Cruisings in the Cascades Part 17

The Montana Stock Growers' a.s.sociation has also built public branding-pens at intervals of four to six miles along the river. The owners of the stock seldom live on the ranches themselves, many of them being residents of Eastern cities, and others having their homes in the railroad towns within convenient distance of the ranches. The occupants of the "shack," as the ranch house is called, are the foreman, the cook, and a sufficient number of cowboys or herders to look after and handle the stock properly. Some of the choice bits of natural meadow are fenced and hay cut on them, and each ranch has more or less hay land about the heads of creeks on its range, for it is necessary to make hay enough each season to feed at least the calves and some of the weaker cattle through the severe blizzards that so frequently occur in winter. The cattle belonging to each of these ranches are allowed to range almost at will over the adjacent hills and table-lands, though the limits proper of each range are supposed to extend ten to fifteen miles in each direction from the ranch house.

The Montana Stock Growers' a.s.sociation, at its meeting in March, designated the seventh day of May as the day for beginning the roundup in the Powder river district this year, and selected a foreman to take charge of it who had seen many years of service in the saddle, who has a happy faculty of controlling the men under his charge perfectly, and yet of putting himself on free and friendly terms with them all. He can throw a _riata_ with such precision as to take a steer by the head or by either foot he wishes in almost every instance, and beasts as well as men soon learn to obey his wishes.

Anyone who has only seen the great plains late in summer or in the autumn, after the gra.s.s has become sere and yellow and the foliage along the streams has faded, can have little idea of the pristine beauty presented by such a valley as that of the Powder river in early springtime, when the earth is carpeted with verdure, the river banks lined with newly-clothed trees and shrubs, and the meadows blooming with flowers, the beauty and brilliancy of which can not be excelled anywhere. The winter snows have melted; the spring rains have come and gone, leaving the earth fresh and moist; the climate is mild and delightful. Under all these charming conditions who would not enjoy the scene unfolding before our eyes as we mount our spirited broncos and ride out to the place of rendezvous which has been appointed near the mouth of the river, and where the clans are already gathering. Temporary camps have been established by those who have arrived in advance of us, around which groups of cowboys are lounging. A band of horses and ponies which they have liberated is contentedly grazing on the river bank, and several small bands of cattle may be seen in various directions, most of them at considerable distances away, for they are wild and avoid the presence of human beings. A cloud of dust is faintly visible on top of the divide nearly three miles to the south, and on examining it carefully with our gla.s.ses we find it is being raised by a jolly band of five cowboys, who are riding like mad, each leading four or five horses.

Looking away to the north we see a mess-wagon, or "chuck outfit,"

approaching, drawn by four horses, and from the slow and labored gait at which they toil along they doubtless bring abundant store of good things. Behind this, two riders are driving ten head of loose horses.

And these small detachments continue to come in from every point of the compa.s.s all the forenoon, until, when all the ranches in this roundup district have furnished their levies, the force numbers one hundred and thirty-five men and about twelve hundred horses. Each rider has his "string" of horses, numbering from five to seven, and changes two or three times a day, riding one horse twenty to forty miles, and sixty to seventy-five miles a day is considered a fair day's work for a man. The reserve herd is placed in charge of a herder or "wrangler," who is required to keep them under perfect control, and to be able to produce such of them as are wanted on short notice, the _riata_ being frequently used in taking them out of the herd. The foreman has arrived and takes charge of the entire outfit, placing it on a thoroughly effective and working basis for the morrow.

