Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-05-29
LIFE ON A RANCH.
RAISING CATTLE ON THE
PLAINS OF THE FAR WEST.
When the Buffalo Vanished ths
Ranchman came-A Cow Outfit
Taking Care Of the Cattle.

Taking Care Of the Cattle.
Hon. Theodore Roosevelt recently gave
an entertaining talk in Washington on
ranch life in the West. s'He said, (" re-
ports the Star, s'that he had spent about
eight years on the ranches,of the West,
and had seen the gradual disappearance
of the frontier. The frontier, he rather
sorrowfully told the audience, is gone
absolutely. So are the buffalo and all
the other marks Of the plains of the West.
A man, unless he comes Immediately
from the atmosphere of cities, cannot get
lost in the West as it is to-day. He may
strike stream and go down it couple
of days and he will come across house.
There is just about room left to halt, and
that is all. For the next two decades the
life on the ranches, with all its pictur-
esqueness, viii be most interesting, but
not beyond that period The buck-skin-
shifted trapper, with all his equipment
for the hunting of animals in the wilder
ness, was formerly the type of the great
West; but now the cowboy stands as the
typical figure of that region. The sud-
denness with which the buffaloes have
vanished is appalling. They made their
last stand in '81, and since then there
have been scarcely 200 animals on the
plains. All sorts of people find their
way out into the Western country, and
some do not find their way back again.
There was a tin peddler, said the speaker,
who wandered to his ranch and was try
ing with Indifferent success to sell his
wares, when he fell into the
hands of the Indians, and he was
killed. The Indians thought that his
tins were some kind of bad medicine and
scattered them all over the plain over
tract of country covering two square
miles. The year that saw the end of the
buffalo saw also the beginning of ranch
life proper, for the cattle raisers began
to come into the country over which the
buffalo used to roam and staked out their
claims. A COW outfit, as it is called, is
started by two men going ahead of the
main party to cruise, or to pick out
favorable spot for the grazing of cattle.
They find bad travelling, and it some
times takes them days to make any visi-
BILE progress at ALL When they have
lighted upon spot that looks we'll for the
future they halt, and in short time the
main body of the outfit has come up and
work begins. A "cow, " in the parIance
of the plains, is anything of a suitable
size that has four legs and two horns and
has no reference to sex whatever. Every
thing of that description is eithera ''cow"
or .'critter.n The ranch consists of a
hut, either built of adobe or logs, and
each one has, on an average, two rooms,
in one of which everybody sleeps and ia
the other the cooking is done. As soon
as the hut is built the herds are staked
out into the plains loose for pasture, with
men on the outer edge of the herd to keep
the cows from wandering away. They
have habit of growing homesick and
drifting southwark if they have been
driven to the north or to the north if they
have come from that point. 1t is quite
embarrassing to the owner if his cattle
drift anywhere near an Indian reserva-
tion. When the cattle have been herded
in this way there is held what is called
the roundup which is simply gem
eral pasturage, where each owner picks
out his cattle from the mass. This is
necessary in the region where the cow
boy and the branding iron take the place
Of the fence. The roundup often covers
territory over forty miles long. It is done
in the spring, and the first preparation
is to get in the horses, which have run
wild all winter. They are very rough,
in coats as well as temper, and
the process Of reducing them to civiliza-
tion again after weeks Of freedom is one
Of the most difficult tasks of the cow
boys work Each outfit has from six to
eight men, and each man has from eight
to twelve horses, so that an ordinary out
fitwould have herd of half a hundred
horses. It is during this process of
breaking the horses to saddle again that
the bucking horse gets in its work. He
either bucks or plays the game of sssun
fish, which is done by going up into the
air with his feet in one dirertion and
coming down on them when he has
changed them into another position. This
horse is the past grand master of buck.
ing horses, and the owner of one would
much rather have someone else who likes
Z that sort of thing to do the breaking fol
him. 1t takes week to get the horses
in order, and then the start is made for the
roundup, in which all the ranches join.
Each outfit travels on horseback, with a
huge prairie schooner to carry the traps.
The extra horses are herded and driven
i along together. The teamster is the
cook, and every man has plenty to do Of
the roughest sort Of work 1t is very in.
teresting, but tiresome, for there are
nights when one gets no sleep at all, and
under the best circumstances few hours
rest is all a man can obtain. The work
begins at three in the morning, and aftel
breakfast has been bolted in the quickest
possible order the horses are driven il
and each man goes into the rope corral
and gets his own. He is armed with /
lariat, and it is a trying time for th'
tyro.
tits very unhappy work for the young
and inexperienced man who thinks tina
it is all fun on the plains. When th'
horse is saddled start is made at abou
dawn, all the riders going forward in th,
shape Of q fan, taking up all the cattl,
K that are to be found on the plans. Their
may be 800 or there may be 1000 takel
up In day, and when they have bcel
driven into corner then comes the tim
to work the herd Y This is the process
Of picking out from the mass Of COW
each mans property, the brands dis