Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1893 — COWBOYS’ PERIL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COWBOYS’ PERIL.

Line Riding in a Blinding Blizzard on th« Plains. Line riding is the most disagreeable duty of the cowboy, and is usually attended with peril. In win-

ter cattle very often drift before a raging storm, and unless carefully watched they are liable to continue their march until scores of miles away from the ranch, and not infrequently do many of them perish from exposure. To guard against this camps are established in a straight line, which marks the boundary beyond which cattle are not to stray. These camps are usually for two men, and are some fifteen or twenty miles apart; then, in the morning, its two men ride out in opposite ways, each going until he meets his neighbor of the next camp nearest on that side, when lie returns. In riding over the beat each man drives any cattle that he may moot well within the boundary, for if the cattle once begin to drift in massos before an icy galo it is impossible for a small number of men to hold them, and the only thing to do is to lot them go, and then organize an expedition to follow them as soon as possible. Lino

riding is very cold work, and especially dangerous when tho men are put in a blinding blizzard. Occasionally one sees reports of how some brave cowboys have perished of cold. In the worst storms on the plains it is impossible for a human being to llvo long.

A LINE RIDER.

CATTLE DRIFTING BEFORE A STORM.