The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1921-09-10

recently reacneo DehNer' Ooioraoo
,-om a ranch hundreds of miles away.
Nv the same method that cattle we're
hrought to market in the days before
the railroads were built.
Although a rail route was avail
able. and although it would have got
Fan the cattle to market in a fraction
=, the time they actually occupied in
getting there, this herd was driven
overland as millions of cattle were
driven in the early days. Half a doz-
an cowboys, with a pack outfit to car
~ their supplies and beds. drifted the
cattle slowly over mountain and plain,
letting them Craze there every eve
ming. riding herd" upon them every
night to guard against theft and
stampede, carrying out every detail
NJ the technique that was evolved
when the whole west was one vast
oman range without a rail upon It.
II was a restoration of an ancient
and picturesque scene, but 1t was not
staged for any sentimental reason.
These cattle were driven to market
overland for the good practical reason
that they were in that way brought
TO their destination for about one
fourth of what 1t would have cost to
ship them by rail. 1t looks as though
inordinately high freight rates might
bring back into use the long trail'
over which the nations beef travelled
to market under its own power for
more than half a century.
The cowboy is such a typically and
additionally Yankee figure that many
Americans do not realize that the
American cattle business is really
Mexican in its origin and moved slow
" from the far south to the north.
In the early part Of the last century
there we're no cattle in all of the west
north Of the Rio Grande. Down in
old Mexico, on the other hand, there
were enormous herds of scrubby long
horn stock which had been introduced
by the Spaniards many generations
before
Meantime a hungry Yankee civili-
zation was growing up in the eastern
half Of the continent. Cattle were
raised on the eastern farms, but not
nearly enough OF them to feed this
growing nation. Enterprising Yam
KEGS down in the southwest began to
see that there was a future in the
raising of cattle in the west for sale
in the east. Accordingly, they began
stealing the herds of the Mexican,
bringing them across the Rio Grande
and founding herds of their own in
Texas. They not only found 1t easy
to steal cattle, but they also found
that when these cattle were brought
north they grew larger and fatter
than ever they had on the hot south
ern ranges.
WHEN BEEF WAS CHEAP
II was easy to get the cattle and
easy to raise them, but reaching the
market was another matter. Attempts
we're made to drive them Gro to
louisiana and sell them, and also to
ship them from gulf ports to eastern
markets, but all of these attempts
failed. When the civil war broke out
the plains OF Texas were swarming
with cattle for which there was no
market. Their owners had unlimited
beef, but very little money. You
could buy a COW for a dollar.
During the war these herds were
forgotten and multiplied INTENDED.
After the war the plains swarmed
with unbranded cattle worth little or
nothing. Men of foresight hired cow
boys and began rounding up and
branding this wild stock. 1t vas ex-
citing business, for the cattle were a.
Wild as deer. A COW or calf belonged
10 the man who could put his brand
on 1t first. Incidentally, the way was
prepared for the long war between
The rustlers and the cattle barons
which presently began. Soon the men
VINO had begun early had great herds
under their own brands. while the
newcomers had none. They wanted
T" continue the business of branding
sock whenever II was found un-
branded. Owners of cattle chose now
70 regard this as theft. Hence a war
which continued for a quarter of a
century.
Meantime, the herds pushed stead
ny farther and farther north. The
ea'tle trail which led across the Rio
ofande and the plains of Texas was
''eadiiy extended north along the
H MIG -