Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1911-02-02
CHAPTER VI.
IN THE VIOLENT PAST.


a permit of any study of the land
scape, which went by as if dismissed
by the chariot wheels of some con-
temptuous magician. Redfield's eyes
were mostly on the road Gn the man
ner of the careful auto driver, but
when he did look up it was to admire
the color and poise of his seat mate,
who made the landscape of small &C.
count.
She kept the conversation to the de-
sired point. "Mr. Cavanagh's work
interests me very much. 1t seems very
important. and it must be new, for I
never heard of forest ranger when
I was child"
'"The forester is new, at least in
America" he answered. 'My dear
young lady, you are returned just in the
most momentous period in the history
of the west. The old dominion-the
cattle range-is passing. The suprem-
acy of the cowboy is ended. The cow
boss is raising oats. The cowboy is
pitching alfalfa and swearing horribly
as he blisters his hands Some of the
rangers at the moment are men Of
western training, like Ross. but whose
allegiance is now to Uncle Sam. With
others that transfer Of allegiance is not
quite completes; hence the inSOlence Of
men like Gregg, who think they can
bride or intimidate these forest guards
and so obtain favors. The newer men
are college bred. real foresters. But
you can't know what it all means till
you see Ross or some other ranger on
his own heath Well make up little
party some day and drop down upon
him and have him show us about It's
a lonely life, and so the ranger keeps
open house. Would you like to go?'
ooh, yes, indeed. Pm eager to get
into the mountains Every night as l
see the sun go down over them | won
der what the world is like up there"
Then he began very delicately to in
quire about her eastern experience.
There was not much to tell. In love
ly old town not far from Philadelphia,
where her aunt lived, she had spent
ten years of happy exile II was hor-
ribly lonely and homesick at first" she
said. Mother wrote only short let
tiers, and my father never wrote at all.
didn't know he was dead then. He
was always good to me. He wasn't
bad man, was hep
mo-" responded Redfield without
hesitation. Gle was very like the rest
Of us, only a little more reckless and
little more partisan, that's ALL He
was a dashing hOrseman and a dead
shot, and so naturally a leader of
these daredevils. He was popular
with both sides of the controversy up
to the very moment when he went
south to lead the invaders against the
rustlers."
"What was it all about? / never I'M
derstood it. What were they fighting
about?"
"1n sense it was all very simple.
You see, Uncle Sam in his careless, do
nothing way has always left his range
to the man who got there first. That
was the cattleman. At first there was
grass enough for us all, but as we
built sheds and corrals about water
ing places we came to claim rights on
the range. We usually secured by
fraud homesteads in the sections con.
tanning water and so, gun in hand,
stood off the man who came after
Gradually, after much shooting and
having, we parceled out the range and
settled down, covering practically the
whole state. Our adjustments were
not perfect. but our system was work
ing smoothly for us who controlled the
range. We had convinced ourselves
and pretty nearly everybody else that
the state was only fit for cattle graz
ing and that we were the most COM
petent grazers; furthermore, we were
in possession, and no man could come
in without our consent.
However, a very curious law of our
own making was our undOing. OF
course the hester or 'punkin roller
as we contemporary called the small
farmer, began sitting in here and there
in spite of our guns, but he was only
mosquito bite in comparison with the
trouble which our cowpunchers stirred
up. Perhaps you remember enough
about the business to know that an
unbranded yearling calf without it's
mother is called a maverick"
Yes; I remember that. 1t belongs
to the man who finds him and brands
him.
Precisely. Now, that law worked
very nicely so long as the poor cow
boy was willing to catch and brand
him for his employer, but it proved a
Joker when he woke up and said to