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diff --git a/37110.txt b/37110.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..33c02e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/37110.txt @@ -0,0 +1,932 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Frontier Folk, by George Booth + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Frontier Folk + +Author: George Booth + +Release Date: August 17, 2011 [EBook #37110] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRONTIER FOLK *** + + + + +Produced by Anna Hall and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + FRONTIER FOLK. + + BY + GEORGE BOOTH. + + REPRINTED FROM THE + INTERNATIONAL REVIEW FOR JULY, 1880. + + NEW YORK: + A. S. BARNES AND COMPANY. + + + + + _Copyright, 1880_, + BY A. S. BARNES AND COMPANY. + + + + +FRONTIER FOLK. + + +What do we mean by the frontier? And what, by frontier folk? The terms +came into vogue when tolerably well-defined lines marked the onset of +civilization at the far West, and all beyond was wilderness. Yet to-day, +with settlements scattered over all the Territories, the phrase loses +none of its significance. It still has a geographical import, and +another, deeper than the geographical, suggesting a peculiar +civilization and a certain characteristic mode of life. It does not +bring to mind those prosperous colonies whose lands, surveyed, secured +by good legal titles, and freed from danger of savage inroads, have a +permanent population busily engaged in founding homes. It takes us +rather to the boundaries of the Indian reservations, along which +scattered camps and settlements of white men are fringed; to lands +which, though legally open for settlement, are constantly menaced by +Indians; to those strange, shifting communities which sometimes, like +Jonah's gourd, spring up in a night only to wither away in a day. + +It is the purpose of this paper to present a sketch of the life and +people of this frontier region as the writer has become familiar with +them, depicting the types and manners of mankind, and leaving for more +profound narrators the matters of statistical detail. + +Social estimation and intercourse on the frontier are based upon a very +short acquaintance. A large and catholic charity presumes every man to +be that which he desires to appear. To pry into the secret history of +his former life, to pass hostile criticisms on it even when known to be +discreditable, is not considered a public-spirited act; for those +turbulent energies or uncontrolled passions which drove him out of +eastern communities may prove of great service to that new country to +which he has come. The first element of success in a frontier settlement +is that a sufficient number of nomads should be willing to sustain each +other in the belief that "this spot is to be a city and a centre." The +news that a considerable group is already gathered on any such +foreordained and favored spot brings others; nor do the arrivals cease +until a day comes when it is bruited abroad that some of the "first +citizens" have revised their views of its glorious destiny, and have +left it for a new Eden. The sojourner in such regions--he cannot be +called an inhabitant--lives in expectation of the coming settler who +will pay him cash for his "claim"; or else perhaps he devotes himself to +discovering a lode or a placer, which, if disposed of, may put him in +funds for a year's spree; or again he may be a trapper, perpetually +shifting his place as the peltry grows scarce. These indicate the +respectable callings or expectancies of the solid men in frontier life; +but they are surrounded by a larger throng of men, who hang about +settlements with the possible hope of an honest El Dorado, but who in +the meantime, and until this shall come, take to the surreptitious +borrowing of horses without leave, or to the industries of the +faro-table, or to the "road agency," by which phrase is signified the +unlawful collection of a highway toll amounting usually to whatever of +value the traveller may have about him. There are no superfluous +refinements and gradations in frontier society. The citizen is either +"an elegant gentleman" or a liar and a horse-thief. Yet even people of +the latter description are rarely molested unless taken in the actual +practice of their profession, which they ply, to say the truth, with +such discrimination as to make interference with them difficult; but if +caught in the very act and overpowered, their fate is sudden--they are +"got rid of." + +In fact, homicide on the frontier, as compared with horse-stealing, is a +peccadillo. The horse has a positive value; the thief, a negative one. +Justice does not pursue the man who slays his fellow in a quarrel; but +if it grasps the stealer of a purse on the prairie or of a horse from +the herd, his last day has come. Yet he always has the chance of +escaping capture, and of playing in other frontier cities the _role_ of +"elegant gentleman" on his earnings, reimbursing himself in a +professional way; and he may continue in this career even if suspected, +provided he does not ply his vocation in those communities which he +honors with his presence when not engaged in prosecuting his business. +Personal violence is, however, mostly confined to instances where it is +for the profit of the aggressor. The traditional free-fight, or killing +a man at sight, is rare, probably much rarer than in the Southwest. +Benton, the head of navigation on the Missouri, was the place where, +according to the story, the early morning visitor at the bar-room, +before it had been swept out, expressed his surprise, although he knew +the soil to be good for vegetables, at the excellence of its fruit, +judging from the large size of the grapes he saw on the floor, when he +was informed, "Stranger, them's eyes!"