The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1892-12-29
THE PASSING OF The COWBOY.
That Picturesque Western Figure VIA
Soon Become Extinct.

The cowboy, like the buffalo, the
| prairie wolf. the painted redskin, and
| the highway robbcr of the plains. is
rapidly becoming extinct in the west.
Civilization is as hard on cowboys as
| it is OH the other animals enumerated
above. The cowboy, however. has
been largely p myth. He has been eH-
isting in the imagination of eastern
writers, just as several very fine Ind
ians were turned out of COoper's mind.
There are many herders of cattle and
sheep in the mountains and valleys Of
the west. But the herder is the reality
out of which the mythical cowboy
came.
Texas produced the herder and cow
boy. Texas produces him yet in his
fuliness. Last winter, when the cattle
kings of Wyoming were trying to
kill off or drive out the actual settlers
who were making homes on govern
ment land and breaking up the vast
ranges that had been used for years
without permission, the settlers were
found to he too strong for the kings"
1t became necessary TO have help in
the work of depopulating the country,
and Texas was called upon to furnish
the men. They were of the herder or
cowboy type, and no other state could
produce thoir equals for that particu-
lar work. Before they "cut loose"
however, il was decided that the set
tiers had better be left in possession
Of the lands they had homesteaded for
themselves. Utah has the best herd
crs in the United States. They are. as
q rule, Mormons and do not partake
OF the Texas characteristics of the
same class. In Kansas, Nebraska and
Colorado the herder is no longer "a
holy terror" Twenty years ago he
was all that phrase implies save the
"holy."
spent the summer of 1873 in cat
tie village in Nebraska. away up in
sight Of Fort kearnev That reserva-
ton. 10y the way, was for many wears
herds that had pastured up from
Texas. The reservation was large. the
Piatte river ran through it, the feed
was good, and the land could not be
taken up by settlers. The village in
which | existed only for three months
was shipping point, and there were,
it was said, not less than 100, 900 cattle
there that season. The business of
the village was mainly in saloons,
hotels and the drug store, a more Sc
lect saloon.
| saw the cowboy element just as it
was, never totally deprayed, but al
ways wild and often dangerous. There
We're Pawnee Indian women about the
camps and equally barbaric white
women in the village. The herders
all drank and gambled. They would
run accounts between pay days, and
fair percentage of the debts ~ere paid.
At times herd of herdcrs would take
possession of the village; that is, they
would fire up on fOrty-rod whisky,
mount their ponies, and with pistols
cracking and lariats flying they would
ride and run over the town like wild,
yelling Comanchcs. Then it was dan
gerous to be out and about. Then
doors were locked and such windows
as had shutters were closed. Now
and then man would be hurt, but
the law was afraid and nothing was
done. When the whisky worked off
the boys would tell yarns on each
other and laugh over their frolics. If
they had been = murderous lot |
would not now be writing. Boston
IrQNScriT