A MONTANA ROUNDUP.
Descriptions of cattle roundups in the far West have been written, and
yet many of the characteristic scenes that the spectator at one of these
semi-annual "beef-gathering parties" will observe have not been
described. There is so much to interest and excite the denizen of the
States who first attends a roundup on the great plains that I am tempted
to speak of some of the more prominent points in this "greatest show on
earth," for the benefit of such as have not had the pleasure of
witnessing it.
The interests of cattlemen in general are so closely linked, and there
is such urgent need of a concert of action among them, that in all
Western cattle-growing districts they have organized into local or
general associations, in which the most perfect harmony and good
fellowship exists, and in which the interests of every individual member
are closely guarded and fostered by the organization as a whole. These
associations meet in the spring and fall of each year and fix the dates
for holding the roundups, usually prescribing the general boundaries in
which each local outfit shall work. The spring roundup, which is the one
now under consideration, is held in the latter part of April or early
part of May in Wyoming and Montana, and earlier or later in other States
and Territories, according to the nature of the climate, weather, etc. A
roundup district is usually limited to the valley of some large stream,
or its boundaries are designated by other prominent and well-known
landmarks.
From five to fifteen miles, or even more, each way from the ranch, are
claimed by each owner or company as a range, though no effort is made
usually to keep the stock within these boundaries. They are allowed the
freedom of the hills and table-lands in every direction, the foreman
merely being required to know about where to find them when wanted, and
to prevent them from going, for instance, west of the Tongue and north
of the Yellowstone rivers or south into Wyoming.
As a typical spring roundup, let us observe the one recently conducted
on the Powder river in Montana, for it furnished, perhaps, as many
interesting episodes and incidents as are usually seen at one of these
entertainments. This stream rises in the Big Horn Mountains in Northern
Wyoming and flows northeast through Southern Montana to the Yellowstone,
into which it empties its wealth of crystal fluid just east of Miles
City. Up to a few years ago its valley and adjacent table-lands were
peopled only by roving bands of Sioux, Cheyenne, Pegan, or Crow Indians,
while vast herds of buffaloes and antelopes grazed upon its nutritious
grasses. The lordly elk and the timid, agile deer roamed at will through
the groves of cottonwood and box-elder that fringe its banks, and the
howl of the coyote made night musical to the ear of the savage in his
wigwam. But how changed the scene of to-day! An iron railroad bridge,
that of the great Northern Pacific, spans the stream near its mouth,
over which roll trains of palace coaches at short intervals, while
commercial freights _en route_ from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or
_vice versa_, pass over it almost every hour. From the mouth of the
stream to the foot-hills of the mountain range, amid whose snow-capped
peaks it rises, is now a well-beaten road over which supplies for the
various ranches in the valley are carried, and over which the gallant
knights of the plains--the cowboys--dash to and fro in the performance
of their various duties.
At intervals of ten to fifteen miles along the valley, the traveler
passes ranches, the headquarters of the wealthy cattlemen whose herds
roam all over the valleys, the hills, and table-lands for many miles in
every direction, designating the companies or individual owners merely
by the brands their herds bear (which is the custom of the country). We
shall encounter on our way the "MC" outfit, whose herd numbers fourteen
thousand head; the "WL" brand, six thousand head; "7OL," one thousand
head; "S-I," twenty-five thousand head; "_N_," twenty-five thousand
head; "[3-rail]," five thousand head; and many other smaller and some
larger herds. The buildings and improvements consist generally of
substantial, roomy log houses, stables for the horses, corrals or strong
yards in which large herds of cattle may be confined for branding, etc.
The Montana Stock Growers' Association 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' Association, 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 grass 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 glasses 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
compass 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 snatched 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 appetites 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 accumulated
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 constitutes 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.
Transcriber's Notes:
Italics indicated _like this_.
Small caps indicated LIKE THIS.
Minor punctuation errors corrected without note.
Words with multiple and archaic spellings left as in original.
p. 329 [3-rail] used to represent a branding symbol with three parallel
bars.
Spelling changes:
Table of Contents Chapter 1. "Enchance" changed to "Enhance".
p. 63 "barrrier" changed to "barrier".
p. 67 "ordinarly" changed to "ordinarily".
p. 123 "fuanace" changed to "furnace".
p. 167 "playad" changed to "played".
p. 171 "catchng" changed to "catching".
p. 201 "conspicious" changed to "conspicuous".
p. 204 "intstead" changed to "instead".
p. 237 "similiar" changed to "similar".
p. 294 "firmanent" changed to "firmament".
p. 296 "Novemver" changed to "November".
End of Project Gutenberg's Cruisings in the Cascades, by George O. Shields