The Coolidge examiner., 1933-09-29
HOT IRON!"


positions.
! According to the laws of North Dakota each
brand good for ten positions. They were
| the jaw, neck, shoulder, ribs and hip-fve posi-
tiOns on each side OF the animal. II was not
uncommon for a North Dakota stockman to buy
all positions so that he could brand his stock
as he pleased. Otherwise, nine other men could
use the same brand in other positions, thus
causing endless confusion.
The number and variety Of brands In the cat
tie country is almost inconcelvable. For in
stance a total Of more than $500 brands have
been recorded in Montana since 1878 and 1t Is
said that 6000 were in active use within recent
years. Records of the Texas Cattle Raisers' asso-
citation showed more than 5000 registered brands
In use In that state few years ago and in Colo
RADIO there were more than 4200.
But despite this multiplicity of markings the
old-time cattleman and the brand inspectors sta
toned at the stockyards In the leading cattle
markets could read the various brands and in
terpret them as easily as a stenographer can
read and interpret the pothooks and other sym
bols in the shorthand system. More than that
they spoke language, phonetic tongue albeit
which was all but unntelligibe to the uniniti
ated. Philip Ashton Rollins in his classic of
western life, "The Cowboy" writes Of this as
follows:
Twenty-eght since a hyphen always was called
a bar; that because capital letter of size was
commonly termed big the brand 40 was trans
latable into Big A Two; that because a letter or
figure lying on It's side was termed lazy prone
letter m underscored was the Lazy NJ Bar. This
person would know also that, because a ring was
dubbed a Circle a letter e enclosed within
ring was the Circle G. that because a circles
arc was, according to its length designated as
quarter half or 'three-quarter' circle, scant
bit of curve followed by a letter r. was the
Quarter Circle r, and that, because anything
looking like a diamond or even its cousin was
called diamond figure - within a lozenge
should be interpreted as Diamond Five. This
person would know also that any parallelogram
regardless of the ration between its length and
height was block or box or a square, which
ever its owner cared to term II that the fantest
resemblance to a pair OF wings gave the prefix
flying so that the numeral 90 between two mis-
shapen bulges was the Flying Nine, and that
other designs we're attempted pictures and should
be entitled Broken Pipe, Sombrero, Spur Bit
Elk Horn Two Star, Wheel and whatever
Finally this person would know that still fur
ther designs had arbitrary, sangy designations
such as 'wallop Ga wide letter q atop another
letter equally wide but inverted); 'whang
doodle Ga group of interlocking wings with no
allel lines crossing two other parallel lines at
right angle)."
In the record of brands every letter of the
alphabet is represented, and most letters are
found In three or four positions. An exception
is 40" which has but one shape in any position
and therefore can be used only once. True there
is the 80" fattened at the Sides but ii is called
a mashed o. link goose egg.
IN" is another letter that is not susceptible
Of many positions for horizontally it is ~"
'I' Is another letter with limited use. 1t is
seldom seen except in combination with other
characters, and is usually called bar.
&c" and "K' are examples of letters that are
used in four positions. For example, an ordinary
tx" makes one position Turn it to an angle of
As degrees and you have the Tumbling X, on its
back horizontally the Lazy K and reversed
fourth position There are lazy and tumbling
brands in all letters except "O' and 81"
After the letters of the alphabet and the vari-
ations thereon were all taken up it became nee
essary to devise individual and unique brands
SO every conceivable device made its appearance
ranging from Bible references through poker
hands to farm implements, household utensils
and lodge insignia
In the Colorado brand book may be found
skull and crossbones a rake shovel, shoe, boot
cup. coffee-pot glasses, flag keys, apple, star
moon ladder, tree, anchor, pitchfork glove
muleshoe rocking chair, hatchet axe, spear, roll
ing pin gate spectacles, pipe, fish, gun, compass
umbrella, hands and dozens of other queer char
acters for which it is difficult to find an ade
quately descriptive name. In the Illustrations at
the head of this article is included chart of "A
ut-of-the-ordinary brands.
So important was the branding iron to the
cattle industry that a few years ago the state
whose prosperity was built upon the cattle bust