Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1933-09-27
HOT IRON"

owners must place 1t on their stock In distinctive
positions.
According to the laws of North Dakota. each
brand was good for ten positions. They were
the jaw, neck, shoulder, ribs and hip-fve posi-
lions on each side of the animal. 1t was not
IN 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 uncomfortable. For in
stance, a total Of more than $500 brands have
been recorded In Montana since 1878 and 1t Is
said that 5000 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 a few years ago and In Colo
RADIO there were more than 1920.
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 a language, a phonetic tongue, albeit,
which was all but unintelIigible to the unlniti-
ated. Philip Ashton Rollins In his classics of
western life, 'sThe Cowboy" writes of this as
follows:
"He would know that 428 meant Four Bar
Twenty Height since a hyphen always was called
a bar that, because a capital letter of size was
commonly termed big the brand A2' was trans
latable into Big A Two that because a letter or
figure lying ON Its side was termed lazy a prone
letter m underscored was the Lazy M Bar. This
person would know also that, because a ring was
dubbed a circle a letter e enclosed within a
ring was the Circle G that because a circles
arc was, according to Its length, designated as
q quarter half or 'three-quarter' circle, a scant
bit Of curve followed by a letter r. was the
Quarter Circle n. and that, because anything
looking like a diamond or even Its cousin was
called diamond a figure - within a lozenge
should be interpreted as Diamond Five. This
person would know also that any parallelogram,
regardless of the ration between It's length and
height, was q block or box or a square which
ever it's owner cared to term It that the faintest
resemblance to a pair OF wings gave the prefix
flying 80 that the numeral 81 between two mis-
shapen bulges was the Flying Nine, and that
other designs were 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, slangy designations
such as swallop' Ia wide letter u atop another
letter u equally wide but inverted) 'whang-
doodle Ia group of interlocking wings with no
flying central design. and hog pen 1.-TWO par
allel lines crossing two other parallel lines at q
right angle)."F
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 20" which has but one shape In any position,
and therefore can be used only once. True there
= Il aknt a = - A. = kA A T. N a
a mashed o. a link or goose egg.
"N' Is another letter that Is not susceptible
of many positions, for horizontally 1t is az
'I' is another letter with a 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 example, an ordinary
tx" makes one position. Turn 1t to an angle of
as degrees and you have the Tumbling X, on Its
back horizontally the Lazy X and reversed a
fourth position. There are lazy and tumbIing
brands In all letters except 20" and 81"
After the letters Of the alphabet and the vari-
ations thereon were all taken up 1t 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 a
skull and crossbones, = rake, shovel, shoe, boot,
cup. coffee-pot, glasses, flag, keys, apple, star,
moon, ladder, tree, anchor, pitchfork, glove,
muleshoe, rocking chair, Ratchet, axe, spear, roll
Ing pin, gate. spectacies, pipe, fish, gun, compass,
umbrella, hands and dozens OF other queer char
acters for which 1t IL difficult to find an ade-
quately descriptive name. In the Illustrations at
the head Of this article is included a chart Of "a
out-of-the-ordinary brands.
SO important was the branding iron to the
cattle industry that q few years ago the state
whose prosperity was built upon the cattle bust