain
ranges but vast, fierce, volcanic peaks up
heaved, and broken from each other by the
deep gulches, and down the gulches flow the
melting snow streams into the prairie, and
| where the snow streams make their way
begin to appear long fingers OF light green
vegetation stretching out from both sides OK
the valley into the dry and parched prairie.
| l.. a L.. - T. H.
Turning the gaze from the encircling hills
| to the eucrcled plains there is absolutely
not single feature that can make land
| scape Are there treesf Not one. save
along the green fingers Of the melting snow
streams. Are there shrubs! Nothing save
tho dry, starved chicos bushes. Is there o
carpet of grassa Not enough to form mid
day meal for a respectable OK. Are there
fowersl None save miles upon miles OF the
| prickly cactus, that seems TO need no water.
What is there, thenl A dead, dreary, hor-'
rible landscape; "a vast continuity" OF dry,
pulverized, alkaline dust, eating up your
senses infaming your eyes, your nostrils,
your throat; so fearful and monotonous, 50
unchanging in all the miles you travel in q
live-long day, that the weary eyes have to
close themselves in sheer desperation.
HOW TO GET A RANCH.
Yet out of such unpromsing material
men have coSstructed all the elements OF
ranch life, with its thousands of horses and
cattle The prairie divides itself into two
kinds-the fenced and the unfenced. The
latter is a general common, open to all,
owned by the government, and can be taken
| up and pre-empted by anybody to the ex-
tent OF i60 acres family, and at the cost
of 81 25 per acre. The necessary steps are.
first, your selection, then recording, then a
house where you have to pass one night
month (bachelers are mercifully excused
from this provision), and finally, the las5
steps of homesteadng and the payment Of
your money. The fenced lands are the
ranches, and vary in extent from thousand
to hundred thousand acres. Men have
obtained this large number of acres by buy
ing out other men, or by paying dozen
men TO pre-empt 100 acres apiece. Now,
let us imagine ourselves inside Of one OF
these fenced pieces of dssoiation called q
ranch. The first thing OF Importance Is
your water rights. This water does not
come down. as you might suppose. from the
heavens above Rain-clouds frequently
form, but when they strike the eastern
range the cold OF the mountains causes a
precipitation They gather themselves
together and sweep across the valley, rarely
depositing a drop upon the thirsty
plains, but as soon as they pinge
upon the western range their cold
also causes q precipitation, so that the
mountains get what they do not need, and
the interlying prairie dies of thirst. In all
of Colorado the signalreports give 63 cloudy
out of the 365, but up here in this altitude,
If rain falls on parts of thirty days it is con-
sidered a great blessing, and the prairie
blossoms as rose. Whence, then, comes
the water that makes ranch life possibles
From the snow on the peaks melting, how-
ing down the gulches, out into the parched
desert, and along these streams are the
ranches, to each Of which water rights are
accorded according to priority Of settle
ment, number one, two, etc, up to hum
dred or more. When you buy
ranch, you do not buy the land
and the adobe buildings-oh,. moi You
buy a water right, and the land and the
buildings are thrown in. Mixed and myste-
rious are the ways Of the water Fighters.
The whole system is about as non-conductive
of neighborly good will as glass is OF elec-
tricity. Say, water Fighter No. l has by
! the law a claim Of two feet Of water, but
the two feet do not water and irrigate his
fields, what SO easy as to lift his gate and
take three feets Or, suppose water righter
No. 25 hasn't any water at all coming down
to his bitches, what so easy as to creep up
at the mystic hour Of night, plug up No. rs
bitches and get a whole nights run Of the
preciot fluid that does not belong TO himf
Frtor, he Uofo mil fc Had