Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1908-10-01
THE REAL COWBOY.
No Longer an Animated battery
but BrOncho Buster still.

but u BrOncho Buster Still.
1t Is quite true that the cowboy o.
to-day Is not college man, nor one
at all familiar with the manners ant
customs of polite society, says Ou'
West Neither does he go about has
daily task with brace OF six-shooterS
slung at his hips and repeating rlne
held In the crook of his arm.
Barbed wire fences, steam railroads
police courts and penitentiaries nave
rendered such appurtenances supernu
GUS. And Immediately after pay day ne
does not sweep down upon the nearest
town, shoot out the lights and take
part in a gun fight or two.
For the $50 or $40 a month when he
receives a strict attention to the duties
of his Job is expected and in these days
of strenuous competition job Is pre-
cious thing. The life Of the modern
cowboy Is as full Of hard and monotoh-
Gus work as that Of an eastern farin
hand. and there Is very little difference
in the intellectual and social standing
of the two.
Though thousands of cattle are graz
ed on the plains Of the Southwest, very
few are shipped direct from the range
to the market. The places of indlvld-
ual cattle kings have been taken by
great stock companies which own nu-
merous tracts Of range land in various
parts of the West.
A few years ago dry season IN
southern Arizona meant the death OF
many cattle and very frequently the
financial ruin Of their owners. Inc olu
timers still tell stories of having walk
ed for incredible distances on the car
casses of dead steers.
But all that is past-they do things
differently now. Let dry year come
upOn the southwestern ranges and the
cattle are hustled ON board train ana
transported to the cattle companies
ranges in Colorado or Montana or Da-
kota. where the season is good and the
feed abundant
No long drives of hundreds of miles
days. Simply day or two of round
ing up, then few hours drive TO the
nearest shipping point on the rallroad.
Then perhaps a day in town Tor the
cowboys and back again to the home
ranch and the regular grind.
Though the cowboy is not college
graduate he is by no means an lgno-
ramus. Usually he is American born
and fairly we'll read, taking the same
active interest in current topics and
politics that other American citizens do.
AS general rule he has been raised
in the section in which he is employed
and is of youthful appearance. lie
differs very little from the average
American working youth, western dla-
lect stories to the contrary notwlth-
standing.
In all cowboy bunkhouses there is
pile of current magazines, the contents
of which are devoured with avidity.
And one is not infrequently treated to
the amusing spectacle of youthful
cowboy becoming so enamored of the
kind of punchers pictured in modern
fiction that he purchases a pair of ut
terly useless siX-shoOters, commences
to walk with swagger and to initiate |
the dialect of Red Saunders.
But if craftsmanship is no longer a
qualification of the cowpuncher, horse
manship is. The modern cattleman is !
as proud of his ability to ride anything |
on four legs as was ever broncho buster |
of bygone days, and this Is the first fact |
impressed upon tenderfoot.