Cruisings in the Cascades / A Narrative of Travel, Exploration, Amateur Photography, / Hunting, and Fishing

by G. O. Shields

The skill that some of these men attain in the use the lariat is also most marvelous. An expert will catch a steer by the horns, the neck, the right or left fore foot or hind foot, whichever he may choose—and while running at full speed—with almost unerring certainty. I have even seen them rope jack rabbits and coyotes after a long run, and there are well authenticated instances on record of even bears being choked to death by the fatal noose when wielded by a daring "knight of the plains."

At a "tournament" in a Black Hills town some months ago, a cowboy caught, threw, and securely tied a wild steer in fourteen minutes from the time he was let out of the corral. A similar exhibition of skill, but on a bronco instead of a steer, which lately took place in a New Mexico town, is thus described by an eye witness.

"After an hour of discussion and pleasant wrangling, the judge, himself a fine rider, called out the name of an Arizona cowboy, a champion puncher and rustler from Apache County; at the same moment, a wild-eyed bronco was released from the pen and went bounding and bucking over the miniature plain. According to the rule, the Apache County man had to saddle his own bronco, rope the fleeing horse, and tie him for branding in a certain time. Being a "rustler", he rustled around so lively that before the bronco was two hundred feet away, he had saddled and bridled his own animal, swung himself onto it, and was off, gathering up his lariat as he went. The other bronco, seeing the coming enemy, doubled his pace, dodging here and there, but at every turn he was met by his pursuer, who was evidently directed by his rider's legs, and in an incredibly short space of time the fugitive was overhauled; the rope whistled through the air, and dropped quickly over the bronco's head, notwithstanding the toss he had made. The instant it fell, the pursuing bronco rushed and headed off the other, winding the rope about his legs; then suddenly sitting back upon his haunches he waited, with ears back, for the shock. It came with a rush, and the little horse at the other end of the rope, as was the intention, went headlong onto the field, the cowboy's bronco holding him down by the continual strain that he kept up. The moment the horse went down the cowboy vaulted from the saddle, untying a rope from his waist as he ran, and was soon over the prostrate animal, lashing the hoofs with dextrous fingers, so that it could have been branded then and there. This accomplished, up went his hands as a signal to the judges, who now came galloping over the field, a roar of cheers and yells greeting the Apache County man, who had done the entire work in twelve minutes, thereby securing the prize of sundry dollars."

These men use large, heavy, strongly-built saddles, and by setting the cinch up tight and taking a turn or two of the rope around the saddle horn they will snake a large animal, either dead or alive, any desired distance. I once got one of them to drag a large bear that we had killed out of a thicket into an open space, so that we could photograph him.

Few men take more chances or endure more hardships than cowboys. In addition to the dangers they have to contend with from riding vicious horses and from riding into stampeding herds of wild cattle, in both of which lines of duty many of them are crippled and some killed outright, it is frequently necessary for them to lay out on the open prairie for several days and nights together, perhaps in cold, rough weather, with no other food or bedding than they can carry on their saddle.

The slang of the fraternity is highly amusing to a stranger. It is decidedly crisp, racy, and expressive. Words are coined or adopted into their vernacular that will convey their meaning with the greatest possible force and precision. In addition to the few illustrations already given in this sketch there are many others that would be utterly unintelligible to an Eastern man unless translated. For instance, when they brand an animal they put the "jimption" to him; when they want a hot drink they say "put some jimption in it"; when they warm up a horse with the spurs or quirt they "fan" him; when they throw lead from a six-shooter or a Winchester after a flying coyote they "fan" him. And "goose hair"—ever sleep on goose hair? This is a favorite term for any kind of a "soft snap." When they want to ridicule a tenderfoot, and especially one who is fond of good living, they say "he wants a goose-hair bed to sleep on"; when a cowboy is in luck he is described as having "a goose-hair pillar," or as "sleepin' with the boss," or as "ridin' ten horses," etc. Altogether, cowboys are a whole-souled, large-hearted, generous class of fellows, whom it is a genuine pleasure to ride, eat, and associate with, and it is safe to say that nine-tenths of the hard things that have been said of them have come from men who never knew, intimately, a single one of them.

I contend that a year spent on the hurricane deck of a cow-pony is one of the most useful and valuable pieces of experience a young man can possibly have in fitting himself for business of almost any kind, and if I were educating a boy to fight the battles of life, I should secure him such a situation as soon as through with his studies at school. A term of service on a frontier cattle-ranch will take the conceit out of any boy. It will, at the same time, teach him self-reliance; it will teach him to endure hardships and suffering; it will give him nerve and pluck; it will develop the latent energy in him to a degree that could not be accomplished by any other apprenticeship or experience. I know of many of the most substantial and successful business men in the Western towns and cities of to-day who served their first years on the frontier as "cow punchers," and to that school they owe the firmness of character and the ability to surmount great obstacles that have made their success in life possible.

I claim that the constant communion with Nature, the study of her broad, pure domains, the days and nights of lonely cruising and camping on the prairie, the uninterrupted communion with and study of self which this occupation affords, tends to make young men honest and noble—much more so than the same men would be if deprived of these opportunities, confined to the limits of our boasted "civilization," and compelled to constantly breathe the air of adroitness, of strategy, of competition, of suspicion and crime. I claim that in many instances a man who is already dishonest and immoral may be, and I know that many have been made good and honest by freeing themselves from the evil influences of city life, and betaking themselves to a life on the plains; by living alone, or nearly so, and habitually communing with themselves, with Nature, and with Nature's God. If every young man raised in town or city could have the advantages of a year or two of constant study of Nature, untrammeled by any air of vice, and at the proper time in life, we should have more honest men, and fewer defaulters, thieves, and criminals of every class.