The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1891-09-05
IN A BIG STOCK YARD.
WHERE THERE IS LOTS or FUN
AS WELL AS BUSINESS.

fch to Ahothcf- uosplthi lur iNurcu
Cattle.
There's lots Of fun as we'll AS business about
stock yard. The old hands, the buyers and
commission men, and also the stockruen who
come often enough to learn the ropes, enjoy
nothing better than joke ON green visitor,
one with Kid gloves and boots with patent
leather shine preferred, but the verlOnt, with
flannel shirt and collar and his pantaloons in
his boot tops, il he I've the only object at hand.
The jokes take various forms, often there ars
new ones but there is standard Joke, the
use OF which is always Endorsed The victim
is walking down one Of the large passage
ways through which the cattle are driven
from pen TO pen, or 10 the scale house, look.
ing from side TO side 10 see which way he
will turn or through which gateway he will
pass 10 come out whore he wants 10. Sud
denly there is q loud cry;
"Clear the way Here comes wild Steerm
FUNNY Yes, very, for the spectators. The
cry has been given by some one who is "on,n
away at the other end Of the passage, and is
taken up by the crowd scattered along tho
alley. They all know what IL is, and though
the greene may be friend or customer, they
as readily join in the cry and sport The
poor victim does not know what il is lie
has probably seen, or may be experienced,
what it is TO be tossed by wild steer, and as
soon as he hears the dread cry he begins TO
make way, and makes it very rapidly. He
pluuges ahead by as long strides as possible,
and he is lucky II he does not go head first
into the mud.
The most interesting thing about a stock
ward is the yell. The rich buyer or commits
sion man. as we'll as the salarlcd agent or
spcCulator, knows it--or rather them, for the
Yell is as numerous almost as the people in
the yards The farmer and small stock
grower knows the "whoopee" or "whoa.oa-
oa-oaern and "sukien used on the range or
farm yard, but when il comes TO the comb.
nations of letters and sounds used here they
are as much at sea as one OF the gentlemen
using them would be in attempting to con.
vey an intelligent idea of them on paper.
The most familiar sound TO the countryman
is long one something like this:
"Wha-whoap-oa- oa-oa-oap-woaperel and re-
peated as rapidly as possible, with occasional
variations as they suggest themselves.
This is not an exact reproduction, but IL is
something near it, and If the student pa
tiently twists his vocal organs until he finds
the right coutortion he may produce the
sound. II he anticipates going into the busi-
ness, the "mayh will be changed 10 must
for this driving sound seems to be the begin
ming point of all-the one taught in the pri-
mary department, A yell following il seems
easier but it is not. 1t runs:
"Hi-i-i-yi-kieyiea-ye yea hi-yi-yi-yi-yi |"
and carried out without limit, until its OBJ
ject is accomplished.
This yell may be made very musical, and
then it becomes something more than yell.
Those who are perfect in IL run the scale up
and down, centerwise and every other wise,
and professor of music could better then
express it in notes than any one else could
represent it in letters.
There's another sound which sounds like
an auctioneer repeating "going goingongn so
rapidly that it soon becomes u sound with
something like ''g" as the first letter and he
winds up with an abrupt "gone to John
Smith" who has almost forgotten that he
had bid.
Another musical spur to the live stocks
movements is built on the plan of Joe En-
mett's warble, which everybody who thinks
he's an Emmett tries to initiate This is be-
coming slightly popular but its commercial
value in its effect on the cattle has not yet
been definitely determined. These, with
many more yells, are all told in the sales pens
and scale yards In the unloading and ship
ping yards another style prevails, something
not SO sharp. Variety is the rule there, too
but as in the first case there is a common
approved yell which may be attempted after
a few lessons. To produce it the lips must
be fixed just so. Then comes:
"Brr-rr-r-r -haw-ho- -ha-ha-hal"
In producing the last part Of this sound the
student will profit md progress more rapidly
in this work if he carefully studies the pecu-
liarities of the heavy villains stage laugh in
a second class variety show. He will soon
discover the peculiarities which he may use,
and will then have little difficulty in sand
wiching it properly between some other
sounds The last lessons must be taken with
the aid of an eight foot pole, weighing about
twenty pounds, with which the student will
prod"a bag of sand, if nothing more con.
venient answers giving more emphasis with
each prod After couple of dozen prods the
voice will have toned down until the last
sound is like the ending of the despalring cry
OF an emotional actress.
So far as the Stock Yards company is con-
cerned, it takes few risks in its responsible
ties 1t stands good for the stock from the
time they leave the car until they are loaded
in again or are driven away by the buyer,
speculator or butcher. AS soon as the stock
is loaded into the pen the gate is closed and
locked and the pen watched. The market is
open from 8 to 2 o'clock, during which time
the gates opening into the passageways are
unlocked. Promptly at 2 o'clock the gates
are all again locked and to get anything out
of pen it would be necessary to lift it over,
rather difficult matter. Under this ar
rangement such thing as transferring stock
from one pen to another, taking out choice
animal and substituting an inferior one, Is
impossible. The stock is counted into the
pen, then into the scale house, and then out
again, and that reshipped counted again into
the cars. Every car and every bunch skept
separate.
But few cattle or other animals are injured
in the yards, but for the benefit of those fall
ing victims to overcrowding or rough tray
cling, hospitals are provided in each division.
To these all injured animals ere taken,
though first sold to spectators. In the hos
pitfalls the animals are given dry, sheltered
places to sleep, and good food to eat, and
water to drink. They become the care Of
IL ~