Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-07-08
MAYOR TALKS OF
DAYS OF LONG AGO
Dahlman Becomes Reminiscent and
Relates Incidents of the Time
When He Rode Range.
JOLLY LIFE ALONG TRAIL


While serving his watch" yesterday
afternoon in the council chamber for the
city council board OF equalization, Mayor
Dshlman marked time by reminiscing on
his herding days Of years ago.
II cannot recall so much rain at nigiss
for this season OF the year since the year
1851, when was foreman for the NBar
outfit" began the mayor. Commissioners
wnhnell and Hummell drew their chairs
Up closer and listened. while the mayor
hsrked back 10 those happy days on
the range
He related in something this manner:
Toward the end Of June. 1881. we were
bringing In about $500 head OF longhorn
cattle from the Indian Territory, over
the trail. for delivery to the Indians on
the Pine Ridge agency. remember that
every night for a week the rain fell, and
want to tell you. night herdIng during
storms IL some work. We herded the cat
tie along the White river. near the
agency. waiting for delivery. For a
whole week our clothes were never dry.
We would get the cattle settled for the
night on the bed ground and then the
rain would fall.
Lightning scares Cattle.
Cattle will get up when II rains and
are frightened when the lightning flashes.
During these storms we would be kept
going all night. keeping the herd to-
gether. We would find ourselves as far
as fifteen miles away from the camp
when morning came. And when those
longhorns would begin to mill around in
a storm Il was hard work 70 find our way
sometimes in the darkness. over uncer-
tain ground
81 have seen times when a slip OF a
horse would mean death. The cattle
would Craze contentedly during the days.
but the nights frequently gave us trouble.
Sometimes we would get the herd rounded
UP during a storm, and then another
flash OF lightning would start them off
again.
But we had our good times along the
way on the trail. We had seven herds
In our outfit. each herd being about a
half day apart When things were going
nicely I would drop back and meet Ian.
der, the foreman next in the rear. Lam
der IL In Alaska now. Lander and
would go back and join Chalk. another
foreman. and we would set some OF the
men who could be spared and have a
little outing when we struck a town,
which was not very often in those days
Bet on Black and Won.
II remember on one occasion we came to
town called White Pass, in the Rocky
mountains. | rode my black broncho. a
critter Weighing LOO pounds, and just
regular trail horse. but IL could go some
There was only one saloon in White Pass,
and when we came into town everybody
stopped work and Joined US. The saloon-
man said he had a horse that could move
its feet some and told him thatiI had
a horse that could move faster than his
horse. He doubted my word, so ! told
him I would race him 600 yards for 500
a side. I talked TO the N-Bar boys about
1t and they wanted 20 bet $1,000 a side,
but the White Pass man would not raise
the limit. We brought the horses out,
and after few trial heats soon saw
that my black brono could ride rings
around the White Pass pony. passed
the word TO Chalk and Lander. and they
told the boys TO bet all they had on my
black. won the race with ease. and
then we returned TO the herds.
"As | wRs just saying, never did see
80 much rain at nights since the time I
was night-herding on the trails from In
dian Territory Oregon and Texas"