The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1921-06-16

brand. Although that was nearly 400
years ago, the cattle upon that ranch today
bear the original Cortez brand.
The origin of the cattle-brand dates
back to the dim dawn of history. In the
days Of free grass and open range the
brand was an absolute necessity in order
that the owners might identify their cat
tie in the annual round-ups. With the
coming of wire fences this necessity was
largely obviated, but the brand served
still to place guilt upon cattle-thieves.
This purpose is still served and this fact
accounts largely for the retention of the
brands by all of the ranchmen.
Ingenious methods are sometimes used
by cattle-thieves to change existing brands
upon stolen stock. Most of the members
of the Texas Ranger Force are experts in
the matter of detecting the Disgusting or
changing of brands.
The cattle-brands of some ranches are
an intangible asset of great value. These
brands haye come to stand for honesty in
breeding, honesty in weight, and honesty
in dealing, just as the heraldry of knight
hood stood for honor for bravery and for
noble deeds and accomplishment. The
announcement that cattle of certain
brand are offered for sale is often suf-
fcient guaranty so that no precautions
against fraud of any kind are taken.
In the record of brands every letter of
the alphabet is represented, and most let
tiers are found in three or four positions.
An exception is 49," which has but one
shape, in any position, and therefore can
be used only once. True, there is the 20"
fattened at the sides, but it is called a
mashed 49," a link or goose-egg.
IN" is another letter that is not suscep-
tible of many positions, for horizontally
it is H." "I'' is another letter with
limited use. 1t is seldom seen except in
combination with other characters and is
usually called a bar.
&C" and tx" are examples of letters
that are used in four positions. For ex-
ample, an ordinary tx" makes one posi-
ton. Turn it to an angle of As degrees
and you have the 'tumbling X" on its
back, horizontally, the "lazy K" and re-
versed, a. fourth position. There are lazy
and tumbling brands in all letters except
90" and a."
But when the cattle business becomes
general and instead of one hundred ranches
there are thousands, new brands must be
devised. The seeker for brand natural
ly gets an insignia different from that of
other ranchmen, else the brand would fail
of its purpose. So in the latter days the
letters were finally all taken up and the
necessity for individual and unique brands
has led to many strange device.
For example, there is the "Spur" ranch,
the Turkey Track" ranch, the "Tum-
bling K" or the LAZY X" Every ranch
has its principal brand, and some have
many others. Ranch-owners who trade
extensively, and who are constantly ac-
quiring cattle with different brands, have
number of insignias on record. Often
the ranchmen's sons and daughters have
their special brands, and the dedication
of new brand is not an unusual form
of celebrating birth on the range.
Among the peculiar brands is pig
pen, which means square with its sides
extending to form the exterior angles.
Crescents are common. Only one ranch
man has Ratchet for brand.
A bow and arrow gives name to one
big Texas ranch. L. ]. Kimberlin's ranch
had crutch on the hip and coffee-pot
on the side. The coffee-pot design is not
so intricate as one might imagine-con-
sisting of only eight lines.
Wine-glasses are not uncommon as a
brand, and the J. w. Friend Cattle Com
pany in Crockett County had gourd. A
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