The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1908-09-30

Eszak E@sS3N7 as Ire ana IrOSL. Inc
RQSS9Ez$3 only time l ever really
suffered from thirst was
while hunting prong-buck.
1t was late in the summer. l was
with the ranch wagon on the way to
join a roundup. and as we were out
of meat l started for days hunt.
After two or three hours ride, up
winding coulies, ard through the
scorched deeoiation of patches of Bad
Lands, l reached the rolling prairie.
The heat and drought had long burned
the short grass dull brown; the bot
toms of what had been pools were
covered with hard. dry, cracked earth.
The day was cloudless, and the heat
oppressive. There were many ante
lope, but 1 got only one shot, breaking
a bucks leg; and though | followed it
for a couple of hours / could not over
take it. By this time it was late in
the afternoon, and was far away
from the river; so pushed for creek,
in the bed of which | had always
found pools of water, especially to-
wards the head, as is usual with plains
watercourses. To my chagrin. how
ever, they all proved to be dry; and
though | rode up the creek bed to-
ward the head, carefully searching for
any sign of water, night closed on me
before | found any. For two or three
hours | stumbled on, leading my horse,
in my fruitless search; then a tumble
over a cut bank in the dark warned
me that l might as well stay where
was for the rest of the warm night.
Accordingly / unsaddled the horse,
. and tied him to q sage brush; after
! awhile he began to feed on the dewy
grass. At first | was too thirsty to
sleep. Finally l fell into a sumber,
and when | awoke at dawn l felt no
thirst For an hour or two more
continued my search for water in the
creek bed: then abandoned it and rode
straight for the river. By the time
we reached it my thirst had come
back with redoubled force. my mouth
was parched, and the horse was In
quite as bad plight; we rushed down
f to the brink, and it seemed as if we
could neither Of us ever drink our fill
( of the tepid. rather muddy water OF
course this experience was merely I'M
pheasant; thirst is not a source of real
danger in the plains country proper,
whereas in the hideous deserts that
extend from southern Idaho through
Utah and Nevada to Arizona, 1t ever
&menaces with death the hunter and eX-
plorer.
In the plains the weather is apt to
be in extremes the heat is tropical.
the cold arctic, and the droughts are
relieved by furious floods. These are
generally more severe and lasting in
the spring, after the melting Of the
snow: and fierce local freShets follow
, the occasional cloudbursts. The large
rivers then become wholly impassa-
Bile, and even the smaller are formi-
dable obstacles 1t Is not easy to get
cattle across a swollen stream. where
the current runs like a turbid mill-race
over the bed of shifting quicksand.
Once FIVE of us took thousand head
of trail steers across the Little Mis-
souri, when the river was up. and 1t
was no light task. The muddy current
was boiling past the banks covered
with driftwood and foul yellow froth,
and the frightened cattle shrank from
> entering it. At last, by hard riding
with much loud shouting and swing
ing of ropes, we got the leaders In, and
the whole herd followed. After them
we went in our turn, +he horses swim
ming at one moment. and the next
staggering and floundering through
the quicksand. was riding my pet
cutting horse, Muley, which has the
provoking habit Of making great
bounds where the water is just not
deep enough for swimming; once he
almost unseated me. Some of the cat
tie were caught by the currents and
rolled over and over: most of these we
were able. with the help Of our ropes
to put on their feet again: only one
was drowned. or rather choked In a
quicksand Many swan down stream
and in consequence struck a difficult
landing. where the river ran under q
cut bank: these we had to haul out
with our ropes.
Although I have often had horse
down in quicksand or in crossing a
swollen river. and have had to work
hard to save him, l have never myself
lost one under such circumstances
Yet once saw the horse Of one of my
men drown under him directly In front
of the ranch house. while he was try
ing to cross the river. This was In
early spring, soon after the Ice had
broken.
When making long wagon trips over
the great plains, antelope often Offer
the only source of meat supply, save
for occasional water fowl, sage fowl
and prairie fowl = the sharp-tailed
prairie fowl, be 1t understood. This
is the characteristic grouse of the cat
tie country; the true prairie fowl Is 9
bird of the farming land farther east
Towards the end of the summer OF
700 foupd a. necessary IN travel fror