The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1907-05-09

nclc vas AL Oh Qk4aaolo2 once
Then the government cut down tn
3 range by the great opening OF 1888
Then there vas the Cherokee strip
and this went out in the great rusl
: of 1898. Then there was No Man.
Land, and this is now a peaceful
country in Oklahoma, settled by the
despised "Nesters. Then there
was the l. X. L., with its 5000. 00d
acres in solid body. This has
been cut up in small farms and
Amarillo, the old cattle Quitting
point, has become city of farmers.
And last of all was the big pasture.
Now that is going.
The last cowboy was too good a
loser to whimper. at was a great
day for us while it lasted" he said.
"All of this western country was
ours. We could ride where we
pleased, shoot where we pleased,
when We pleased and almost who
ever We pleased, and noquestions.
We made this country, or at least
this part of the country. We got
here when the Indians were here.
"We drove out the Indians. Then
We drove out the wolves. Then we
exterminated the coyotes and the
prairie dogs. Now We have got to
follow the long trail. No more
United States for us. The old |
'nester' has made us hard to catch. |
IT'S home and kids and the quiet |
life for US after this.
''But we have done some things
besides shoot up towns and make
tenderfeet dance in booze Joints.
First of all we tanned the Comanches.
We had hard tussle with them red
skins, but we made Christians a.
them before We got through and
they are the peaceablest Indians in
the west today. We fought 'em all
the way from the Cimarron to the
Rio Crande, through the sage brush
and the chapparal till they quit
stealing ponies and quit burning
towns.
"The picture books don't give us
any credit for this. They just tell .
about the times We got off the range
IN a bulge hunt. Yet We were the /;
ong arm of the law in this western
ountry up to the time the snesters'
'egan to get thick, some twelve or
fifteen years ago. Time was when
ou could go 500 miles on a stretch P
nd never strike a constable. 1t r
as the cowboy who kept ont the 2
rain robbers and the murderers and |
lie rest of the bunch who 90 out L
rincipally in the night time. v
''Of course it hurts. When a fell n
W has got used to 'gyp' water and e.
le mirages, when the shadows of W
e mountains take on the gold and a.
liver in the evenings, when the g
'ay of the sage brush gets into the
God, fellow kind of hates to leave
It has been home to us from the |. j
ne we could throw our legs across co
pony's back-the great twinkling SC
ars at night and the great staring N,
q in the day time. 1
They have burned their way into !
marrow of our bones. We have ito
N brothers to the desert loneliness, Tor
the gray wolf and the sinking
Tote, companions of the dumb Ma
ties who feed on the rolling
Tries. And it's hard to quit. Of !
J hard to think we have reached ola
DIS end, and that the old free 'sn
has gone forever and that from :,
time on We must adopt domestic D
tits or go where there are no wire n
ces, no railroads and no nesters. s nen
INK of me with bunch of kids" Wa ".
Ind he laughed way down in the 'si'
ernous recesses of his sun-brown- or 2, =,
chest. W.,
Wouldn't l make a pretty father i nls
y, the first time tried to hold ps IL
y l would let him drop and break -
head. It's Mexico or the Philip N,
IS or dinky old Argentina for ! De p,
No
he pinto pony grazed around at ton
feet and he pulled at a nine for "a S