Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1901-02-21


ia freightin' an we decided that we
would see little OF the bright SHE Of
ife, in pursooance Of which object we
leaded for st. Looey. We arrived
here on sktdool time more or less an
here wasn't anytlin' in the burg too
good for us. Our blood was in condi-
ton TO assimilate any quantity Of rich
ness without any bad eiTfc's. We flew
high an never come down to roost.
All the same we struck hard series OF
three-one deals an there was a shrink
age in our assets by the end Of the week
that would have had a depressing in
fiooence on the bank of England. We
could stand ii. though. told you we
had made stake.
well. ! says TO Joe: 1T amt no use
In spendin' our wealth all in one place.
Let's give Omaha a touch Of the sunny
side of prosperity So we went on TO
Omaha and in two weeks more we was
busted. Not plum busted. you under
stand. We had about Sl0,tc0 left be-
tween us. 1t was little over that, be-
cauSe that represented the eNac'
amount Of our investment. il come
about this way: We was a setiin' in
the bridal chamber Of the best hotel
in the place eatin' our dinner. which
was roast turkey. ] disrcmcmber the
name Of the hotel, an ! don't see that
II cuts any grass with you men, any
way. ! said we was eaiin' roast tur-
key an there ain'i nobody ran tempt
me to eat roast turkey no'v. want "a
tell YOU. killed a man wi,h q n,ck-
yoke in Pierre last year for just offer
in me some But then II was Who'll,
lot different an that turk tasted good
We didn't leave nothin' Of it hut Tho
bones. an when we had got to TIM
pint Joe stretched back an, lettin
out all the slack there was in his belt
which wasn't too much he says: 'Wh5
cant we get turkey like that on The
Pacific coast?'
"1hat gi' me the idee. When man
has idees II don't take n stick OF giant
to blast them ont in chunks that kin
be handled run my fork keerlessly
through my ha'r. which wuz longer
than what II is now, an says: why
not buy turkeys here drive them out
to the coast an recooperate our shat
tered fnances?'
Joe fell In with my scheme an that
cyenin' we went out to thr market an
Investigated We was IN luck, for the
market was glutted with turkeys an
they was goin' b gyn' al IS cents a
head. fggered tha they would sell
on The coast for q dollar q pound easy
an that they would aver &c u pounds
in weight takin them all through. So
We jet put that whole $1,000 in the
birds an started out.
They was easy enough TO drive;
there amt q more tractable or docilc
bird on two legs than the TURKEY is.
II it had been h.n.. now. wouldn't
never have undertook il. but turkeys
is all right jet put bell on the
biggest one in the outfit an started
him right, an the rest went gObblii'
along after him. II wul as pretty q
sight to see them turkeys on the road
as ever you seen in your life Twelve
thousand five hundred OF them, an
not u straggler in the bunch!
"Fcdd2 Well, what do you think ?
Wasn't there bugs on the rond2
reckon there was II was graz shop
per year, / want to tell you, and the
way those turkeys fatted up was q
sin to snakes. Fourteen pouudsl
Why, there wasn't one OF them tu Ks
that wouldn't have tipped the scale
at 20 in a week, an the b.i turk an
the one thst ! strapped the b'nuk, Is
an the cookin' outfit onto won dn't
want 10 tell you what they did weigh.
"No trouble about night hcrdin'.
As soon Ms 1t was Auudown they would
comment loolin' around for a place
to roost. an then they would hy up
into the trees. an we cou'd rest easy
until the next no.nin'. We ok the
old overland trail along the Platte out
to Fort Laramie, an not a hitch in the
arrangements W. could see how lie
folks iu California was roiu' tl flock
round us with their dust when We get
there. We could -cc curse ,c, iu .ar-
ringcs. with plug hats an sp be tail
coats an hloodcd stock ll1hl po
you know what that would have
brought us2 H's easy Putin b. ui
the moderate estimate Of do'lnr a
pound. mn allowIn' the average ~ %
pounds to the bird there We were
with clean profit o' S2i75 ON every
one ~ them or nllowin for los bile
LOSSES by death ,r mi,ndycnturc, say
$500 Cnn ON the outfit 1t was roI
burned shame that we had to slip ui
on th,'ieal"
The old man began 10 smoke his
pipe In sto'id silence. and the stock
tender winkrd at the ,tnrc agent Tn,
silence continued for half an hour
and was then broken b, the stock
tender rcmnrkinr that it was about
time for him to feed them horses
"Ncs." resumed the old nan. pucid
ly. I'VE slpp,d up ou it tr .v
this way: You see. we had hnl 'o'.
Of cottonwood trees an along th,
Platte hut when w ,turtrd Co eros.
the plains 60 Green riy.r w. notice.
that the turkey. lot bothered aI
roo'ting tim They l,p w.stu
their uecks around loDkn' fer som,
place to roost all MIGHT long au th,
next day some o' them had t,cls lh,
a prctlel When t.cy tried to Zee,
an took a shot at q hug or grasshop
pc, they would MS, him from si'
inches to foot ou one side or th,
other. Joe allowed thai they woul,
learn To calculate the variation afte.
awhile, hut thcy got poorer an poor
cr, so an iherr was Co vc l.l &,
take ,hyu buck q the Platte u geo.
the rich trughtW,d ont VIA, thv
did In fc,, days Hut when N,r tool
them To- the plains again we had th
same old trouble, an, to make luul
story short, we KEEP driNin them hucI
AN forth an back an 10 IA unit
there wasn't any more 10 drive"
"What got away with them2" aske,
the stage agent