Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-08-28
SHEPHERDS OF
THE DESERT
T,RT1OT1EROITE NJ M A
By FREDERIC !. HASKIN
24.-This city is headquar-
tiers for one Of the greatest

lean industries.
The whole southwest is character
lied by striking contrast between
an old, crude civilization, which is
dying out and a new and modern
one, which is explosively alive. This
modern current of life has trickled
in along the railroads somewhat in
| congruously and with surprising re-
suits, like water let into a desert by
means of an irrigating canal.
But a few miles back from the
railroads, the leisurely, picturesque
life of the old Spanish-Indian re-
So Albuquerque is a thriving town,
much more metropolitan for it's size
than a similar town in the east, and
as thoroughly American as chewing
gum; But within a days ride Of
witchcraft is still practiced. and
where they still thrash grain as in
biblical times by driving a flock of
goats around the threshing floor.
A Business Of Contrasts
! This contrast is no where better
! seen than in the sheep business. Its
commercial machinery Of buying and
selling and insurin!g, centered here
ma Al ttrauf is as m9dern h as
shrewd and worriedlooking men who
drive enormous distances in high
powered cars, watch the stock mar
ket with keen intensity and take
|
Boston. But the actual care of the
sheep is in the hands of Mexicans.
who carry on their trade as it was
carried on for generations before the
railroads and gringos came.
A change is coming slowly in this
end of the business, too. The ten
dency is to raise more feed for the
! sheep, build more shelters and more
fences, improve the breed and take
better care of the stock. But change
| G n o.
the sheep are still raised on the open
range as they were 100 years ago.
For this work, Mexicans are indis-
pensable, and their methods and
habits are as unchanging as the
me Lntains.
gta Tse s Rs o. Il IS IS pSbo of a thH
part of it. is in. the great Spanish
forest service, but altogether it is
stretch Of mountain and desert
and mesa-land, unfenced, untamed
and untamable. To realize the sweep
and emptiness of it you must see it.
There are many high points from
of wilderness and see nothing that
you can certainly identify as the
Following the Herds
mountains during the summer, and
are driven down to the barren-look-
iEg mesa-lands when the first SHOWS
come. They are brought together
once year for shearing and dipping
at some headquarters. The rest of
the time sheep herders (never call
ed shepherds in this country follow
them across the range. 1t is COM
mon for these men to be away from
home for six months, and they have
months. They are lazy fellows, but
they know sheep as we'll as they
know themselves, and they have one
great virtue-they will stay with the
herd. These men are not usually
inspired by any great loyalty to their
employers, but they are inspired by
loyalty to the sheep which is al
most instructive. They are of peon
the peon who deserted the sheep
faxed badly. There was whipping
post and cat-of-nine-tails waiting for
him at best, and load from a mus
ket at worst. For practical reasons
he would rather die with the herd
out it. Thus loyalty to the sheep
has become almost race trait with
the Msxicans, and one of inestimable
value to the gringo capitalists who
profits. The sheep herder gets his
bacon and beans and, perhaps, $40
a month
The Organization
The organization of a sheep outfit
is as exact as that of an army. The
owner of all the sheep is known to
his employees as Ell Patron (the
boss.) The sheep are divided into
small herds, and in charge of each
three herds is a sort of superior
bears the title of Caporal. In imme
date charge of each herd is chief
herder knows somewhat grandly as
the Mayodomo, and he has an as
sistant herder known as. the Ayu--
dante an da cook and packer called
Campero. Each of these officers
treats his immediate superior with
certain Difference, and is proud of
his own authority. The Caporal is
directly responsible to the Patron
turn holds the Mayodomos directly
responsible. He accepts excuses no
more than did Napoleon.
When everything goes well the
life of the sheep herder on the range,
especially in the summer, is not
menace these troops of batting fool
ish creatures, who are worth so
much money and perish so easily
Drought wipes them out, storms
mountain lion hang on the TANKS of
the herd and take regular toll.
A Race With Storm
Weather is their worst enemy, and
nowhere is the weather more incal-
G Gu, than in New Mexico sH
example, it is safe to leave the herds
| in the rich mountain range until
| October; snow seldom falls before
November. But a few years ago,
time, and a deep wet snow fell like
the hand of death on hundreds of
herds that were among the mountain
| tops, separated from the lowlands
| by deep canyons where the drifts
piled up higher than a mans head.
| Most Of these herds that were more
than a days drive from safety per-
| ished to the last sheep. But there
was one young Caporal, who had his
| herds several days drive into the
mountains, but who saw the storm
clouds coming, and started just be-
fore the storm broke with all three
| Of his herds and all six of his men,
| in a desperate drive for safety. Soon
| the storm overlook them, and they
moved through a phantom world of
white sheep and white wind-driven
snow. Five days and five nights the
young Caporal kept his men and his
sheep on the move. The men wanted
to quit and the sheep wanted to lie
down, but he gave In to neither.
Half of the sheep fell dead from ex-
haustion, making trail of their
bodies all the way from timberline
| to desert, and the other half arrived
at the lowlands with every bit of
wool nibbled off their backs by
their starving fellows. The men
were staggering and half blind from
fatigue, and loss of sleep. But the
CaporaH had saved half of his herds
where others had been wholly lost,
and he had lived UP to the one high
principle of his lffe-to stay with
! the herd
Many of these Mexican herders
are as picturesque as you could
wish. Often you see one clad in a
long ragged cloak and carrying "a
long crook of his own manufacture
who looks like a figure out of the
| Bible. Some of them even carry
sling-shots, like that with which
| David slew Goliath
| ~ lido MD hIIIhnIEC