--the results of the preceding +evening's amusement. Yet in two visits to Benton the writer saw not the +least sign of violence even in amusement, although he would be sorry to +have some Bentonians around his camp at night if the horses were not +well guarded, or to meet them on the prairie without sufficient +protection. + +If a settlement becomes permanent and prosperous, whether through +commerce, mining, or agriculture, the first settlers sell out as soon as +they can get cash in hand, and seek new domains. There are men who have +passed their manhood in taking out claims, building ranches, and +"realizing" for better or for worse, on a journey from Texas to Montana, +sometimes taking in California by the way. Very often the wife, +children, and stock of the pilgrim accompany him. Often a cabin is put +up and inhabited by a family, with a retinue of cattle, horses, pigs, +and poultry in the barn, only to be deserted the next year on the mere +report of some better claim to be found further on. There never seems to +be any real misery among these shiftless people. Their children grow up +sturdy and ignorant, their stock and chickens multiply as they journey +on. It may be a new stage-route which gives them a year's sustenance, +such as it is, by their squatting on good enough grass-land to be able +to fill a hay contract. Or they may go to a point near which some new +military post is about to be built, where they can raise some vegetables +to sell to the troops before the company gardens become productive. Or +they may take out a claim on some really good spot, where permanent +settlers speedily follow them. But as soon as they can see flour, bacon, +and tobacco, and find a little in the pocket for whiskey and clothes, +sufficient to last for a year ahead, off they go again,--not so much +like gypsies, who will often revisit the same spot, as like the +Wandering Jew, pursued by an avenging angel, driving them from contact +with steady and methodical people. Their household stuff is packed in +their "prairie schooners," as their wagons are called, and on they move +by easy stages, seldom taking the trouble to pitch a tent at night, the +women sleeping in the wagons and the men on the ground beneath them. +There is plenty of grass for the stock, and the weather is pleasant. +There is no especial hurry or worry: it is only necessary to reach +somewhere, in time to put up a log hut and a shed for the stock, for the +winter's shelter. The little army of the United States, spread over a +country as large as the Roman Empire, does its duty so well that there +is only occasional danger from Indians roaming away from their +reservations, and the military telegraphs are now so far extended that +timely warning is usually given if war parties are out. So on they go, +day after day, while at night comes an encampment which perhaps may be +best described in these humorous words of Captain Derby, in +"Phoenixiana," during a criticism upon a supposititious performance of +an opera called "The Plains":-- + + The train now encamps. The unpacking of the kettles and mess-pans, + the unyoking of the oxen, the gathering about of various + camp-fires, the frizzling of the pork, are so clearly expressed by + the music that the most untutored savage could readily comprehend + it. Indeed, so vivid and lifelike was the representation that a + lady sitting near us involuntarily exclaimed aloud at a certain + passage, "Thar, that pork's burning!" and it was truly interesting + to watch the gratified expression of her face when, by a few notes + of the guitar, the pan was removed from the fire, and the blazing + pork extinguished. This is followed by the beautiful _aria_, "O + marm, I want a pancake," followed by that touching recitative, + "Shet up, or I will spank you!" To which succeeds a grand + _crescendo_ movement, representing the flight of the child with the + pancake, the pursuit of the mother, and the final arrest and + summary punishment of the former, represented by the rapid and + successive strokes of the castanet. The turning-in for the night + follows; and the deep and stertorous breathing of the encampment is + well given by the bassoon, while the sufferings and trials of an + unhappy father with an unpleasant infant are touchingly set forth + by the _cornet a piston_. + +Nomadic habits, slight contact with anything human that is permanent, +and freedom from the restraint which