The San Angelo press. (San Angelo, Tex.) 1897-1907, 1904-11-03
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Passing Of
Ole Cowboy.
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Fss,ekGssseeEtstttEeEEs' i
Texas Stockman journal
The changes that have occurred In /
the cattle business during the past d
few wears have been many, and C
the production of beef is on very l
different basis now to what IT was I
back in the days when the steers l
wore long horns and were punched
from one end of the state to the {
other by the festive and plctur-
esoue cowboy. The fine blood that {
has been introduced into all the {
herds Of the range country has de- \
manded different handling from
the methods in use i'll the past.
The open range and free grass has
given place TO the wired enclosure,
and barbed wire stretched on mes.
quite and cedar posts have served
to retire the cowboy, as the West
once knew him, almost entirely
from business The great trails
| that stretched from the breeding
| country in the direction OF the
| market centers have all been clos
/ ed. and it is barbed wire in every |
! direction TO keep the cattle IN
their places, instead of the cow !
i boy AMI his mettlesome little
II Cayuse.
These changed conditions have
brought about the passing of one
of the most thoroughly pictur-
II esoue characters that the world
II has ever produced, for the cowboy
rs we know him back in the early
u eighties, has had no counterpart
elsewhere, but was product OF
: the western range exclusively
Brave and generous TO fault,
dashlng and chivalrous, and with
lust enough of the nature OF the
country in his composition, the
- cowboy of that period was as
breezy and refreshing as mortal
90 could be. 1t is true that when
he went to town with several
months wages in his pocket to
have good time, he always man
,, aged to have it. And while his
u notions of a good time might not
coincide with that of the ortho-
- dox, he seemed to get full mea-
sure of satisfaction out OF 1t, and
rarely was any harm done except
to his savings and an occasional
N. SCATTERING of glass Ill places
l3b where liquid refreshments were
~ served.
- These men lived lives of ex
IR treme hardship. Exposed to al
kinds of weather, IN constant
touch with many attendant
re. dangers, and always on the go
it was a strange wild life they led
but a life that was full of pc
81. cullar fascination. With almos
- a language or lingo of their own
an intense love for the life the.
led, contempt for all the dan
gers that surrounded them, thes
centaurs of the plains were
: strange folk, but u folk you coul
. safely tie under any and all Gil
t pd cumstances. They have been in
. mortalized in both song an
story, and the heart of many
tenderfoot has thrilled with e'
pectations when he reached TT
country of the cowboys for TT
first time. And with the .arriv'
,,s of the tenderfoot there was near
always something doing. Viii
many of the pranks played we
hair-raising in effect upon I'll
victim, they were generally harm
less, and only served as Il
nly. proper initiation for the enIbr'
cowboy who was anxious
D. graduate at once INTO full fello'
. ship with the craft.
And the world owes much
= these sturdy sons of the plail
They were the pioneers in all tt
western country, succeeding t
red man and the other wild thin
that once held undisputed poss
sion. Through their work a
their presence future developme
was made possible, The plowt
who sings a happy refrain to
larks in the early morning as
turns the sod of the weste
. range, owes much to these n
Q h who have gone before nj
That there has never been q
love between the cowboy and
plowboy is but the natural res
3 of the process of evolution Il
. the range country has been lc
undergoing. Neither has g
. had any appreciation for the @
70 4 err, hut the presence of one
: been highly objectional to
h to the other. There was no CO
..s munity of interest existing,