Press enter after choosing selection

Life In Wyoming

Life In Wyoming image
Parent Issue
Day
12
Month
January
Year
1887
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

We continue (he deacrlpthm of tiiis territorv coinmenced insl week, and written by Prol. Charles K. Lowiey, for the Buff.ilo Exres: It is hard to describe t.lii country to tlmso who never have een it. It is as different from tlm western prairies as l.glit irom day, and yel a very poptllnr deluslon is that il ia larjtely unbruken piala. Tuit i the ImpicMlton ihal om gels from a point of einlin nee. on the rallroxd or otherwlse - au tmpressioc that is soon dispelled if you takc a pony and atii-inpl to cover the prairie wllll hiiu. The fact is, this sefliiilugly plain ii about the IIKWI uneven and broken oountry you cm imaüine, and the d"lii-ion ariaea trom the. abruptneaa of the ravines and "dra," and the plateau-like chnru'ti-r ot most of the hl uil'. Nothiug of account can be raiscd even in the atleys without Irrigation, and yet nothing has yet been found Btrons enonjih to prevent the annuiil "washout" of all dm and ditches. And agaln yoor flrst wonder In passing through the country will be ut the immense "draw" and uilnhM La whjch not a drop of water appears, from nfty rr twi i..i t.r deep, and at start perpendicular and in the inidst of a level plain, often Invisible iintil your are rlgtit lipon ihem. Your flrpt impre&tion is tliat they are the product of ajíes ot lalnlaU apon ttaia I soil ; but sooii you observe that an old wagon triiil has passed sonie time - evi dently - evidently on the level with the plain - several hundred feet from the "draw'" present head. Your theory of lont? formation is gonr, and then, too, gome traveling companion will ibow you a neiv gulch that lias been formed and has carrled out lts immense volume of dirt to the sandhills in the valley below at the beek of a single waterspuut. Your next inqtiiry is of this phenomenou and you are told that the bursting of a single cloud will often ttll one of these immente gulches half full of water in an Instant and raise the little creeks brlow tvventy fcet In as many minutes. The tact. is that we live in a country of cloudfonnation, and the moisture is precipilated upon the slightest condensations. A few acres at the toot of a mountain whicli In the path of a prevailin wind m.iy be deluged with rain while as nmny aerpi half a Dille away may be as dry as the Sahara. It is this general unceitaintv of the efl'ects of clitnatic conditions upoii the sollthat entirely unlits this country tor permanent settleirtent. And, further, all cereal crops are subject to destruclion by the terrible hail stonns that try to outdo the waterspouts In their violence and the uncertainty of their course. üailstones as big hs your tist, I am told, are of frequent occurrence, and olten calves and antelopes are killed by them. Of course, any such storm Blltolm standing giass and grain completely. There are very few places of abode not liable at a moment'8 warning to be engulfed in one of those awful "draws" to whicli 1 have referred, unless near some of the granite mountains or in the wider valleys. Save a few stragrlini eottonwood and elders along the strea ns and the stuntcd plnes In the Butte there is nu thnbtr, nor will any grow without iriijialion. Some explanations ot this kind, I tlitnk Would scatter m-iiiy a faney from the wiseaores at the Capital wbo imagine this country all Mat because the surveyors plot is a plañe surface, and who hope to divide these plaiin up to the actual settler in the future In lols of 100 aciesench, plumb to the compass north and south, eatt and west. All this e delusion and worse becausein their altcinpt to bel leve it sueli and to open it, they are dertroytog the flnuncial prospecta of many honest pioueers, and at the same time breaking all Önancial conlldence in the stability of the only business for which this country is titted and to which it is now lully appropriated. There is not a man in Wyoming that Is at all acquainted with the business who will not teil you that this portion of the territory is supporting every head of stock that the range will warrant. TUK CATTI.K BUSINESS. And now of the cattle business itself. This is the worst of all to picture to the uninitiated. Kvery man who wishes to put cattle on the ran;e must have hla brand approved by the proper state offlcers, after due inspection to see tlmt it conflicta with no other brand in use. The owner can sell no animal without fflylng a bilí of sale describinj; the brand and animal, but be muy sell hls brand and cattle to another man by due record of the transfer with the couiity clerk The cattle ure turned loose upon the prairie after they have received the owner'a brand, and are allowed to roam in winter at their leisure and pleasure, cast and west, but usually north and south, for hundreds of miles. All the men haring cattle on the range in any numbers must, for mutual protectlon, belong