would be caused by the propinquity +of neighbors, have fortified these people in self-conceit. Although they +will in a few months desert all their acres for something more distant, +yet the traveller who stops at their cabin and pays for bad food is +required to "allow" that he has never seen a finer "claim" or tasted +better victuals. In truth, never was good food so spoiled. The best +venison of the country is sliced thin, put on cold grease in a +frying-pan (they never think of first boiling the grease), and fried +until it is as tough as a chip and as full of grease as an Englishman's +crumpet. Once in Colorado a request to have an egg boiled was +encountered by the statement that "the lady knew how to cook eggs--she +fried 'em." And fried they were, being put in cold lard in proportions +of three of lard to one of egg. Another "lady", at the hint that a +gridiron might be used instead of the frying-pan for the venison, seeing +an army officer present, remarked, "If you can't eat what we eat, you +can go without. Don't see the use of troops anyhow. We pay for you. +Understand Sitting Bull is going to Canada to fight Fenians. He will +find somebody to fight there--never did here!" As the woman was paid +five times the worth of her victuals, and as she, her "par" and her +"mar" could not have remained twelve hours in their cabin had the +military post near by been withdrawn, her sarcasms were a little +ill-considered. These much-isolated people look upon themselves as +Nature's aristocracy. Perhaps if Robinson Crusoe were a king, they might +be feudal barons. Their social standing is sustained only by lack of +neighbors. But on their own dunghill they have none to overcrow them. + +The occasional traveller who may have been told that there were ranches +on his trail, and that he need not take tents or camp equipage for +cooking, will, if he be new to these people, or have regard for his +digestion, find to his disgust that during his stay he is a vassal at +the castle of Giant Despair. He is alluded to by his host as a +"tender-foot,"--a word which is supposed to sum up everything that is +contemptible. He may have scaled Alps or marched with armies, but a +"tender-foot" he will be in the estimation of his host, until he may be +forced by circumstances to live a hundred miles further out than any one +else, or unless he learns to carry food to his mouth with his knife. On +the other hand, the only term of opprobrium which can be felt by these +people is that of "Missourian." Why this should be so construed it is +difficult to say; but the name seems to imply all that is worthless and +disagreeable. Settlers from Virginia and from Georgia are sure on first +acquaintance to inform you of their place of nativity with a pride which +assumes that to have been born there furnishes them with blue blood; but +the Missourian only mentions the last place he tarried at on his journey +to "the setting sun" as the spot he hails from. Some of these good +people, particularly those who left Missouri during the war, seem to +forget that fifteen years have passed since that conflict ended. Their +isolation has given them plenty of time and opportunity to brood over +the wrongs of the South, with none to assuage their wrath; and they are +still as bitter against "abolitionists" and "Lincoln's hirelings" as in +the days when such things were. + +The miners and prospectors are a much more agreeable class. Their +summer is passed amid wild scenery and in a country abounding in game, +in pursuit of a fortune which may possibly be attained by one among a +hundred. These men find a fascination in their way of life, and, though +in the main unsuccessful, continue it as long as health and age permit. +They pass their winter in some town where they earn enough to purchase +an outfit, namely, gunpowder, coffee, flour, sugar, and bacon sufficient +for the summer's campaign, and a jack, as the donkey is called, to carry +the pack. Selecting a spot for their centre of operations, a small +shanty is soon built, and the summer passes with much climbing, and much +breaking of rock that suggests wealth, while they keep a keen eye for +game and preserve a romantic belief in the speedy finding of a fortune. +Such men cordially welcome the tourist, and gladly share whatever they +have with him, excepting blankets, which every man is expected to carry +for himself. They beguile his evening by relating quaint experiences, +and hint solemnly of a spot where wealth beyond description can be +found. They usually work in couples, each calling the other "pard"; and +very faithful each pard is to his fellow, becoming only more attached in +case of sickness or disaster. They are, as a rule, an honest and manly +race, leading a life which brings out many good qualities, especially +hospitality, and, in injury or illness, even of a stranger, care, +kindness, and tenderness. There is no monotony in their career. Each day +brings its incidents, greater or less, and is cheered by the belief that +the _bonanza_ is near at hand. Geographical distances are nothing to +them. Fear they have none. It is a common sight