Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1885 — THE KING OF THE PLAINS. [ARTICLE]

THE KING OF THE PLAINS.

A Glimpse of the Texas Cowboy—His Life on the Drive, in the Camp, and at the Bound Up. “Doi know the cowboys? Young man, I think I do. When you have worked with them, caioped with them, lived with them, and been among them forty years on the drive, on the plains, and on and off duty, you might say you know them.” The speaker was a Texas cattleman, and he was asked to describe the cowboy. “The Texas cowboy,” he continued, “is the most thoroughly misunderstood man outside of the localities where he is known, on the face of the earth. I know him in all his alleged terrors, and as a class there are no nobler-hearted honorable men in the world. Brave to rashness and generous to a fault, if you should be thrown among them you would find them ever ready to share their last crust with you, or lie down at night with you on the same blanket “Why, young man, see here,” and the Texas man twitched his chair around until he could put his feet upon a win-dow-sill. “Say that I have 10,000 cattle which lam about to send overland from Texas into Montana to fatten for the market. Those cattle will be on the drive from the Ist of April until the middle of September. They are divided into three herds, with a dozen or sixteen men with each herd. I entrust these cattle in the hands of a gang of cowboys. For six months I know absolutely nothing of my stock. I trust their honesty to the extent of many thousands of dollars without a contract, without a bond, with no earthly hold upon them, legally or morally, beyond the fact that I am paying them $35 or S4O a month to protect my”interests. And these are the men pictured in the east as outcasts of civilization. I trust absolutely to their judgment in getting these cattle through a wild and unbroken country without loss or injury. I trust as absolutely to their bravery and endurance in the face of danger.” “Danger ?” , “Danger! Yes, indeed. A man to

be a cowboy must be a brave man. For instance, we are on a drive. These slab-sided, long-horned Texas cattle are as wild as deer naturally, and being in an unknown country are as nervous as timid sheep. The slightest noise may startle them into a stampede. We have been on- the drive all day and night is coming on. It is cold and raining. We have reached the point ■where we intended to round up for the night The men commence to ride around the drove, singing, shouting, and whistling, to encourage the animals by the sounds they are familiar with, and to drown any noise of an unusual character which might provoke a stampede. Round and round the cattle they ride until the whole 'drove is traveling in a circle. Slowly the Cowboys close in oh them, still shouting and Binging, until finally the cattle become quiet, and after a time lie down and commence chewing their cuds with ap- { jarent contentment. Still the vigiance of the men cannot be relax ed. At least half of them must continue riding about the resting herd all night. A stampede of cattle is a terrible thing to the cowboys, and 1 may be brought on by the most trivial cause.. The slightest noise of an unusual nature, the barking of a coyote, the snap of a tol, the crackling of a twig will bring some wild-eyed steer to his feet in terror. Another instant and the whole drove are panting and bellowing in the wildest fear. They are ready to follow the lead of any animal that makes a break. Then the coolness arid selfpossession of the cowboys are called into play. They still continue their wild gallop around the frightened drove, endeavoring to reassure them and get them quiet once more. May be they will succeed after an hour or two, and the animals will again be at rest. But the chances are that they cannot be quieted so easily. A break is made in some direction. Here comes the heroism of the cowboy. * Those cattle are wild and unreasonable in their flight as a pair of runaway horses. They know no danger but from behind, and if they did, could not stop for the surging sea of maddened animals in the rear. A rocky gorge or deep cut canyon may cause the loss of half their number. Those in the rear cannot see the danger and the leaders cannot stop for those behind, and are pushed on to their death. A precipice may lie in their way, over which they plunge to destraction. It matters not to the cowboy. If the stampede is made the captain of the drove and his men ride they head it, and then endeavor to turn the animals in al circle once more. A hole in the ground, which catches a horse’s foot, a stumble, ahd the hoofs