to the stock asdociali.n and support a large corps of Inspector! in all the principal places of marketing to citch any, whctlier in or out of the iissociatior., who may altcinpt to steal or brand catUe not their own. I cannot explain all the intricacies of this hvsiem, bul nllicc it to gay that it 8 so perfect tba in these days very seldom an Hssoeiatlon niember suffers loss. But to helong to the Manrlitlnn uaually iljnlflea that the person is able to support au "outfit," or to join will) some other brand in the support of one. Kvery man in the association has by law alrcaily selictcd a permanent range, which lie regards as the place where he shall try to keep bis cnttle most of the suminer, imd frota and lipón which he shull turn loóse hII eattle branded and bought by hiinsilt. Other men have aqual right to tbe same range, and sonietiines Kverai "outtita" cover practically the saine pasturaje, it ig simply a quettlon ot' aiiioiint of pasi ii 1 to support the entile. It i. eustomary tor this range to exteixl somewli.it acoordiog tp t he Iierrl, tor 40 or 50 miles lux t,h or soiith, and huirás far east mil west. Emíi company has a ranche at some conveuient place on lts range where the ow-horse8 are raised (each cowboy has seven poules on the "rouncf-upl; " they ride tUem very fast and hard and liavc to change tliein l'nqueiitlj) and where the "cowboys,1 usually f rom 10 to 'JO n uumber, stop when not on the ranee. These ranget are all numbered throughout tbe territory. In the spring is Boon as ilic weather is settled and the grass begins to giow, t isejuite eustoniary for the older eattle to lead the younge.r hack to their aecustomed pasturuge, but not alwsyg. Iloweveí all eattle, must be "rouuded" and hranded on each range at this Beason. E ich ranjíe has a general "íonml-up" of all the eattle upon it, for tiiis purpoee in a place deslgnated. Each "outtit" starts out with its grubwagon and rook tu its Mtlgnd place to gataer the cattle toward the Common center. At the game time each range senda two representativi's to every other range, wbère t ld probable that they have cattle to drive tliem home, Iffound, at their "general roand-up." The "cowboys" iake thcir seven liorses with tliem and their beds, ii nd usually bivouac where durkness overtakea tbém, keeping guard over the hard so far colleeted. When all the herds are eonsolidated on some vast plain, with the :iO,(K)O or 40,000 head in the oenter and the grnb-wagons and ooWboyl forining the circle, It 3 a grand sijjlit. The work of cutting out the branda repie.-i nted then comuienres. TUK OIIANU OCCASION OF TUK YKAH. 'i'his is the grand occasion of the year. Alter eacli has sepaiati'd all liis cattle, those that then reniain, betoog elaewMr. These are then sear:iled hy their respective parties, sent trom otiier "roiindups." Whal are left are sent to the M8O ciation pound and advertised, or their iiwncr notilied I the hrands are known. Kuch coinpany then takel his cattle to I corral naar his ranch, brand- his calves, renmrks any others that Deed it, OoUectl siich al are fit for maiket for shipinent, and turns the rest loose agpiia on the range. Diiring the reniainder of the suinmer ind fall whenever eattle are wmto.i i.j anv p"J imuiuwiiiIBU Upon the range, ipeeitd "ronnd-iips" are made hy all the "pai 'ticnlar "outlit" intenteil. and reiiresetatives of all the ret n# i ne range, atter the mannes o Veneral mund-np " hu much for a niexgre idm of the buslnene The man that can iret the moat cattle in tbe range reducís his running expenses, for the cost of su-taining an "outfit" for 3,000 cattle la virtuilly the same al for 12,000, and the losses higher In proportion tothe smallncss of the herd It eoatl money to buy so many cattle and henee the necesMty of much borrowing ol money and the formlug of compames to conduct the eooooaiioalty. The general manager of a ranch is in conimoii parianee the "Cattle Kil'g," although he ruay be the "hiretl man" of some 20 or 'M) individuáis, of very moderate nieans indeed, and geiting but a fair dividend upon their investments. Ot ronne, to naake larga sales and large purehases is the ouly economical way to run stich u business. This gives outsiders the noliun that said "figure-head"' is a very mint Of money, whie.li of course is not the case, as a rule. Tne lite of the practical stock-grower in the country is a hard one, of which few eastern people have any coneepilon, and in whlcii all the poetry of enormous g. lins cinks before bitter privations and discoiiragenients and risks too numerous to nientio'i. There has been money made In the stock business, hut ander clrcumstances that well merit reward, aml by ith-ianding hai'dships that tew but the moat vigorous could endure, in a country where human Ufe is at the incrcy of every "escaped convicl's" whim or fancy. Su iiiiieh in brief for Wyoining as I DOW see it, when all the fancy is off and the reality is before me.

Article

Subjects
Ann Arbor Courier
Old News