The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-04-22

jawed westerner alighting from q
supersiX, does not excite the risibil.
tiles or seem at all homogeneous out
here in the range country.
Unlike his counterpart, the COW.
boy of today regards chaps solely as
an aid to riding and protection from
the weather, the romanesque attire
being used only when stern duty de,
| mands.
Always he holds in healthy con-
tempt the cheap replioas of himself
with which. the country is flooded
AS my old fsiend;, .Arnica Jack was
wont to say with infinite sarcasm
These here school-section buckaroos
is joke. They couldn't ride Balm
wagon, with the sideboards on, an
as for roping', why thar amt many
of the breed as could rope heap O.
antlers."
| Nowhere has the march of pro-
gress made such changes as in the
cattle country west of the Rockies.
Let me sketch little frontier town
as it was less than decade ago, then
the very widest of the wild settle
ments in the Northwest, and with
the additional glamour Of gold. Far
removed as it was from railroad,
the widely stamp ed;ng hordes of
goldseekers pushed eagerly over the
mountain trails and finally reached
their Ell Dorado.
A typical mining city was hastily
constructed of frame shacks, set
primly in two long rows-every
other building being a saloon-so
forming long, narrow street, which
was always extremely dusty or ex-
cessively muddy, as the weather
fancied.
Saddle weary cowboys rubbed
shoulders with tired prospectors as
they passed in the thorofare in
search of refreshments - mostly
liquid-or amusement in any of the
score or so of garishly lighted dance
halls. Horses filled the street and
alleys-saddle horses, pack horses,
and each and every brand of the
cayuse so dear to the heart of all
westerners. y
Cowboys raced recklessly, or in
the case of too much refreshments,
uproariously, careless of his own life,
that of his beast or the bystander;
often punctuating every hoof-beat
with the cold, metallic voice of his
six-shooter; thus helping to drive
away dull care and maddening mo-
notony.
Impromptu races or bucking con-
tests were held at the drop of the
hat. 1t was feat to call forth the
admiration of the most calloused on
locker, to watch some dark-eyed
buckaroo saddle, mount and tame a
cayuse, unbroken and absolutely
wild. Perhaps caught that very day
by an Indian rider-a wild horse
crazed with fear and full of savage
hate, for its worst enemy, man.
But let us now survey the self
same village of yesterday. From the
hill with its fringe of PHILIPPINES one
gets a comprehensive view. 1t lies
the same as before, yet how differ
emit! Brick and concrete replace the
old frame shacks of pioneer days. No
longer does the street resound with
the din of galloping riders Instead,
stand parked in stiff, |
prosiac rows, and the horse is con-
spicuous only by its absence
But if we descend the hill and |
stroll the now-paved streets we will |
observe the same lean, rugged plains |
man under the camouflage of the up
to-date man of business. Perhaps |
he will alight from a high-powered |
car, but you will know him by the
awkward, hating stride that no
rider OF the purple range can ever
conceal And, tho the quirt and
chaps be missing, he will wear the
Sombrero SO familiar to us all. If
you could talk to him he would
grasp your hand in hail-fellow-
well-met clasp and greet you with
,omradely cordially. You must not
smile if, while regretting that the
lear old days are no more, he in the
same breath, becomes enthusiastic
'ver his super-six.
But in, this land of pines and sup
'rnal mountains, with canyons chuck
ull OF emptiness, with towering
rags that have warred successfully
With the elements thru all time and
Will endure thru all eternity, the
light longest to be remembered is
he rounding up of herd.
To ride out with the bunch as the
ummer sun settles behind the
fountain walls and the golden sky
lanes roseate, then dims to violet
s dusk advances, seems to me the
'reatest privilege allotted an unde-
CRYING mortal. i,
How deftly the swinging, sinuous [
ope falls on horn or hoof as the
owboy fancies, cutting out any ami [
nal desired from the herd. +,
Branding is done now in much the |
anne manner as 1t was years ago.
'ruel? Yes, but no better, more t