Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-10
How Cattle Are Collected On the
Great Plains.
BUSY AND PERILoUs WORK.
Hard Riding From Early Morning Until
Dark-The Bucting Ponies-The Cook and
His Meals-A Steer on the Rampags-Doing
Guard Duty-An Exciting Occupation.
Written for The Evening star.

ing the submits Of the distant foot hills.
On the low, level ground. spread in such To-
cations as had been suggested by the indi
vidual fancy Of the owners. lay the beds Of
| the respective cowboys. Near by were the
| mess wagon and the bed wagon, heavy harness
strung along the pole of each. Scattered about
| in seemingly hopeless confusion were saddles
| blankets. brides, lariats and spurs. Up the
creek were the few hundred cattle which had
been gathered during the preceding days Of ths
! roundup, safely inclosed by stout seven-rai
fence, known as corral
In the opposite direction, along the rich bot.
tom lands of the stream. might be seen the
| horse cavvy" or herd of COW ponies withou,
which 1t would be impossible to conduct 6
roundup.
THE ROUNDUP COOK.
Not n sound could be heard Even the
biood-curdling howl of the coyote had ceased
| with the dawning Of day. All was as silent al
the stars when at o'clock the cook arose and
began preparations for breakfast. His cooking
utensils were few; his stove a shallow hole in
| the ground. Across the hole lay fat strips Of
| iron, upon which were set the camp kettles,
| frying pan, Dutch oven and the inevitable
coffee pot. By means of these and rousing fire
underneath 'Dick the Slush" was able to pre-.
| pare a repast, which, IL not elaborate, washmple
and wholesome. Steak. bacon, biscuits. canned
tomatoes and strong coffee, varied occasionally
by hot cakes or pie, composed the bill Of fare
| for the three daily meals.
Dick, the cook, was genius. Hecould sing,
play the fiddle, prepare a dinner, cut up a
beef. or make love to the ladies when he had q
chance, which was seldom--all with the same
| dash and deftness. He was usually not over
twenty minutes in getting breakfast, which he
| would announce by a variety of calls capable
OF originating only in his versatile brain.
The XXI outfit was SO named because it was
owned by King & Lane, who combined their
Initials into monogram, which was used for
branding their horses and cattle; The outfit
consisted OF seventeen men, 1875 horses, a
grub" or mess wagon for carrying food and
other supplies and bed wagon. Four hun
dred cattle had already been collected during
| the first week Of the Horse creek roundup,
which was to last about fortnight longer.
The working force consisted of the fore
| man. the day herder and the might hawk"
who took care OF the horses, the cook and
thirteen ordinary riders or cowboys, two of
whom were reps sent to represent other
ranches and look after their cattle. The round
up had been a successful one and, although the
work was hard, all were in good spirits.
AN EARLY BREAKFAST.
''Roll out, roll out Come a-running." were
the calls with which Dick frequently startled
the sleeping cowboys. Whatever the call every
man was on his feet instantly. No more sleep
| now. From this moment till late in the after
noon there was work. hard work, to be done.
In not more than eight minutes every man is
dressed, has rolled his bed of blankets in its
| canvas covering and thrown it into the wagon.
washed at the creek and is ready for breakfast
A tin plate, tin cup for coffee and another for
tomatoes, a knife, fork and spoon are the i'm
piements which each man grabs and proceeds
TO load with eatables. He Is we'll waited on, for
he helps himself.
Napkins and finger bowls are at discount.
Butter and milk are rarely seen, but their lack
ID made up by sugar. The genuine COWBOY
has sweet tooth. His coffee is strong as I've.
but it must be thickened with sugar. The to-
matoes are never sweet enough Sugar Is even
eaten on bread. and unfortunately with sand
other than that SO amply scattered by the winds.
The wind 10 30 strong 1t blows the butter of
my bread" was the way one stAlwart cowboy
| referred to the ''zephyrs" which blow SO inces-
sanity on the plains Sometimes in winter
there is a continuous gale for days, and the
hottest day in summer is never without a
breeze. We're it not for the wind to clear the
ground Of snow in winter, however, cattle would
be unable to get at the grass. and probably
their now almost extinct predecessors. the
bison, would never have existed in such vast
herds.
sADDLINa Up
Meanwhile the horse cavvy is driven toward
camp by Calamity Jane" the night herder.
whose business it has been to stay with the
herd all night and keep uneasy horses from
running away. Calamity Jane leaves the horses
near by to Craze and comes to his break
fast, which is now nearly finished by
the others. In few minutes every
| thing is stir and hustle Ropes are tied
to the wagons and held in such way as TO
make partial Enclosure, into which the horses
are driven. The work teams are caught and
the saddle horses for the day then roped, each
man lassoing his own, unless. his steed proves
unusually wary. in which case several ropers
combine their efforts and the gamey broncho
soon finds the loop around his neck. The
teams are hitched to the four-horse mess
wagon. driven by tine cook. and the two-horse
bed wagon, with the night herder as teamster,
who are started Oh their way.
THE BRoNCHo As AN DIRECTOR.
The saddling and mounting is always time
of excitement. The morning is cool and brac-
ing and the ponies arc on their mettle. Some
body's horse is sure to buck, and each man,
| while bantering his companions, is inwardly
fearful that his mount will prove unruly.
Firmly holding the bride rein and check rein
in his left hand, he places his left foot in the
| stirrup clear to the heel and with cat-likc
agility springs into the saddle if he can, for
quick as is the rider the horse is sometimes
| quicker and begins to buck and plunge in a
| most formidable manner. II the rider has sue.
| ceeded i'll mounting before the buckin8 begins
he is likely to wish he hadn't, for while
he may be able to retain his seat, he finds II
| neither easy nor comfortable. Meanwhile he
| il the recipient Of much laughter and sundry
| encouraging remarks from his companions.
''Stay with him, ''Stay long time" Two to
| one on the horse" are among the cheerful
things which he may hear if he has time to
! listen. Should the rider be q novice and this
| his first adventure with bucking broncho he
| will never afterward have any difficulty in re-
| calling his experience wildly to mind
II it be early in the season sometimes half
| the horses will buck when first mounted in
| which case there is less criticism and more
action. Occasionally a fall occurs, but rarely
| serious accident. The bncking continues a
| few minutes-long enough, however--ane ia
| then over for the day. 1t is only on rare occa.
| sions that horse will begin to buck while
| in the midst of work, vet when it does occur
the rider is naturally taken at q disad vantage.
! and IL the ground happens to be full OF prairie
dog holes. he finds himself in no httle peril.
| Horses buck mostly Mt the beginning OF the
season, when they are feeling thoir best. Some
horses never buck, while others win buck every
| time they are ridden. Cowmen know their
| horses as they know each other, and are there.
| fore rarely caught of their guard.
THE ROUNDUP.
The procession now moves forward. After
the wagons follow the horses in charge of the
day border; then come the herd of cattle from
| the corral and lastly the horsemen. The des-
tination is Horseshoe Divide. twelve miles dis
| tant. After going short distance all Of the
| riders but two separate into pairs and scatter
over the adjacent country to make "circle. "