The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-02-21
ANNUAL ROUND-UPS.
COWBOYS SORTING OUT THR
YOUNG CALVES.
The Mothers Are Driven Into the Pen,.
and Then Comes the Exciting Moment.
When tho Daring Rough Riders Dart
in and Out Among the Cattle.

Great features of interest to the
Fastener and tenderfoot are the
semi-annual round-ups and brandings,
in which the typical Western cowboy
is the prime mover. Roaming over
the states of Colorado and Texas and
the territories of Wyoming and Arizona
are millions of cattle, which twice a.
year are gathered into groups, Or
herds, and accounted for and marked.
It is the collecting and branding of
these cattle and the exciting attend
ing circumstances that lend such color
to this one feature of Western life.
For some time before the cowboy is
looking forward an! planning for the
spring roundup. Before the event
every detail is we'll studied. The re-
spective 'outfits," a company of from
thirty to forty cowboys, with cook,
have their own districts or ranges to
ride. The territory is usually about
twenty miles square. Each outfit has
its own corral or pen,a point to which
all cattle in that district are driven.
These corrals are usually circular and
from $50 to 800 feet in diameter.
The start for the range ride is
usually made in the early morning,
and by noon the herds are within
sight of the corral, and then the cut
ting-out process takes place, on what
is known as the mill ground'' which +,
is level tract of land. Around the
outer edge of the mill ground the
cowboys ride, keeping the cattle NOV
ing yet under control. It is at this
point that, working in pairs, they cut
out the COWS of their brand, with the
calves running by their side, and drive
them into the corral. Then they next
separate the herd OF "strays," or
those steers and COWS branded with
the marks of another range. They
make memorandum of these strays
and advise the owners. Then, last in
the operation, the cowboys herd the
steers of their branding not wanted
for the market, and stampede and al
low them to roam for another six
months.
After all this sorting on the mill
ground, the cowboys go into the pen.
Here large fire is built for the brand.
ing irons. These irons are divided
into two classes, the brand used for
cattle allowed to roam on the range,
and the s:yard" brand. The former is
crudely made, but the latter is stud
led and registered combination of let
ters or fixed design.
In the corral three cowboys lasso,
or more properly speaking, "work in
the herd" and drag the calves to the
fire, where the respective ear marks
are cut, and the brand is burnt in.
Then the calves are allowed to run on
the range once more.
In these round-ups the cattle are
punched in herds numbering from 500
to $4,000. One Arizona company has
10000 head of cattle, and it is not the
largest corporation in the territory by
any means.
The cowboy is paid by the month,
getting from $25 to $50, with all the
horses he can ride and his "grub.''
On long range ride the cowboy
sleeps in his blankets under the clear
sky and never murmurs. The COW
boys are always fully armed, and in
their number are many Eastern col
lege graduates who are usually bosses
of the outfits.
Many of these literary cow-punchers
are punching for their health though 4
some are not, according to the Phila- +.
delphia Times. It is great school
for any man. Honorable dealing is
everything.
The proportion of 'ssquare' brand
ing is very high, due undoubtedly to
that unwritten code among ranchmen
and cowboys that a bullet is the re-
ward for dishonesty on the range.
The cowboy tramp, or, as he is
called, the '.puncher prowler," is by
far the most interesting class of West
ern tramp. His distinguishing fea-
ture is his possession of horse. How
he got it no one asks and no one cares
The Western way of looking at horse ,
que. lions is not, has another man got
any? but have lost any? Horses in
many parts of the West can be bought
for as little as So. If one has lariat
but no money he can get horse for
nothing. andI if it is unbroken and
wild, with no danger of punishment.
The cowboy tramp's horse is usually
tramp among horses just as its
owner is tramp among men. Its
very appearance indicates that fact.
The puncher and his horse roam at
will. They sleep together, get wet to-
gether and go hungry together. No
one but drunken Indian or dishon-
est cattleman would buy a puncher
providers horse even if he would sell
it. Possession of the purchase is too
uncertain. The cowboy tramp lives
by working occasionally as puncher,
but usually as a poacher. He above
all others can cook a sage hen until
its strong meat sweetens to delicious:
morsel or roast a prairie dog until one.
tasting it would swear it was 'possum.