The Dickinson press., 1916-06-24
PASSING Of THE OLD WEST

afternoon I went to the baseball
grounds and viewed with critical eye
the performances of the cowboys in
thbeir stunts Of riding "Long-Horns"
bareback, and the riding of horses
that were bad actors and near bad.
George Gardner was manager of
the show and that is a guarantee that
the whole menage was ordered right.
To view the scene, I sat at ease on
an elevated seat and my mind
harked back thirty years, to the
times when we sat, or squatted, on
the grass, and saw such old time
worthless as John Goodall, Billy
Chaloner, Bob Wilcox and others do
just as thrilling stunts as any that
were pulled off on Friday afternoon,
and although the audiences were not
nearly as large, they were better able
to judge of the excellence of the per-
formance, because they were them
selves part and parcel of the life
that was portrayed.
However, this show depicted very
wildly the methods, and the nerve
necessary to work under stress of
circumstances where death turks, and
where personal bravery wins the day.
The "Long-Horn" has not for many
years been in evidence as much as
they were in the earlier days, how
ever, the spare flesh, and 1.-THE form,
and wide spread horns marked the
specimens on exhibition as being the
real thing.
In the morning review, there were
to be seen many truly" cowmen and
there were comely women on horse
back that were, as n could see by
their easy poise, used to the exercise
parexcellent of the western ranges.
In the earlier days of ranch life,
every one of our women owned a
tough little saddle pony, and were
able, and willing, to render assistance
on the ranch when it became neces-
sary to have a little emergency call.
There was on exhibition a skele-
ton of an Elk, but it only served as
a melancholy reminder Of the days
when those most beautiful stately
creatures were plentiful.
It is rather a sorry thing to con-
template this survival of the fttest,
but we of the ancient regime must
content ourselves with the thought
that we have been privileged to en-
joy the whole show.
Nearly every one Of the "old tim
ers" will remember E. G. Paduck.
Probably he was the pioneer, in ven
turing to turn cattle loose on the
prairies. It is related that he pur-
chased a number of COWS in order to
be able to furnish milk to the can
tenement of U. S. troops at Little
Missouri River" or pyramid Park"
There were coincident happenings of
| course in the swiftly changing scenes,
and incidents of those days, but the
first are sought for by the historian,
because the pioneer will always be
looked upon as being somehow a lit
tie different, because he had the
| acumen and the hardihood to "blaze
| the trail" "The Custer Trail Ranch"
was among the very first, and it was
| the Eatons that made it possible to
know how the thing could be done
on the ranch.
The H T horse ranch was a pioneer
also, and became a household word
in the west as much so as the
| Turkey Track, Maltese Cross, or any
other of the numerous first ventures
in the stock business in this
country, west of the great Missouri
river.
But to continue my narrative Of
what I saw: I saw an immense
crowd. I saw thronging the streets
morning, noon, night and any old
time, the omnipresent automobile
filled with happy sightseers. A good
many of the vehicles were decorated
in the Elks .colors-purple and
white. Several were most tastefully
decorated-notably so, the large
touring car driven by Miss Esther
Ayers, which was loaded with a bevy
of pretty young women, and they
were everywhere in evidence-so evil
IDENTIFY happy and carefree that one
could only hope for them the best of
life Away.
AS a matter of history the cattle
interests did not dominate the west
Missouri country at the very first,
but farming was entered into with
Zest, and the management of the
Northern Pacific undertook at vari-
Gus points along it's line to demon
strate the fact (then u%nproven) that
the cerials could be grown with
certainty and profit.
Colonization schemes were tried
out. At least three companies of
people undertook, to a very limited
extent, to establish a community in
terest as far as getting into close
proximity with their farms was
concerned, but community interests
except, in very raj instances, have
not panned out well, and these in
the west Missouri country were not
exceptions and failed. When partial
failure had done it's work Of dis
couragement, there were ~ many,
who seeing that the pioneer cattle in
terests were prospecting, and seeing
that dairying would. prove profitable
because pasture was absolutely free,
gradually went into those things and
the regime so to speak was changed,
although not wholly.
The small rancher made money,
and furnished an object lesson to the
world of how very near an industry
can make a man rich, n near rich
without anything but his own exer-