of 3,000 cattle have trampled the semblance of humanity from him. He knows tips. A gulch or gorge lies in. their path. There is no escaping it. There is no turning to the right or thd left, and in an instant horse and rider are at the bottom, buried under 1,000 But what of it? It is only a cowboy and they come cheap. But history records no instance of more unquestioning performance of duty in the presence of danger than these men undergo on every drive. Should the stampede be stopped there is no rest for the drivers that night, but the utmost vigilance is required to prevent a recurrence of the break from the frightened cattle. This may happen hundreds^!'times on a single drive. “I remember one instance, which, from the friendship in which I held the victim, has made a lasting impression On me. Two brothers were together on the drive. Both men had been educated in an Eastern college, but for some reason had drifted to the cattle plains of Texas and had become cow-boys. The elder was the Captain of the drive. Sitting about the camp-fire one night the younger w r as very down-hearted about something and finally said: ‘Charlie, let’s throw up this drive. I don’t want to go. I feel that one or the other of us will never go back. I am ashamed of this, but I cannot shake it off.’ His brother was impressed by his seriousness, but could only say; ‘George, here are 3,000 cattle in my charge. I could not leave them if I knew that I would be killed to-morrow.’ ‘A stampede!’ cried one of the men. In an instant they were all at animals, saddles were adjusted and away they went The Captain gained the head of the drive and had succeeded in turning them a little when his horse stumbled. In another instant horse and rider could hardly have been distinguished from one another. So you see there is some reoponsibility upon the men. “These wild cattle away from home are as variable as the wind, and when frightened are as irresistible as an avalanche. The slightest thing stampedes them. For instance, we have rounded up the drive and the cattle are lying down. lam one of the men detailed to ride around them. Finding them all quiet, I get off my horse to light my pipe. Relieved of my burden the horse rests himself by a shake. The whole drove are on their feet in an jnstant, listening to discover from what quarter the noise came. No one can foresee which way they will make the break and only the utmost self-possession and good judgment on the part of the men on duty will prevent a general stampede. That is the class of men cowboys are made of, and I never knew of many instances w’here they failed to do their duty.” The enthusiastic Texan had now warmed up to his subject, and when asked “where are the cowboys recruited from?” replied: “From all parts of the world. Some from the plains, where their toys in infancy are the miniature lariat and a shotgun. Some from Mexico, with many of their half-Indian characteristics, and many from the East. I know a dozen college graduates who are cowboys, and have become so infatuated with the life that I suppose they will never leave it until the final grand round-up.

“There is another interesting period in the life of the cowboy, and that is the spring round-up. In the fall the cattle stray away, and in working away from the storms they sometimes get away 100 miles or so. Each cattleowner has his own particular brand on his cattle. - Well, the ranchmen in some natural division of the country will organize a grand round-up in the spring. The cowboys will drive the cattle all in together in one big drove. Then the captain of the round-up will direct,the owner of ranch A to ‘cutout his cattle. One of A’s most experienced men will then ride into the drive until he sights an animal with his brand on. Deftly he will drive the animal to the outer edge of the herd, and then with a quick dash runs the beast out away from the drove, and it is taken in charge by others of A’s ranchmen, while the cutter goes back after another. After some fifteen or twenty minutes, A’s cutter will be taken off and B’s given a chance. This will be continued until each ranch has its’cattle cut out. If any cattle are found without a brand they are t killed lor the use of the men on the round-up. This ‘cutting’ is a work requiring great skill and experience and frequently requires the use of the lariat. Often cattle with a strange brand is found. If any one recognizes the brand, a ranchman living nearest the owner takes charge of it and notifies the owner. If no one recognizes the brand the captain of the round-up advertises it, and if no owner is found, it is sold at auction for the benefit of the Cattlemen’s Association. “These things will go to show the responsibility resting upon these men. They have to be men of integrity and reliability, and their labors are such that you can readily see they cannot be very dissipated. I will tell you how they get the reputation for recklessness;’ We will suppose these men have been on a drive for six months and have finished and been paid off. Then they are just like any other body of men, they go in for some fun, andon their lark” ride yelling through the streets of some little town, shoot a few street lamps out, and get into a saloon row. It is no more than a band of college boys at Harvard, or Cornell, or Princeton might do, and frequently do, but some imaginative correspondent immediately sends it to some Eastern paper, where it comes out .headed, “Another Cowboy Outrage,” and giving a wholly factitious account of the battle -between the outlaws and. the citizens. Now, I know hundreds es cowboys who never carry a revolver, and if you should go among them today your life and your pocketbook would be as safe as it is in the city. They have strict ideas 6f honor, and they stand upon their honor. You Won’t find any of them who would be safe, to impose upon, nor will you find any of them who will attempt to impose on you. They are off duty a lot. of big-hearted, rough boys, but they are not outlaws or outcasts. They are' not the class &f men who rob trains, or hold up people crossing the plains, and I believe that, taken for all m all,

the American cowboy will compare favorably in morals and manliness with any similar number of citizens taken as a class.” —Pittsburg Dispatch. . '