The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-18
DESTROYED
VIVA A BOsToNIAN LOOKED FOR
AND WHAT HE FOUND.
The Cowboy Not a Picturesque Per-
sonage, but Tame and Common
pIace-The Real Rio Grande.

or tneSe-but Stay-after all, II is Just IN
the point Of view.
To me, in Boston. the West was rose
c~olored-golden. There were men there, real
men, looking like Mr.. R~emington's draw
ings, riding around on horseback, yet al
ways willing to sit for their pictures. Many
picturesque Indians-an everyday occur
ence, Of course. because Mr.. Lummis and
others had told me all about it in books. I
had often, in my youthful days. speculated
on the smugglers Of the Rio Grande, the
frontier Of Mexico. How hard it must be
for Uncle Sam TO police that vast water
way; the dark nights, the six-oarded boats,
muffied, stealthy, putting out from the
shore; then the long row acros the swift
current, the silent landing. and, perhaps,
the challenge OF a guard followed by the
sharp report of a rifle. There were many
other things-the awful majesty of Pixies
Peak, for instance, as it first breaks upon
the view-but 1 am trying to forget my
early impressions Of all these things. for
l have come and looked them over.
Perhaps a few illustrations will not be
amiss. When I first stepped from the train
one afternoon at Colorado Springs. Pixies
Peak lay before me in all its magnifcence;
that is. I supposed it did. for there was a
pretty good-sizeG range of mountains TO
the west and nothing else in the mountain
line in sight. Unfortunately, Mr.. Pike had
neglected to mark mis- peak in plain letters
and 1 was unable to distinguish it. The
following morning 1 had it pointed out to
me by a native. During the day L lost it
twice, so after that. whenever 1 wished
TO pick il out for any reason, / began at
the northern end of the range and counted
five.
/ have known cowmen, not cowboys,
please. and lived with them in Colorado
and New Mexico, yet never have 1 seen
the model of the picture We are so familiar
with. unless, indeed. he was unrecognizable
on account of having changed his clothes.
AS 1 have found them, they are an easy
going, good-natured set of fellows, but
quite careles about their personal appear
ance. Their neither garment is usually the
four-bit overall, the rest Of their clothing
nondescript, and the whole outfit consider
ably frayed and somewhat dirty. When
they dress upon occasion, they are not
more picturesque-even less, for then they
wear their "store clothes" 1t is most rep
rehensible 10 shatter harmless illusions
let us believe the genuine, made in America
article is still on view in the far North
west or some other equally suitable place.
ACTUAL RANCH LIFE.
Is. by any chance, this article to meet
the eye Of any one who has lived on a ranch
and so knows whereof 1 speak? The pop
ular idea OF ranch life is not by any means
a harmless illusion. and it is more deadly
in that it is shared>by many eminent med
ical men East who should know better.
1 am not now referring to the few-and-far-
between rich home ranch where the
owner and his wife live in considerable
comfort and keep a cook. 1 am speaking
of the common or garden variety of ranch,
which consists only of a cabin or adobe
h1f on a LARGO ronca tho homo OT fhvQa
10 six wealthy cOwmen, the range riders.
They will live for months at a time on
food few other men would care to touch.
With all the cattle around them, they get
very little fresh meat, none through the
summer; IL will not keep. In general their
bill of fare is selected from the following
(but that does not mean they have all these
Gelicacies at one and the same time): Oat-
meal. white bread CASUALLY sour, whereat
the genial villain who is doing the cooking
for that particular week will explain TO
fair quality of bacon, coffee (save the
markD, potatoes and anned tomatoes; in
winter fresh meat at infrequent intervals,
for a beef will hang until 1t is eaten. The
egg is known by hearsay; a hen needs con-
siderable persuasion before she will lay at
an altitude OF a mile or more above sea
and plenty of II is above price. We had a
mich COW with an outfit such as l de-
scribe which could be induced to let down
about a pint OF an unpleasant-looking fluid
which she evidently considered milk, our
own opinion to the contrary. notwithstand-
ing. However, it was fully as good milk as
In the matter OF Indians, I can dismiss
my own experience in a few words. 1
have seen one whose appearance would In
dictate he was OF full blood. He stood lean
ing against one OF the door posts of the
railroad station at Kansas City. He was
elderly, wore a plug hat and a frock coat.
The few Indians hereabOutS Southern New
Mexico) are half-breeds IN varying pro-
portions, usually about one-third Pueblo,
one-third Mexican and the balance un-
known.
AS for the Rio Grande. I regret TO say
it's ridiculous; there is no other word for
IL. I saw IL first one morning from the
cial. What there was Of ii was running
'longside Of the track. / turned TO my COM
panion and asked: Where does this little
creek go TOT"
SHOCKING DISAPPOINTMENT.
He said: THAT. my boy. is the Rio
Grande." He added he would have called
my attention to it before. but that in look
ing out of the window he had inadvertently
overlooked It. AS 1 nave said. I had pic
tured the Rio Grande a mighty river. a
vast expanse Of rushing water. We'll, the
place for the vast expanse was there, there
was room enough, no doubt Of that. Here
was the reality; l pointed out that ii was
unfit for the navigation Of anything larger
than paper boats, that / could get off the
train and impede the progress of those by
the simple expedient of lying down in the
river and stopping it; that with a carriage
sponge and a small tin pail an active per-
son could-he stopped me and acknowledged
that all i said was too true. The discovery
had been as great a shock TO him years ago,
he said, but he had become hardened and
philosophical with ii all and now took
things as he found them. i am inclined 10
believe this because he Immediately asked
me for a cigar and commenced TO tell me a
ridiculous legend about the river which he
attributed TO the MeXicans and which was
so highly improbable as 10 seriously reflect
on the credulity OF that worthy, albeit
much maligned, race.
Much has been said about the Mexican,
or Greaser, as he is not called hereabouts.
Ii is hard TO sum him up-he varies. Around
Los Angeles he is proud OF his English and
"speaks him. on every occasion. Here, as
a rule. unless you know Spanish, you don't
get into conversation with him, notwith-
standing the fact that he may have a pretty
fair line Of English UP his sleeve. This is
especially true of the older among them.
His tendency toward POGO tempo and shift
Iessness in general is too well established
for me 70 dispute, yet he will work, on oc-
casions, hard. II is interesting 10 see him
Gmd1 ~ ~