The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-27
The ''PUNCHER"
PASSING of THE PICTURESQUE
COWBOY NOT ALTOGETHER
A DREAM
WIRE FENCES RESPONSIBLE
American Literature and the Drama
Likely to Lose One OF Their
Most Picturesque
Figures.


|
TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 26.-TherA is
| good deal of talk about the passing
Of the cowboys" and it is not altogether
a dream. TheEday of the cowboy as he
has been is practically past. Civilization
| is gradually destroying the picturesque
features Of his life. Mile after mile Of
ranch and grazing lands are being fenced
! IN, and with each advance in this direc-
ton the cowboy becomes more super
| f1uous.
Some of the largest ranches now are
! equipped with electric lights and tele-
| phone connections, and this still more
diminishes the demand for the cowboys
! services.
American literature and drama of the
melodramatic order will lose one of their
| potent features when this unique char
| acter is effaced.
Notwithstanding the fact that he still
| adheres to his monstrous methods of cos
tuning himself, the cowboy is no longer
| the terror Of the Western plains that he
| used to be.
The rough life of the West has sim
mered down until it is little different
| TO rough outdoor life anywhere, for poor
| Lo no longer raises his tomahaWk to
| par the cowpuncher's way with his herds
| across the wilderness.
! Wild animals are scarcer even than
Indians now, and, taken altogether. the
| excitement which centerS round his per-
| sonality. This he manages to do occa-
sIonally when he goes to the small town
nearest his ranch, and, after filling I'D
WIN some Viilainous rum, commences to
enllven things with his revolver Even
this elementary form of sport seems to
nave FALLEN away considerably, for the
faro bank proprietors are calling out bit
terly about bad business and the sheriffs
are literally without business at all.
me cowboys life, brought down to
| the prosaic lines of existence today. is
not an exceptionally enviable one al
though to steadyg gated young man
there are chances of saving the oppor-
tunltleS for getting ahead fully equal to
those offered in densely crowded cities.
where dollar is generally spent before
it is earned.
On the plains it is literally impossible
to spend money before it is earned.
once cowboy, always a cowboy" is a
we'll grounded axiom Few care to leave
the Bedouin-like existence when once
they have become accustomed to it, True.
the life is one of incessant hardship.
Whoever followed the restless "beef'' in
falI roundup of early SHOWS and rains
without having an experience that would
peggar description? Up at o'clock in the
| morning, swallowing hasty cup of cof-
fee, If any happened to be ready, with
an enormous herd of nervous cattle to
hold in leash. Then comes the crash of
thunder, some dazzling flashes of light
n1ng, and the maddened animals break
away, two or three thousand strong.
Right in among that mad onrushing
| horde Is the cowboy, slashing, driving
and dashing ahead of the mass to try
TO turn 1t in the direction it should go
Sometimes he succeeds-if not it is a long
trail to be covered till sun-up before he
will get his bacon and bareback break
fast
Then he is ready to face the elements
or whatever else there is to be met UNI
til nightfall or after.
The pay of the cowboy is about a dol
lar day or from $25 to $50 per month.
exclusive Of food and lodging. Foremen
receive as much as from $500 to $3.50 per
month, according to the size of the
ranches on which they are employed
Board and lodging is always included
and free medical aid as rule. The food
is coarse, but substantial, and, when one
is accustomed to it, not at all distasteful.
1t includes Mexican beans, bacon. oat-
meal, coffee, -four, molasses, dried fruit
and canned tomatoes and corn with oc-
casional variations. The ranch owners
consider a dollar a week will feed a
person satisfactorily.
Unfortunately the hardships Of the
cowboys life make him hard liver all
around. AS a rule he drinks like a
fish when the opportunity presents itself
he CANDLES like silver or copper king
and is very promiscous in his loves 1t
generally takes him about three days to
dispose of the earnings of the year If
he falls, as seldom is the case to ride to
the door of the general storekeeper when
he enters the small town to which he
HES as soon as he ends the fall roundup.
he will have to wear his old seedy and
patched clothes to the end of the year,
for he will surely spend every cent when
he reaches the gambling den or other
vicious haunt.
If he only would defer these visits until
some four or five years had elapsed, or
would do without them altogether the
| cowboy might have a good start in life.
| Five years of Fself-denial would be suffl-
| cient to give him his beginning as a
| stock owner.
There are proofs of what can be done
| by those who are thrifty scattered over
| the plains of the Northwest in the shape
| of substantial ranches which have sprung
| from savings during the cowboy period
| of the owners life, which were subse-
| quAntly invested in the first bunch of
| cattle the cowboy ever owned But the
| chances are not now so favorable for
| this or other progress on the part Of tie
cowboy as they were in the days of the
| golden past.