At 3.30 o'clock in the morning the men are called. They are out of their blankets and dressed in less time than it takes an Eastern man to rub his eyes and yawn; each catches and saddles his horse; breakfast is hastily eaten, and at the first dawn of day, they ride out in twos or fours in every direction. These men present a decidedly picturesque, not to say brigandish, appearance as they dash out across the prairie; their red, blue, and gray flannel shirts, canvas pants, leather _chaparejos_, broad sombreros, colored silk handkerchiefs knotted around their necks; well-filled cartridge-belts, from which hang their six-shooters; their high-top cowhide boots and large Mexican spurs, making up a _tout ensemble_ that a band of Texan rangers might envy. Their work, their fun, their excitement now begin, for small bunches of cattle are sighted in every direction, which are to be rounded up and driven along, and there is no time to lose. As they dash hither and thither after the fleeing, scurrying creatures, the proverbial good nature, high spirits, and enthusiasm of these "knights of the plains" find vent in a series of hoots, yells, jokes, "ki-yis," bits of song, and grotesque slang expressions, many of which are strikingly expressive when understood, but which would be utterly unintelligible to a fresh tenderfoot. The majority of these Western cattle are almost as wild as the native buffaloes whose place they have usurped, having never been subjected to the dominion of man, and rarely, in fact, have they ever come face to face with him. At the first approach of the riders, therefore, they throw up their heads and tails, look wild, sniff the air, and then turn and run like a herd of antelopes. But by fast riding and skillful maneuvering they are soon rounded up and herded. It is a bit of the true spice of life for these dare-devil riders to find a vicious, rebellious, "alecky" young critter who concludes that he won't be rounded up; and no sooner has the belligerent shaken his burly head, pawed the earth a few times, turned tail to his pursuers, broken through the skirmish line and sailed away across the prairie, than three, four, or perhaps half a dozen cayuses, who are also now in their elements, are headed for him.

Lariats are loosened from the saddle horn, spurs rattle as they pierce the flanks of the already willing and eager steeds, and there ensues a wild, headlong, reckless race that can have but one result. The steer may be fleet of foot, and may lead, through a half-mile dash, but sooner or later is headed off and turned. He may make a fresh break in another direction, but his pursuers are down on him again like a pack of hungry wolves on a stray sheep. And now, as the riders close in on him, they belabor him unmercifully with their heavy coils of rope, or with rawhide "quirts" carried for this purpose. If particularly wild, obstinate, or obstreperous, he still keeps breaking away, and refusing to come into camp. A _riata_ glistens in the sunlight, whistles through the air and falls over his head. Another follows and puts a foot in the stocks.

Taking two or three turns of the lariat around the horn of the saddle, the men ride in opposite directions till the ropes come taut, the steer is fairly lifted from the earth and falls with a dull and thudful sound that may be heard a hundred yards. Then another rope is thrown over his head, the spurs are put to the faithful ponies, they are transposed for the time into draft horses, and the luckless victim is ignominiously "snaked" toward the herd, while the other boys "bang" him with coils of rope from behind. A few yards of this mode of travel is usually sufficient to tame the wildest long-horn Texan on the range, and a few vigorous bellows soon announce an unconditional surrender. The ropes are then taken off, he is let up, and it is short work to put him in the herd.

The valiant riders scour the country hither and thither, far and near, "gathering beef" from east, west, north, and south. Every hoof found, regardless of the brand it bears, or whether it bears any, is picked up by this human cyclone and carried along. Toward noon the herds already gathered are driven into the branding pens, where they are corraled. The calves are s.n.a.t.c.hed out and the "jimption is socked to 'em," as the boys express it. So with any yearlings or older stock that have escaped the branding-iron in former seasons. One or more irons for each owner are kept hot, and when a roper has "downed" an animal he or the foreman calls for the iron wanted, and setting his foot upon the victim's neck places the red-hot device on its ribs, and throws his weight upon it, leaving a deep, indelible, and time-enduring trade-mark which even he who runs may read. Its ears, dew lap, or the loose skin on its jaw are then slit and it is turned loose again.

When a band is branded it is turned out; the party who brought it in change horses, and away they go for another run. No special branders are now provided, every man in the outfit, the cook and wrangler excepted, being required to "swaller dust" and "wrestle calves" in the pens. Near the middle of the day each squad comes in after finishing their catch, make a run on the mess-wagons and devour the substantial provender with which they are loaded, with appet.i.tes born only of the labor and excitement in which they are engaged.

