l have most of his near
cattle together on the home range. In order to get the cattle together
in the first general round up, we would have to ride for hundreds of
miles over the country in search of the long horn steers and old cows
that had drifted from the home range during the winter and were now
scattered to the four winds of heaven. As soon as they were found they
were started off under the care of cow boys for the place agreed upon
for the general round up, whether they belonged to us or not, while the
rest of us continued the search. All the cow boys from the many
different outfits working this way enabled us to soon get all the strays
rounded up in one great herd in which the cattle of a dozen different
owners were mixed up together. It then became our duty to cut out our
different herds and start them homewards. Then we had to brand the young
stock that had escaped that ordeal at the hands of the range riders. On
finding the strays and starting them homewards, we had to keep up the
search, because notwithstanding the fact that we had done range riding
or line riding all winter, a large number of cattle would manage to
evade the vigilance of the cow boys and get away. These must all be
accounted for at the great round up, as they stood for dollars and
cents, profit and loss to the great cattle kings of the west. In going
after these strayed and perhaps stolen cattle we boys always provided
ourselves with everything we needed, including plenty of grub, as
sometimes we would be gone for nearly two months and sometimes much
longer. It was not an uncommon occurrence for us to have shooting
trouble over our different brands. In such disputes the boys would kill
each other if others did not interfere in time to prevent it, because in
those days on the great cattle ranges there was no law but the law of
might, and all disputes were settled with a forty-five Colt pistol. In
such cases the man who was quickest on the draw and whose eye was the
best, pretty generally got the decision. Therefore it was of the
greatest importance that the cow boy should understand his gun, its
capabilities and its shooting qualities. A cow boy would never carry
anything but the very best gun obtainable, as his life depended on it
often. After securing a good gun the cow boy had to learn how to use it,
if he did not already know how. In doing so no trouble or expense was
spared, and I know there were very few poor shots on the ranges over
wh