The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1908-07-09
THE REAL COWBOY.
No Longer an Animated Battery, but
Bronco Buster Still.

1t is quite true that the cowboy of to-
day is not college man, hvf one at all
familiar with the manners and customs
of polite society. Neither does he go
about his daily task with a brace of six
shooters slung at his hips and repeat
ing rifle held in the crook Of his arm.
Barbed wire fences, steam railroads,
police courts and penitentiaries have ren-
dered such appurtenances superfuous.
And Immediately after pay day he does
not swOop down upon the nearest town,
shoot out the light and take part in
gun fight or two.
For the $50 or $40 a month which he
receives a strict attention to the duties
of bis job is expected, and in these days
of strenuous competition a job is a pre-
carious thing. The life of the modern
cowboy is as full of hard and monot-
onous 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 grazed
on the plains Of the southwest, very few
are shipped direct from the range to the
market. The places of individual cattle
kings have been taken by great stock
companies which own numerous tracts
of range land in various parts of the
west.
A few years ago dry season in south
ern Arizona meant the death of many
cattle and very frequently the financial
ruin of their owners. The oldtimers still
tell stories Of having walked for incred-
able distances on the carcasses OF dead
steers.
But all that is past; they do things
differently now. Let a 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 Dako-
Ia, 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 rounding
up, then few hours drive to the near
est 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 ignora--
mus. 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 a
general rule he has been reared in the
section in which he is employed and is OF
youthful appearance. He differs very lit
tie from the average American working
youth, western dialect stories to the COLI
trary notwithstanding.
In all cowboy bunkhouses there is a
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 utterly 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 the bronco
buster of bygone days, and this is the
first fact impressed upon tenderfoot.-
Out West