Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-10-20
CATTLE ON THE MOVE
immense Herds Are Compelled to r.
 Wide Rivers

 immense Herds Are Compelled to c,,..
 Wide Rivers.
 Many of the cattle shipped to q. Chicago market are bred in Texas .ns having remained there two vears driven to Montana and there fed as the ranges for two more years.
 They bring a better market prica k this method, as the short curly prass es Montana is most nutritious. and tb.. combined with the more northern al; mate, makes better beef. From tba Pan Handle of Texas, where begins ths great range of Farwell & Tavlos stretching away for two hundred onl twenty-five miles. to their other ranos in Montana, sixty miles north of t5s Yellowstone, IS eleven hundred m;loa and this distance is travelled bv tha great herds from May to August Tbe route passes through Colorado. Wvos ming and Montana, and twelve to sf. teen miles are made daily. The dr;est portion of the trail is found in Colo rado. Herds have been driven a d;s. tance of eighty miles without watar and with the loss of but few: tbon when water is reached care must ha taken to prevent overcrowdine and crushing. Three large streams are swum-the North and South Platte and the Yellowstone, the most dangerous of all being the Yellowstone, with its swift current and uncertain and changeable bottom.
 Usually no greater number than forty-five hundred are driven in one herd, and the swimming of one of this size across the Yellowstone is no easv task; two days are sometimes con. sumed, with the constant attention of fifteen to twenty cowboys, the number allotted to such herd. At times the cattle will readily take to the water entering few at time and following the spare horses of the cowboys that are driven ahead. At other times thev turn back or bunch together in the stream and circle about, thereby en. dangerlng their lives. Then the COW. boy must swim out with his pony and stop this milling process. He takes great risk, and it sometimes happens that one is drowned. At the Yellow stone crossing near Miles City, on one occasion, cowboy and pony disap. peared in the water and were never seen alive; it was thought that he had forgotten to loosen the saddle-girth. thus impairing the animals power to swim. Another was thrown over the head of his horse and only by great ex- ertion prevented the animal, which had turned on its side. from drowning. Strange as it seems, horses and mules will attempt suicide by drowning. At the Yellowstone river. use is made Of several islands. and this year the cross ings were remarkably successful. the cattle took to the water readily. swan easily and landed on the islands. then, by little urging, made for the other bank and reached it about one mile below the starting point. They presented the appear. ance of a large fsh-hook the curve being near the landing point; two to five were abreast, there was no crowd ing, and but few swan back to the near bank. Some few mired in the soft bank, and before extrieating tnCtdSt1tCS Otit udQ tOSb US 1li6 over-exertion. In this herd were steers. A 'eew and ealfn herd is troublesomef in the extreme. each COW looking ouf for her calf and all believing at t2e top of their voices; some turn back afnd cause rush to the rear, and all must be started again. When the cattlekget in this restless and stubborn I Rood about swimming the cowboys sif fg to them in a low, plaintive maA Aner, which has quieting effect; thls is also done on stormy nights winch stampede is feared. The cattle swim much better when the sun is in their rear. and the crossing is always so timed.
 It seems strange that these south ern-reared cattle can endure the se- we're Montana winters. where the ther. mometer drops to forty and fifty de- grees below zero; but they do endure the cold, succumbing, however, to the spring blizzards when they are in the worst condition to battle with the storms. Golfers Weekly.