The afternoon is usually devoted to branding the last bunches brought in, and to "cutting out," returning or throwing over such stock as does not belong to any of the ranchmen in this district. Strays are frequently picked up whose brands show them to be a hundred miles or more from home. When a number of these are collected they are cut out and a squad of men drive them onto their proper ranges. This process is called "throwing over."

The cooks, teamsters, and wranglers usually move camp up the river every morning to the next branding pen, or to some other spot designated by the foreman, to which rounders bring their cattle during the day. A portion of the stock collected, called the "cavoy," is carried along with the camp all the time and herded by the "holders," but large numbers after being branded are bunched and again thrown off onto the range each day. Thus the outfit moves slowly up the stream, making a clean sweep of everything to the middle of the divides on the east and west, until the Wyoming roundup on the same stream is met coming down.

And now, having completed the work in hand, the outfit breaks up, and the men return to the respective ranches on which they are employed or go to other roundups where their services are needed.

The object of the fall roundup is to gather in and cut out the fat steers and drive them to the railroad stations for shipment to Eastern markets. The work being almost entirely on adult animals is even more laborious and hazardous than that of the spring, where the majority of animals actually handled are calves. Hard riding, vigorous "cutting,"

and daring dashes into headstrong, panic-stricken, stampeding herds are necessary here, and roping and dragging out by main strength are hourly occurrences. Branding-irons are also carried along, and any calves missed on the spring roundup, or dropped after it, are subjected to the fiery ordeal, just as their brothers and sisters were at the Mayday party.

Stray cattle, either calves or adults, bearing no brand and found alone or herded with others already branded, but whose parentage can not be definitely determined, are called "Mavericks," and in some districts are sold at auction and the proceeds given to the school fund. In others, they become the property of the man or company upon whose range they are found. This privilege, however, is seriously abused by dishonest ranchmen and cattle thieves, who infest every Western cattle-growing district. These men ride out over the ranges at times when they are not likely to be observed, carrying their branding-irons along, and rope and brand every animal they can find that does not already bear a brand. In some cases these are allowed to remain where found, for the time being, but are usually driven onto the range claimed by the pirate who does the work. In other instances, these men first drive the unbranded stock onto their own ranges, and then, under cover of the Maverick law, openly claim and brand it as their own. Many large herds have been acc.u.mulated almost wholly by this system of thievery, and there are wealthy cattlemen in the West to-day who never bought or honestly owned a dozen head of the thousands that bear their brand. A certain cowboy, when asked by an Eastern man what const.i.tutes a Maverick, replied: "It's a calf that you find and get your brand on before the owner finds it and gets his on."

But it is risky business, this cattle stealing, and many a man who has been caught at it has been left on the prairies as food for the coyotes, or has ornamented the nearest cottonwood tree until the magpies and butcher birds have polished his bones.

Branding is a decidedly cruel proceeding, and would doubtless come under the bane of Mr. Bergh's displeasure were he here to witness it. Yet it seems a necessary evil, there being no other known means of marking cattle so effectually and indelibly.

Parties of ladies frequently go out from the towns or cities to see the roundup, not knowing or thinking of the painful features of it. They enjoy the ride across the prairies and through the valleys. The beautiful scenery, the grotesque "Bad Lands," the red, scoria-capped hills, the beautiful green meadows, and the fringes of green trees that mark the meanderings of the streams, all delight and interest them; they enjoy the displays of horsemanship given by the valorous cowboys as they wheel and cavort hither and thither in pursuit of scurrying bands of cattle; they enjoy the stampeding and wild flight, the "knotting" and "holding" of the large herds, all so skillfully and cleverly performed; they enjoy the sight of the thousand and more loose horses, grazing and scampering over the plains; they enjoy the fresh, pure air, the wholesome noon repast in the shade of the great cottonwood trees, and many other pleasant phases of the affair. But when the fire is lit and the murderous irons inserted in it; when the captive creatures are dragged forth lowing, murmuring, and bellowing; when the red-hot iron is pressed into their quivering, smoking sides until the air is laden with the odor of burning hair and roasting flesh, and the poor creature writhes and struggles in its agony, the roundup is robbed of its romance, and the ladies are ready to start for home at once.