The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-02-17

Wheels Used Successfully n Ranch
on Barren California Plain.
San Francisco ChronicIe

Wheels Used Successfully On Ranch
on a Barren California Plain.
San francisco Chronicle.
Herdfng sheep on a bicycle is an inno-
walton introduced by Frank Smith on the
wide. roadless plain lying between Fresno
slough and the foothills of the Coast Range
In the western. part OF Fresno county.
Perhaps the wheel will not come into gen.
eral use for that purpose, as 1t is nearly
always impracticable to ride bicycle over
ranges where sheep. find pasturage, but
courses in the world on the open plains of
the West. side. where the ground is as
level as floor. and the wheelman can
often ride fifty miles without changing his
course and all the time over a country
where roads are almost unknown. and
stop the o' ioura eeSe The CABINS of few
homesteaders sometimes meet the view.
dottfng the horizon here and there. but
dence of civilization in all the country as
far as the eye can reach.
The region is dead waste, ALMOST with
out vegetation, except during the rainy
weeks of winter and early spring When
the hot weather comes the short growth
of alfilaria dries and the wind sweeps every
leaving the ground smooth and level as A
race course
phenomenal warmth have produced
growth of verdure such as has seldom been
known there, covering the earth like a
herds to that quarter from all sides. be-
cause pasturage there costs nothing. Frank
Breaks W the m mos by % gliding on his
wheel from band to band. thus dispensing
with horse and deriving pleasure from
herd quicker than dog can do 1t. The
dogs seem to view the bicycle with dis
gust, and look upon 1t as the latest device
OF labor-saving machinery
The most novel experience is in riding
after coyotes. which always hang upon the
outskirts of a band of sheep, ready to put
a misery
the moment the herder's back is turned.
A coyote is able to keep ahead of a 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 un-
Tagging I g wheel continues to u; hang upon
off, and the long-legged galloper or the
plains realizes that the transaction is not
intended for joke. By the time another
hour has passed and ten or dozen miles
more of the level plain have been meas
ured off, and the remorseless wheel con-
or perhaps has gained a little, the situa-
ton becomes decidedly unpleasant for
the coyote. The smile of scorn that curled
his lip during the first ten miles Of the
race, as he looked back, first over one
shoulder and then over the other, gradual
ly disappears soon after the second ten
back often ever, but the expression on
his impudent face seems to say. that the
joke has been carried far enough, and he
is willing to play quits II the wheel is
willing.
The coyote Is a lOng-Wlnded animal, and
it takes good wheelman to ride one down.
Under ordinary circumstances it is irnpos-
sible, for he will strike for thicket when
he discovers that it is to be a survival of
the fittest. But the West side plains
there are 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 a run is weary one
for him. He may be able to escape. but
sometimes he falls a victim to the revol-
yer of the wheelman, and once in a while
he is lassoed, although in such case he
must be shot any way, for his teeth are
self at the end of a rope. Besides, he is
apt to jerk the rider off the 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
durance, but because the rabbit will not run
very far in a straight line. When it finds
itself pursued 1t may run in one direction
for awhile, but it soon doubles back, and
from that time on 1T runs in circles or
more probably in angular course, defy
out of range of the pistol.
Efforts have been made two or three
times to run down the only antelope in
Central California, perhaps. but the efforts
did not meet with any success, because
these animals never venture very far from
the foothills of the Coast range, and when
pursued, they run for rough ground. An
antelope, after it has drunk it's fill. could
not outrun a bicycle ten miles on smooth
ground. The animals swift for a mile
or two, but. they. cannot keep. up THEIR
pace long at a time. Those in Fresno
county have their home in the brush back
of the first range of foothills and seldom
venture out upon the plains.