The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-08-19
THE COWBOY GOING.
A Picturesque Figure of the
West Rapidly Receding.
EARLY LIFE IN FODDERLAND.
Railroads and Civilization Eliminated
the Cattle Trails, and Barb Wire
Fences Did the Rest.

arrives over the old trials leading from
the great feeding grounds of Texas 10
the Kansas shipping stations. The
opening Of Oklahoma, the pushing
OF railroads into interior Texas, the
various regulations regarding cattle in
spection, have destroyed a once pic
turesque feature of life on the prairies.
L ne old cattle trials were to the prairies
what the grand trunk lines of railway are
10 the Atlantic states They were the
paths along which the wealth and excite
ment OF the country were found. They
reached for hundreds of miles over hill
and valley, across rivers and through for
ests, from the sun baked llanos of Texas to
the northern feeding grounds and ship
ping points of Kansas, or to the summer
pastures of Wyoming and Montana. Long
chocolate colored strips of earth they were.
every vestige of grass life trodden out by
the hundreds of thousands of hoofs, and
their lodges lined with the whitened bones
OF the unfortunate bovines whose strength
gave out on the journey and who were lett
behind to perish
The cowboy still exists in the lurid lit
erature of the West, and his name is as
sumed by model cattle punchers of the
quiet farms, but his vivid reality is no
more. He was once figure renowned in
peace and war, but he has vanished, says
the Chicago Herald. The changing kalei-
doscope of progress has left him behind,
and like the knights Grant of the days of
chiyalry he is today altogether an ideal per-
sonage. His name has lost no luster in
the passing of the years. The real cowboy
was far from being the gaudily dressed and
graceful courtier of the wild west shows.
He was by no means the gallant and ten
der-hearted hero of storydom, but he was
daring and reckless, Injured TO all hard
ships and appealed strongly to the West
ern mind.
The long summer feeding season was a
tiresome and monotonous one to the cow
boy. Day after day he rode his beat
around the feeding grounds wherein pas
tured thousands of head of long-horned
Texas cattle. Through rain and shine he
was on duty, and removed from all glimpse
of civilization, with little or no commune
cation with the outside world, it is no
wonder that when the annual drive
came he was hungry for excitement, and
there surged up in his heart wild and
passionate desire to paint the universe
brilliant carmine.
The preparing of the herd for the drive
was delicate operation. First the thous-
ands of cattle, scattered over scores of
miles, must be gathered together and the
marketable animals ''cut out" one by one,
and kept by themselves until all was ready
for the long journey. An occasional OBJ
streperous brute would require heroic
treatment. and many tumble would the
adventurous riders receive. To fall from
the horse is more dangerous than is real
f1a1 Co.. 4, II
have wholesome respect for a man and
horse combined, show them no regard sep
arately, and neither is safe from direct
and ferocious attack. Weeks were some
times consumed in the cutting out" pro-
cess, and it was only after much anxiety
and hard work that the drive was COM
menced. Wagons, with provisions, tents,
extra horses and cooks, went to make up
the supplies, and at last the caravan was
under way
OF the trails connecting Kansas and
Texas the best known and most travelled
was the chisholm trail" named after a
semi-civilized Cherokee Indian who first
travelled 1t. He followed path of his own
In zlg-sag course across the Indian Ter
ritory, and striking the south line of Kan
sas near the west line of the state Then
there was the "old Shawnee trail, -" which
divided honors with the Chisholm. 1t
left the Red river, and striking due north
crossed the Simarron and Washita, then
eastward to the Arkansas near Fort Glib
son, near which is Dodge City
Back in the '70s the shipping point was
Abilene, on the old Kansas Pacific rail-
road, then just completed. The river bot
toms for miles were covered with wards for
the loading of the immense herds that
came up from Texas. With the building
OF the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe rail-
way the nearest point, Dodge City, was
chosen, and it, until year or two ago, re-
joiced in Abilene's early title. 1.-THE wicked
est city in Kansas
Toward the north the herd started. the
animals, with a strange sense of system.
taking their places in the ranks almost az
regularly as soldiers. Day after day the
same animals would he found at the front
walking with dignified and Ynasterful stems
toward their destruction Further hack
the herd, sometimes stretching out for
three miles or even five, would be found
other lesser commanders, also in the same
relative places from day TO day. The cow
boys rode as guards on either side and dur
ing part OF the day turned their drove
aside that their charges might Craze on the
There was little excitement on the drive
while the weather was fine, but when the
storms came or for any reason stampede
was started there was no more arduOus task
than then presented Itself. The moment n
stampede is imminent the cowboys dash
for the leaders. Over rock and sod through
creek and ravine, away they race as hard
as the fleet Texas ponies can carry them.
Not on both sides OF the herd do they 90,
but on one, always endeavoring to swerve
the leaders in one direction-to the left
Madly they tear along with them until
sufficient turn is made TO insure the form
ing OF a circle-as small one as possible
When this has been done the hardest of
the work has been completed. The cow
bows have nothing TO do but sit still and
let the terrified brutes rush by In their
fury until they have tired themselves COM
plefey out and come to a standstilE Per
maps by the time this has taken place the
herd is miles from the original camp, and
hundreds of cattle have been left outside
the ranks and must be hunted up and
brought back. Milling" as this is called,
is usually accompanied by music. That
music hath power To soOthe the savage
heart" of long-horned Texas steer seems
almostincredihle, yet the cowboys of the
old days found il even so. When once the
''mill'' has been formed il was of the ut
most desirability that the motion be
stopped as soon as possible. To do this at
once meant the saving Of g large number
of cattle, as many Of the weaker ones
would be trampled TO death by their strong
comrades.
Singing at the tops of their voices some
old-time melody was the COW boys favorite
method OF accom- lishing this. The cattle,
agitated as they were by fear. would be-
come calm under the influence of the