The Cowboy Life
The life of the cowboy is always one of excitement and of romantic interest. His waking hours when riding on trail are spent in the saddle, and at night he makes his bed upon the lap of mother earth. The great herds which are yearly driven out of Texas to the northern ranges usually embrace from 2500 to 4000 young cattle each, and the movement has since its beginning, about eighteen years ago, amounted to about 4,000,000 head, worth nearly $50,000,000.
Each herd is placed in charge of a boss, with from eight to ten cowboys, a provision wagon, and a cook. Four horses are supplied to each cowboy, for the duty is an arduous one. The range cattle when away from their accustomed haunts are suspicious and excitable, and need to be managed with the greatest care to keep them from stampeding. When on trail they are close herded at nightfall, and all lie down within a space of about two acres. The cowboys then by watches ride around them all night long. The sensible presence of man appears to give the animals a feeling of security. The journey from southern Texas to Montana requires from four to six months. Herds are also driven from Oregon and Washington Territory to Wyoming and eastern Montana.
Fancy a pitch-dark night, a pouring torrent of rain, the ground not only entirely strange to the men, but very broken, and full of dangerously steep watercourses and hollows, and you will have a picture of cowboy duty on such a night. They must head off the leaders. Once fairly off, they will stampede twenty, thirty, and even forty miles at a stretch, and many branches will stray from the main herd. Not alone the reckless rider, rushing headlong at breakneck pace over dangerous ground in dense darkness, but also the horses, small, insignificant beasts, but matchless for hardy endurance and willingness, are perfectly aware how much depends upon their speed that night, if it kills them.
Unused till the last moment remains the heavy cowhide quirt, or whip, and the powerful spurs with rowels the size of five shilling pieces. Urged on by a shout, the horses speed alongside the terrified steers until they manage to reach the leaders, when, swinging round, and fearless of horns, they press back the bellowing brutes till they turn them. All the men pursuing this maneuver, the headlong rush is at last checked, and the leaders, panting and lashing their sides with their tails, are brought to a stand, and the whole herd is again rounded up. Throughout time northern ranges sobriety, self-restraint, decent behavior, and faithfulness to duty are enjoined upon the cowboys.
