The Republican journal., 1904-03-17
The WILD AND wO0LLY WEST,
Cowboy Sports. How they Rope Steer
Extracts from home letter.

Cowboy Sports. How they Rope Steer.
Extracts from home letter.
+ OKLAHOMA CITY, Feb. 2S, 1904. l
have been sleeping in the hammock or
the front veranda all the afternoon
but have come to my room to write
home before supper time and am try.
ing my best to keep cool by the open
window. 1t has been hot day, but il
is ten to one that tomorrow shall be
wearing my heavy coat.
The other day there was big row
among some young smarties right out in
front of the house. They were in two
teams out driving and got to betting
who had the fastest horse. 1t resulted
in their jumping from their teams and
spilling little blood, although, strange
to say, they did not have their guns
with them.
The town has been full of cowboys
and soldiers the past week, but have
not heard of any shooting. Say, but
those cowboys are dare-devils, appar-
emily knowing nothing of fear. Some
times bucking broncho will throw
one so that he strikes the ground with
a dull thud and it would seem that
every bone in his body must be broken;
but he would jump up ready to try it
again.
l had the pleasure of seeing two days
OF the roping. Friday, after the con-
vention was over, the cowboys had a
contest of their own. fourteen taking
part and lots of money changing hands.
1t was said that 5000 changed hands on
one steer, the bet being even that the
cowboy would rope and tie his steer in
less than forty seconds When they let
this particular steer from the pen he
started all right, but as soon as the
1agman dropped his flag the steer
started for the fence, jumped that,
then crossed the track and jumped the
other fence before the cowboy, who
had the swiftest horse, could get near
enough to throw his rope. He was the
worlds champion roper, with record,
l was told, of 26 IL seconds, and it did
not seem right that he should lose his
money as he had not the slightest show
to win.
Another contest, on which there were
two fifty dollar bets and several smaller
ones, was that the cowboy would get
his steer in less than AZ 1-2 seconds,
which was the best record made up to
the time when his turn came. The
result was that he broke his rope in
his steer the first time and
before he could get another rope and
tie his steer he had used up 2 minutes
and Is seconds.
The steers they used were brought
here from Texas for the occasion and
were hard lot. They had the wide
spreading horns you have seen in pic
lures, and were as thin as jack rabbits.
They are kept in corral and let out
one at time when the roper gives the
signal that he is ready. AS soon as the
steer leaves the corral one or two men
on horseback start after him, swinging
their hats and shouting at the tops of
their voices, so that the steer would
get good start of the cowboy, who has
to give the steer lead of so feet, and
starts when the tlagman drops his flag.
1t is wonderful how those steers eau
run, and sometimes the cowboy has
hard work to catch up. Though it
must be difficult to rope steer with
such wide-spreading horns, some of
these fellows do it as slick as can be
while steer and pony are on the dead
run. But the roping is not all. The
steer must be thrown before it's legs
ean be tied together, and to accomplish
this one has to think and act quickly.
After the cowboy gets his rope over the
horns he runs the pony past the steer,
swings in a different direction and be-
fore the rope is tight again stops sud
denly. The pony, knowing what is to
come, braces for the shock, and when
Mr. Steer fetches up something is sure
to happen. Sometimes the steers neck
is broken and sometimes steer, pony
and rider will all be rolling in the dirt.
j. E. W.