Gunnison news-champion., 1904-01-15
The Vas Uasanea Co~ Y.saehsr
eeaiiaasi i7om ar-f p.-r

saaaAHA HtAA - t4>ANfaa - HAAf taasANHA o =
law and many ana varigss we're the
NexIcan brands ths.s obtained ~
eVItieaee vt new ownership.
The government made good thIs
loss b the Indians by a repsFchase
of exactly the number of missing
cattle. which ~ss 2,O head. aud az
ssssssd thesr cost against the agent
SALARY, a procedure on the part II
the Indian Bsreas which af,erwara
required a special act If congress to
nullIfy ere the agent clam for back
pay could be collected. which in
volyed hum Va . war Of vexatious.
technicslIties aud wears IT waltins
and watching
Al this JuBetare Montrose county
rinss down the curtain and GunHi
SON county saws the h0nars are even.
Bat % return, lest | stray too far
off the old beaten trails Of the Coche-
topa, once dust laden, bat now grass
grown To he strictly accurate with
reference 10 those old pioneer days.
We must not lose sight # Roundup
District Number One.
There we're some ''tcnderieet
fr1m Washington who were not pro-
fessi1nal "broncho busters. and
moreover, not much used % rdllick
ing western ways The old agency
COW camp was well fixed We had
a hne string Of horses To begin
with. there was Shoe String, with a
jack stripe down his back. Good
Eve, a horse that had but one eve.
Timber Jim, that could unhmber
any man that wasn't a professional,
and Boot Jack. By the way, Linn
her Jim was one of the best COW
horses that ever made a track in this
country. Crazy .are, locoedl whom
Jim Kelly said would run of Of a
bluff with Brigham Young ON her
back She was roughsr to ride than
the walking beam of Mississippi
steamboat. Battle Axe wasn't noted
for In. docility; who could toss a
man up and catch him square in the
saddle more times without missing a
fall than any catcher behind the box
in a base ball team. Shoe String
wasn't so much ON the bucking or
der as he was crazy. A little stick
in the trail not the size of bean
pole would create a Jump ten feet
high and twenty feet long. which
jump he invariably considered ne
cessary to get over it.
One day we started TO gather cat
tie, all of us fellows. There was
quite a time saddling up and get
ting ready Lon and Jim took Bat
tie Axe and Timber Jim. The other
horses, being considered gentle,
were turned over to the tenderfeet,
or rather, the tender'eet were turned
over to them. The party separated,
Lon and Jim taking side trails to
gather up the beef as fast az they
were sighted Herman and Sid,
who accompanied the outfit, kept on
in the main Ute trail towards the
agency, a distance of about twenty
miles to drive the cattle on after the
other boys got back along the trail
Not coming IN as soon as we expect
ed, we kept on toward the agency,
for it was getting late. We started
out in fairly good order managing
somehow or other TO keep on top of
our horses, and to keep the trail un-
til we had covered the above dis
tance.
Having been over the trail before.
and knowing that we had to make a
big circuit to reach the agency, Her
man said he would take the "cut Off
and save two thirds Of the distance
left TO travel But declined, know
ing that a Ute trail, no matter how
long II seemed nor how much out Of
the way IT appeared to 60, was al
ways the easiest and quickest way
to get there. Herman, however. per
sisted in taking his shortcut and
got tangled up in the cliffs and in
down timber in gulchcs that he
couldn't cross and was lost for three
days, or until a searching party went
out and brought him in by the trail
that | took lie didn't get over his
scare for three weeks.
After the beef was duly issued to
the Indians, we commenced our re
turn trip back 10 Gunuis1n valley.
On this trip we gathered up eume
more cattle To take hack. and the
beef being wild. scattered ont into
several bunches, each man taking
out after a separate bunch, and on
this trip Herman got lost again and
didn { arrive at our home camp un-