Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-03-25
A QUEEN OF THE RANCH.
A YOUNG WOMAN OF IDAHO
WHO SELLS HORSES.
Her Partners Are Her Father and Broth
ers, and VIII le They Are on tho
Ranch In the Spring, She
Il on the Road.

the Office and informed the clerk on
duty that young lady was in the re-
ception room and wished to see him or
some one in authority. The clerk at
tended the summons and the young
lady gave him her name and requested
room. She was registered Miss
Katie V. Wilkins Idaho. and assigned.
There was nothing about her appear
ance to excite comment or raise any
curiosity. But it leaked out later that
she was a horse dealer She said so
herself when asked about it, and the
news spread about the hotel that there
was woman horse dealer in the build
ing. 1t was the first arrival of the
kind that the Grand Pacific had ever
recorded. Miss wilkins is in partner
ship with her father and two brothers.
The company owns horse and cattle
ranch in what is known as the Bru-
neau Valley. in Idaho
1t is a country where there is no
society. 1t is Il country where few
women would care to live. But Miss
Wilkins finds life there very much to
her liking. and there is nothing about
her to indicate that she is not as much
| Of woman as any OF her sex who
live down on some of the fashionable
avenues of Chicago There is moth
ing masculine about her manner. She
| Is self-possessed. and not at all giddy.
AS a matter of fact the giddy girl is
not indigenous to tho West. She calls
herself The Lady Horse Dealer"
BY that name she is known out West
While her sex turns to men, and
flowers and music, and dancing and
novels, and all such, to love and caress
Miss Wilkins turns to horses.
They are the embodiment of all
that is noble to her. and at the same
time she is not so wrapt up in the
study that she is not at all times ready
to barter away horse flesh when she
can strike good trade They say
she seldom gets the worst of it in
horse trade
When she is at home she occupies
her time in mounting the most spir-
tied horse on the ranch and in her
own way she gallopS away over the
prairies, stopping wherever she is apt
to find herd of horses that suits her
fancy. If Il bargain is to be driven she
has the most to say about it. The
herders and dealers and raisers all
know her, and her judgment on q
horse is law and gospel. Then she
gallops away home. dismounts without
any assistance. ungirths her charger
and calls her partners about her to tell
them what she has done and they at
tend to the rest
When the season comes for shipping
she leaves the ranch in charge of the
stock. For the most part they are
what is known as wild horses. The
care OF such animals generally gives
man all he can do but this young
woman makes no complaint. She has
no trouble with her horses. They
seem to understand that they are I'M
der the care of a woman, and act ac-
cordingly. Arrangements have been
made in advance for the shipment of
these animals from certain point on
the railroad. She has mapped out be-
fore leaving the cities she proposes to
visit with her stock. The train pulls
out and Miss Wilkins is in the ca
boose. The railroad men know her,
and no one could be treated more con-
siderately than this young lady, who
is travelling alone. No chaperone for
her.
When she reaches her first point of
destination her cars are switched and
she looks after the horses herself.
That is. she hires men at the point OF
her destination and tells them just
what she wants done, and it is done
just in that way. If she wants them
stabbed that is done and then she calls
on the men in town who are in the
habit of buying horses. When she
has made all the sales she can she
goes to the railroad company and
makes arrangements for her horses to
be placed in cars and all other ar
rangements that are necessary. She
is on for the next place. The same
programme is observed here us at the
first place and so on until the stock
has been disposed Of With a bank
account to her credit she occasionally
SlOpS ONOr III any lSduihS Guy anu
perhaps takes in the opera. She loves
music.
Then she goes to the ranch, tells
her partners what she has DONE
divides according to the agreement
and then in the evenings when there
is nothing around for miles and miles
and no one to intrude, and the stars
twinkle from the blue on the sea of
prairie. she tells her partners, her
father and brothers, what she saw in
the visits made to the cities. They
look upon her. as they well may. with
pride and wonder.
Sometimes, before the season for
shipping she leaves the ranch and
makes trip to the places where she
has been before. and makes her sales
ahead. but she always delivers the
goods in person.
Whether on the ranch, or on the
corral, or on the road, or in the CEN
tiers where she sells, Miss Wilkins is
always treated with all consideration.
Tho rounders-up on the broad plazas,
where the trails are the only avenues.
lift their hats to Ter when they meet
her. The men at the station have for
her the most profound respect She
comes to the city and, although alone.
she goes about her business, is not