Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-09-30
THE REAL COWBOY.
No Longer an Animated Battery,
but q BrOnchO Buster Still.

No Longer an Animated Battery,
but a BrOnchO Buster Still.
1t is quite true that the cowboy Of
to-day is not a college man, nor one
at all familiar with the manners and
customs of polite society, says Out
West. Neither does he go about his
daily task with a brace Of six-shOOters
slung at his hips and a repeating rifle
held in the crook Of his arm.
Barbed wire fences, steam railroads,
police courts and penitentiaries have
rendered such appurtenances superfu-
Gus. And Immediately after pay day he
does not sweep down upon the nearest
| town, shoot out the lights and take
part in gun fight or two.
For the $50 or $40 month which 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 monoton-
| Gus work as that Of an eastern farm
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 indiv1d-
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 a dry season In
southern Arizona meant the death OF
many cattle and very frequently the
| financial ruin Of their owners. The old
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 and
| 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
In search Of new range as in the old
days Simply a day or two OF round
ing up, then a few hours drive to the
nearest shipping point on the railroad.
Then perhaps a day in town for 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 1gno-
ramus. Usually he is American born
and fairly well read, taking the same
active interest in current topics and
politics that other American citizens do.
AS a 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 d1a-
lect stories to the contrary notwith-
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 a 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 a 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 bygQne days, and this is the first fact
imposed upon tenderfeot.