Los Angeles herald., 1890-09-01
= 7-,.-
CATTLE IN A STAMPEDE.
The Reckless Daring of the Cowboys will
Big Contract on Hand.

The Reckless Daring of the Cowboys with
Big Contract on Hand.
The marketing of its beef is the sole
source from which flows revenue to a ranch,
and the collection and gathering thereof
selecting beeves is the most scientific part
of ranch work-engages September, Octo
ber, November and part of December of
each year. The beef herds, aggregating
1900 to 5000 head of cattle each, in charge
of an outfit of about ten men, including
the "boss" and cook, betake themselves to
a convenient shipping point, sometimes 200
to 300 miles distant. This excursion is
slow, and by virtue of the strength and
spirit of the cattle, as well as the stormy
season of the year, not unfraught with
danger. Stampedes are the rule rather
than the reverse, and sometimes are very
expensive in their cost from lost and in
jured cattle To this trip are usually as
signed the most skilled and competent of
the men.
In former days the drive from Texas,
north through the Indian Territory, had a
special hazard. The Indian was there,
abundant and full of thrift. Nor was it
the aboriginal intent to permit a herd to
wind its valuable length across this do
main without tribute. The method of tax
collection in vogue with these officials Of
savage revenue was simple and complete
Some dark and quiet night the sleepy
riders out on herd would be astounded by
the spectacle of every one of their horned
wards springing to his feet, and pausing
but one brief second to get the general di-
rection so scampering into the gloom with
great fervor. The cause was easily found.
An Indian had crawled up on an I'M
guarded flank and tapped a blanket. A
most effective flap, indeed, that puffed into
sudden motion S150,000 worth of beef by
its one small breath.
The sequel of a stampede is the re-collec-
tion of the herd. From the first jump of the
first steer the cowboy, as dauntless as a
Cossack and blindly true to his trust, goes
with the herd. No man ever takes more
dangerous jaunt The night as dark as
Egypt; the country new and unknown;
perhaps at any second to go leaping from a
precipice or crashing up against wall of
rock; cattle, terror mad, charging on all
sides, the certain result of fall being
crushing by the galloping hoofs of the
herd. Still this American Arab never
halts nor wavers, but with rein held high
and loose, and spurs bloody to the boot,
whirls his half broken broncho through at
thirty miles an hour.
How cattle and men end stampede
alive is one of the mysteries of the craft,
but they do. AS showing these trips not
altogether lacked in safety might add l
never knew a cowboy to achieve ten years
of service without recalling one broken
limb at least and sometimes two or three
The purpose of the riders in stampede
is, by lying well up and forward on one OF
the other side of the herd, to turn or stop
the cattle. This, even if successful, is
slow, and is bound to involve a ten mile
run at least By that time one cause or
another has more or less split the herd
into punches and many of the cattle are
lost. The next few days and sometimes
weeks are devoted to securing the coun-
try and rounding up the herd again. Here
is where the recreant native who caused
the whole trouble gets in his dusky work.
He presents himself at. your camp and
pleasantly proffers his services to help COL
lect the renegades at a dollar head As
you are almost sure he has hidden bunch
of hundred or so up some canyon where
no white man can find them, you subdue
your six shooter, which leaps and throbs
in it's scabbard to kill him off, and hire
him. The poor Indian, with his fellows,
frequently makes several hundred dollars
out of a stampede and saves four or five of
your best steers for personal beef besides
kansas City Star