The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1895-07-18
SHEPHERDS WHEELS
Bicycles Being Used BY Sheep Men
in California.
The Machine SupDlanting Horses
on the PlninS-HerderS Success
fnily Run Down T'reyiDg Coy
Otes on Their Novel and
Swift Running Steeds.

swift Running Steeds.
! Herding sheep on bicycle is an in
novation introduced by Frank Smith
on the wide, roadless plains lying be-
| tween Fresno slough and the foothills
of the coast range, III the western part
Of Fresno county Perhaps the wheel
will not come into general use for that
| purpose, as it is nearly always imprac-
ticable to ride a bicycle over ranges
where sheep find pasturagc, but nature
has provided one of the finest courses
in the world on the open plains Of the
west side, where the ground is as level
as floor, and the whcelman can often
ride fifty miles without changing his
course, anC. all the time over a country
where roads are almost unknown, and
where not fence or ditch interpose
to stop the journey. The cabins of a
few homestcaders sometimes meet the
view, dotting the horizon here and
there, but aside from these there is lit
tie or no evidence of civilization in all
the country as far as the 'eye can
reach.
That region is a dead waste, almost
without vegetation, except during the
rainy weeks of winter and carly spring.
When the hot weather comes the short
| growth of alfilaria dries and the winds
sweep every vestige of it from the face
| Of the earth, leaving the ground smooth
| and level as a race course.
This season the unusual rains and the
| phenomenal warmth have produced a
! growth of verdure such as has seldom
been known there, covering the earth
| like a carpet. The sheepmen have
driven their herds to that quarter from
all sides because pasturage there costs
nothing Frank Smith, who has charge
Of several herds, breaks the monotony,
says the San Francisco Chronicle, by
gliding on his wheel from band to band,
thus dispensing with a horse and deriv-
ing pleasure from what was before
work. He can round upa herd quicker
than dog can do it. The dogs seem to
view the bicycle with disgust, and look
upon it as the latest device of labor
saving machinery.
The most novel experience is in rid
ing after coyotes, which always hang
upon the outskirts of a band of sheep,
ready to put a sick or crippled one out
| Of it's misery the moment the herder's
back is turned. A coyote is able to
keep ahead of bicycle, and enjoys the
exercise for the first few miles. But
when he has had an hour or two of the
sport, and the tireless and unflagging
wheel continues to hang upon his line
of retreat, the fun begins to wear Off,
and the long-eared galloper of the
| plains realizes that the transaction is
not intended as joke. by the time
| another hour has passed. and ten or a
dozen miles more of the level plain
| have been measured Off, and the re-
morseless wheel continues not more
than two hundred and twenty yards in
the rear, or perhaps has gained a little,
the situation becomes decidedly un-
pleasant for the coyote. The smile of
scorn that curlcd his lip during the first
ten miles of the race, as he looked back,
first over one shoulder then over the
other, gradually disappears soon after
the second ten miles is entered upon.
The animal looks back as often as ever,
but the expression on his impudent
face seems to say that the joke has
been carried far enough, and he is will
ing to play quits if the wheel is willing
The coyote is a longwinded animal,
and it takes a good wheelman to ride
one down. Under ordinary circum-
stances j, is impossible, for he will
strike for a thiclet when he discovers
that it is to be survival of the fittest
But on the west side plains there arc SO
few places of concealment and the
prairies are SO level and limitless that
the coyote may have to run two or three
hours before he can find cover. The
latter part of such run is a weary one
for him. He may be able to escape,
but sometimes he falls victim to the
revolver of the wheelman, and once in
awhile he is lassoed, although in such
case he must be shot anyway for his
teeth are called into action as soon as
he finds himself at the end of rope.
Besides, he is apt to jerk the rider off
his wheel by sudden turns.
The jackrabbit is not SO noble game
as the coyote from the point of view of
the bicyclist, but is harder to run down.
1t is not because of greater speed or
greater endurance but because the