The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-22
[The Mashington Evening


1t is about time for the June
roundup, and 70 like mighty well TO
take a hand in it if I could get away
said a western Congressman last week.
81 believe a month on the range would
make a new man Of me-" This partic-
1lar Congressman is not cowboy,
but he is a "cowman,' and there is a
vast amount of difference; one herds
the cattle, the other owns the herd. 1t
is quite often the case that one grows
into the other, and so it was with this
Congressman. He made his pile" by
''cow punching and lucky branding OF
mavericks" And each spring the ola
fever strikes him; he likes the rough
riding, the range living ana the care
Gree life; there is health in II, too.
The cattle ranges &C the west are not
as big as they used to be, but they are
yet extensive enough to astonlsh a
fenderfoot with their vastness. People
who have never sen above 2GO heaa Oh
cattle in a bunch cannot comprehend the
size Of herd of 2,0G0 and when it leaps
I'D two cipheTS they are indeed at sea,
So it is with areas. When one mas
been accustomed to a fifty-acre side hill
farm that has to be walled up to keep
1t from sliding into the river or the 1T
the gully called valley one of Uncle
Sans generous 160-acre farms seems a
kingdom, especially if it lies as level as
floor and as smooth and free Of stumpS
and stones as the Administer carpet in
the blue room of the White House.
Yet there are wheat fields in the west
on lands as level as that which would
survey two or three thousand acres in
extent and alongside of them are rye,
oats, corn and hay fields as large, and
many of them larger, all belonging TO
one man. The meadows and pastures
f.,F Eo, ,Aol-
a corral for the average western farm
.er, and when it comes to stock the
yankee" simply isn't in it at all.
THE LARGEST RANGE IN THE
WORLD.
The Northern Range" as it is called
by western stockmen, is now the most
extensive in the United States, and
Though its area has been somewhat
icurtailed it is still the largest in the
world. This area comprises the whole
tpf Wyoming and Idaho, southern Mon
tEana, northern Utah and Colorado, and
= part Of Nebraska and Dakota. This is
q territory nearly twice as large as
either France or Germany. Wyoming
Stself is larger than New York and
Pennsylvania, and larger than all the
New England states combined, with In
diana thrown in for good measure. 1t
ts in fact, almost impossible to give any
adequate idea Of the extent of this
vast grazing territory, over which
Toamed the buffalo herds and the elk
and the roebuck-the wolves and
herds of riderless horses. when Eyaug-
ielinei like a wrath, passed over them in
her search for Gabriel. l think no
liner picture of the region has ever been
drawn than that made by Longfellow
of this country, where
the mountains
Eift through perpetual SHOWS their lofty
and luminous SUBMITS.
Down from their jagged deep ravines,
the gorge like a gateway,
Opens passage rude to the wheels of the
Westward the Oregon flows and the
Walleway and Owyhee,
Eastward, with devious course, among
the Wind river mountains,
Through the Sweetwater valley precipi-
tate leaps the Nebraska;
And to the south, from Fountaine-qui-
= bout and the Spanish sieTras, -
Hretted with sands and rocks, and swept
by the wind Of the desert,
Numberless torrents, with ceaseless
sound, descend to the ocean.
Spreading between these streams are the
wondrous, beautiful prairies,
e-lowy bays of grass ever rolling in
shadow and sunshine
This is the stcckman's paradise. the
country of the cow puncher. the COYOTE
and the cattle, which have been pic
turesque features in the landscape of
literature for the last thirty years
Life on the range is not a perpetual
picnic by any means, but it has its fas-
Gina 1ions, exactly IS any other kind of
G wild life has, and the CONGRESSMAN
who has ridden in many a roundup was
still under the spell, when he longed TO
leave TIE Fuckers in Congress for a
bout h another kind of an animal
on the range, and one whom he felt
that ne could conquer
WHAT A ROUNDUP IS.
What is a roundup" and why in
June? These are questions not TO be
answered in a few words. The pro-
cesses Of a general roundup involve a
tremendous expenditure of labor, time
and money It is held in June and
\ again in the fail, and the purpose in
view is the branding of the young
calves, and the getting together Of the
''strays," which may have wandered off
into unknown territory. The roundup
IS carried out on the same plan as a
rabbit or wolf hunt-or drive-only on
a larger scale, and is engaged in by all
the stocl1men whose cattle range on
the roundup route, each paying pre-
rata his share of the expenses, as
shown by the animals branded by them
in the previous roundup.
Imagine if you can, a wolf drive
which takes in scope of two or three
hundred thousand square miles, in
which there are several million animals
ito hunt out, to say nothing of the
young, which are to be sought individ-
ually and sealed" with a brand and
you can then get some idea Of the mag
Eitude. Of the undertaking. You must
remember that the country over which
you are to beat is covered by mountain
ranges, with infrequent passes, with
11og-back foot hills, deep gorges and
: canyons, with long stretches of alkali
desert as bleak and as bare Of vegeta-
zion as the back of your hand with
wide level plateaus, ragged with sage
brush and chapparal, along beds of dry
rivers. often wanting water, yet days
ride from a drop of the precious fluid
again almost swept away by the sudden
rise of the treacherous mountain
streams, in fact you can set your i'm
agination to work in any direction you
like. so long as it carries you away
from civilization and comfort, and youl
fancy, given good play, cannot lead yot
astray in depicting the wild rough life
led by the cow-puncher on the great
northern range.
PREPARING FOR THE WORK.
The Wyoming Cattle Growers associa
kion has had absolute control Of the
roundup, or, "rodeoing'' as the Mex
deans call it, on this great range foi
years, and they prepare for il by
holding d convention in April usually
which is largely attended by the stock
men OF the west. It has a presiden
and full complement of officers, ant
committees whose duty it is to famil
tarize themselves with the whole vas
territory over which the irnroen SO herd