Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-03-09

Forty-One Years Ago.
In March, 1873. Bennett Irwin and
l, two young Texans, reached West
ern Nebraska, our destination being
the Newman ranch, located at the
mouth of Antelope Creek on the
Niobrara river, II miles east of
where the town of Gordon now
stands; this was one of the large
COW ranches, handling from 10000
to $4,000 cattle. Billy Irwin, my
partners brother, was foreman of
this ranch.
The two nearest ranches to the
Newman ranch were the Hunter
ranch, 20 miles above, on the Mo
brara, and the Circle ranch, 40 miles
below. This ranch now is called
the Boiling Springs ranch, owned
by Jim Quigley of Valentine, Neb.,
one of the old timers. These ranches
all handled about the same number
of cattle; there were of course other
ranches all through western Ne
braska, but were miles apart. The
terminus of the Elkhorn railroad at
that time was Neigh, Neb.
Mostly Texas Cattle.
The cattle handled on the ranches
We're mostly brought across the
country in trail herds from Texas,
some from Oregon, Nevada and
Idaho; these trail herds were made
up of 1000 and 5000 head in each
herd, and took from FIVE to six
months to make the trip.
The crew required in handling a
herd consisted of a foreman, about
eight riders, a horse wrangler, cook
and mess wagon. The outfits from
Texas carried no tents, the men all
sleeping in the open. The distance
travelled a day would be from FIVE
to 20 miles, depending on feed, water
and weather. At night they were
bedded down and the men stood
night guard, divided into shifts; in
storms and stampedes every man
was called and generally was an all
night job, especially in stampedes.
That meant an all night run in a
dark, stormy night. over all kinds
of country, and many times when
daylight came the herd would be Is
and 20 miles from camp. The cattle
on the bed ground would commence
to move at the break of day, the men
on last relief would wake the cook,
and then drift the cattle in the di-
rection they were to travel that day.
The horse wrangler would bring in
the horses, all hands were called and
the days work began at daylight.
When a river was reached, some
times a mile wide after heavy rains,
we had to swim the herd across.
Men on horseback would swim by
the side of the herd. Many times
something would go wrong, the
herd would split, some swim across,
others swim back. This divided the
outfit and sometimes it would take
several days and nights to get the
herd together again. 1t meant every
man at work; cowboys would swim
back and forth carrying food, and
not stitch of dry clothes or sleep
until the work was done; the boys
were stayers, their slogan was loyal
ty, and service and stuck to finish,
Traded at Fort Sheridan.
/ At the Newman ranch orr local
trading points were Fort Sheridan
located IS miles north and east OF
where my old home, Chadron, now
stands, and at Pine Ridge agency
both being about 40 miles from the
ranch. The years supplies were
hauled by mule teams from Sidney
! Neb,, about 200 miles distant.
The cowboys on these ranches
did the riding spring, summer and
fall, those that were kept through
the winter months chopped and
hauled logs, corral poles, posts, bull
barns, houses, ice houses, corrals, OF
anything the foreman ordered done
| The Texas buneher was always
signing for spring. This winter
work in snow from one to 10 fee
deep was not any too pleasant fol
this fellow.
The Storm of 70.
The section of country north ant
west of Niobrara was used for win
ter and summer range, up to 1873
south and east of the river wa:
known as the sand hill desert, wa:
considered unsafe for man or beas
to roam in, so line riders were sta
| toned along the edge of the sane
hills to keep cattle from drifting il
to these hills during storms. But il
March, 1873, a terrific snow storm
drove the cattle through the lines
: The line riders could do nothing bu