Evening star., 1925-08-02

NV we most generally set back
some and think back a
whole lot. And, thinking.
we sometimes wonder if the Spaniards
realized when they brought the first
of them cattle over from Spain that
they was responsible for the good they
done in stocking up the Southwest
and making it the starting Of the cow
country it turned out to be.
It took a couple of hundred years
for them first cattle to multiply and
spread out, so that the whole of Cali
fornia and plum across to the Gulf of
Mexico was cut up by the trails them
roaming herds would make. There
come d time when their trails run In
with the buffalos down in Texas.
They drank of the same waters and
graZed on the same flats. They
changed some in build to fit in with
what the country called for, and came
right up with the buffalo in speed and
endurance.
The long horned, long-legged critters
stayed wild and mighty spooky. They
couldn't afford to pack extra fat, as
II d hinder 'en in their running. and
outside of keeping the few people in
meat and supplying the markets with
rawhide they had nothing to do but
run, accumulate and stay wild
They done all them things in fine
style. But, all too soon (as some of
the Old cowmen will tell you), the rail
roads blazed a way toward the gold
fields and other glittering facts the
West held out for them who wanted
TO come and get it.
With the folks piling in sky high
and more of 'em coming steady from
acrost the ocean, it wasn't long till
there was use for them buckskin cat
tie, a1ld other than for the rawhide
they was packing. The stockman
what was already there ahead of the
crowd started to keep better tab of
his stock, and finally got TO thinking
so much of 'em all of a sudden that
he'd just hang high and dry any one
caught stealing any of them critters.
The cattle, getting more handling
and care, naturally got more gentle.
and got so in time that YOU could
keep sight of EN- and not even have
to get your horse out Of lope. But
in the thick brush or rocky coun-
tries and wherever it was so rough
that the riders rode around, there was
big herds stayed wild and nobody
seemed to want to fool with them
just then.
But a time come when instead of
them wild lunches increasing as they
should they was gradually dwindling
down TO a few. Them few was MAX
ing themselves mighty hard to find,
though. and kept a-making such a
good job of hiding away in their rough
countries that they held their little
lunches to near normal in size.
Them wild ones scattered along up
through the Rockies into the North
ern States. And wherever you could
find deer, elk and mountain lions in
the COW country was where you'd also
find them wild ''orejanas," but they
was even harder to get sight of than
any deer.
They'd always see you first, and had
the sage chicken beat when II come to
hiding. They'd stand still as a petri-
fled tree and let you ride past within a
few yards of 'em If they thought they
was we'll enough hid But If there was
no hiding place handy they'd take to
running, and l never yet seen a horse
that could catch up with 'em in their
brushy, rocky territory.
X
I'VE seen 'em sometimes a little out
in the open and where I thought
had a good running chance at EN-
I'd take my rope down and try my
luck, but that critter' would leave me
as though | was standing still and hit
out for the best goat country you ever
saw, IdtulJ ever Out Ol d
long trot, the likes of which would
sure make any mountain-raised horse
use all the fastest gaits he had. But
there was no catching up to within
roping distance of 'em.
Amongst them wild punches you'd
sometimes find near pure-bred Here
fords and Durhams what had turned
wild from not getting enough handling
or being missed out of the roundup
for a couple of years. Others had
been let go when they was wanting to
fight some rider what tried to turn
EN- too quick, and that rider, being
too busy at the time to take the
orneriness out of one of 'em, just left
her behind or whichever way she
wanted to go.
With the result that Qike some hu-
mans) that critter thought she had
somebody buffaloed for sure, and, head
high, pacing pretty hits out for the
tall, rough and uncut to join the rest
of the wild bunch.
In the Southern States, like Texas,
New Mexico and Arizona, was where
the wild stuff stayed wild the longest.
They had bigger and rougher scopes
of country to run in than could be
found further north, and they wasn't
affected much by the upbreeding of
the tanner herds. The reason was
that for every one well bred critter