New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-26
urOwBOYIN THE MAKING
pleasures and Vicissitudes Of the
old Oregon Trail.

p,rrKING THE SAGE BRUSH; Or, TEE "a EcSaries
Con TRAIL IN THE sen kNI , ,,oer6 S illus
). sieeeH from, photographs and from draTinEs
by Charles N. Russell. Svo' PIP An Nv
Putnams Sons
COMPARISONS are not necessarily ou.o1 arc
% say that Mr. Steedman in DuoN-e I'll
sage Brush has done for the Oie z-r,
what Andy Adams did for the -, 20
trau ,n ."The Log of a Cowboy Is o"i1
49, -. 1910 recent volume to those VINO
r. ether While the methods oh
So ,ott1a on both trails are natuiaNs
..aus and personal adventures '0
80 =. hn 7iferent, and the difference 10
..os IN Mr. Steedmans loh' i4O
-. .,o+ NOT only was he comparauNelS
sefoct himself but the majority Oh ms 80
- - .,raen to the business as their IeadeF'
.o,,a og Them even greener. The possiolli-
Sc for adventure and misadventure III
sr,rtng several thousand cattle Twelve nun
s,ei miles with a lot OF amateur COWBOYS were
grnpIy lived up to in the actual experience anu
49, &c no lack of incident both humorous and
exciting in the narrative
II e difficult for the reader who has travelled
m auy of the many railway lines that to-day
mass through the territory described by the
author 10 realize that scarcely twenty-five
vaars ago the only railroad in that part OF the
f-nited states was thirty miles of private track
between Wallula and Walla Walla in Washng-
ron. For the entire distance from SCOTS
Bridge Ore. to Laramie, Wyo., the author
and his partners drove their cattle through an
ppen country, unobstructed by fence or barrier
the stock feeding freely on the prairie grass
Danger Of attack by Indians added to the ex-
element incidental to ineXperence and the or
binary difficulties of the trail; and that the
tourney was accomplished with q loss OF no
more than > per cent Of their stock speaks well
for the capacity of the average American to
adapt himself TO strange and unaccustomed du-
t,es The vanished trail is fortunate in hav-
sng such able and entertaining chroniclers as
Mr.. Adams and Mr. Steedman TO preserve for
future generations the story of its pleasures
and yicissitudes
Mr. Steedman's previous training had consist
sd of two years in a Boston real estate office
and a year and half on sheep ranch where.
instead Of riding mustangs and firing six-shoot-
ers he spent his days in digging post holes,
saving wood shovelling sand making hay, and,
"for excitement, clipping sheep" His alleged
cowboys included IAN ex-soldier, Methodist
preacher, a stage driver, two prospectors. sew
eral farmers boys, a lumberman and a dry
goods clerk" With such an outfit. the ever
present danger Of a stampede took addition
al terrors. The author gives a graphic descrip
zion Of its effect on the men:
one night rode in to wake up the relief and the
scene was 50 weird that / have most vivid recOl-
lection of it, It moonlight. although the sky
was overcast. and the men had thrown down their
blankets wherever il was most handy, but il SO
Itapleheo tAey were lA!nS III the Senblance OF a
circle. They had their guns the ground near
them. Owing 10 the strain Of body and mind
they had endured none were sleeping quietly. One
was sitting Up. although sound asleep Another
Dreaming. / suppose that they were heading a
Il looked : though there had been a battle,
snd these were wounded men left on the feld-the
firearms added 10 the illusion.
There was large immigration to Oregon and
Washington in that year, 1878, and the author
met many would-be settlers on the trail, most
Of whom had very indefinite ideas of their Ill
innate destination How chance affected the
choice Of location IN many instances was oddly
illustrated in one instance recorded:
We crossed Wood River where the town of Belle
Fue. Idaho. now Is. and I think the man
VINO aiterW2rd founded the town, right there at the
crossing. He was an IIishman. named Kennedy
mad got that far when his team OF horses left him
one n!Eht Tor parts unknown, and there he was
IKE AJlcaWber waiting for something TO turn up
.le- iad taken me wagon box of the hounds and
rae mace himself aE comfortable circumstances
would permit Before got there he had done
consuerabie Iamping about, trying 10 ind his
noIses, ana had decided that the country though
little way from tie EoWeTy. still had ito a., -,
make 2 pleasant home for himself and wife w
TRACED 2 morse Tor a bag Of cornueal and > saddTs
i2t some sugar This nsaction. / believe was
me L"undallon Of his fortune. He afterv.ard I
neard took I'D some land that he turned into
4"tS IN me tO"L OF Bellevue, and got into soma
mines that made him very rich man