to see a couple of +"pards" on foot, driving the two jacks which carry all their worldly +possessions, trudging through an Indian country, and informing you, +perhaps, in answer to your inquiry, that they have come from the San +Juan country in Southern Colorado, and are bound for the Bear Paw +Mountains in Northern Montana, as they have heard that gold can be +panned there. Many of them have paced the line of the Rocky Mountains as +far as they lie within the limits of the United States. + +In gold-washings, towns spring up as rapidly as Leadville has done, but +the washings being simply on the surface and soon exhausted, the +population migrates to other points. The once populous town of Georgia, +in the Middle Park in Colorado, which was built by gold-washers, is +still standing, with its Town Hall, two theatres, and streets of +log-houses, and is now without a solitary inhabitant. Of course its Town +Hall and theatres were of very simple wooden construction, but they were +once really used for the purposes their names imply. + +In a new town which is brevetted a "city" as soon as there is more than +one house, the rumseller follows hard on the footsteps of the settler; +then comes the lawyer, who immediately runs as candidate for county +offices, foments grievances, and shows each man how he can get the +better of his neighbor. If there be a military post near by, the +officers are good game for him, they being pecuniarily responsible, and +obliged to obey the laws, which seem to be so construed as to enable a +sheriff to arrest a whole column of troops even if setting out on a +campaign. The lawyer's process of getting money out of the military +officers is easy and very simple. A practitioner secures a witness who +will depose to anything, perjury being looked on more as a joke than as +a crime, and so never punished. The action or suit may be for pretty +much anything; it was, in one case, for the alleged illegal detention of +an animal which the learned judge described as a "Rhone ox," further +stating that such detention was a "poenel" offence. But the unfortunate +officer who obeys the summons, however ridiculous may be the cause of +action, must employ one of the horde of lawyers to defend him, so that, +whichever way the suit may be decided, he at least is compelled to +contribute something to the support of the frontier _bar_. In the +Territories justice is enforced when the United States judge of the +district comes on his circuit, but there is no redress or compensation +for the worry and expense of litigation. If damages could be given +against the concocter of the conspiracy, it would be difficult to find +any property to satisfy the claim, and a hint of punishment would only +cause him to remove to some other place. The army officer on the +frontier has a soldier's dread of legal complications, and may be made +thoroughly unhappy by suits which in the East would only be laughed at. +A general idea of law is taught at West Point, but not more than one +third of the commissions are held by graduates of the Military Academy, +and these graduates find their general knowledge of law speedily growing +rusty, while it never included the minute details of the kind of suits +to which they are subjected by frontier pettifoggers. With fewer +opportunities than the business man at the East of knowing the nature of +court practice, they fall victims to any attorney who brazenly begins a +prosecution founded on his own familiarity with legal tricks and the +assumed wrongs of his client. Nothing, for example, is more common than +for ranches to be damaged and hay or grain burned through the +carelessness of emigrants, hunters, or other people who have camped near +by, and on breaking camp have left the camp-fire to take care of itself: +a wind springing up fans the embers into sparks, and these set fire to +the dry grass. Now, although troops on the march are by strict orders +compelled, on breaking camp, to extinguish their fires with water or by +covering them with earth, the ranchman who can show a burned fence or +scorched barn (knowing that during the term of his natural life he might +sue anybody else but an army officer any number of times without ever +actually recovering damages) immediately finds out what military command +has been within some miles of his ranch during some days or weeks before +the fire, and straightway goes to a lawyer and swears that the fire was +set by the troops. He brings eager witnesses to show that the fire +travelled just the requisite number of miles in the requisite number of +days, and that the barn or house, if burnt up, was magnificent in all +its appointments and of palatial proportions. Suit is begun before the +nearest judge for real, imaginary, or consequential damages against the +officer in command of the accused troops. This officer may know the +charge to be trumped up, but he is liable to be arrested and to have his +property attached; and thus he is subjected to such worry as will +usually induce him to submit to the most unjust drafts on his slender +purse. If the writer has dwelt at length on this feature of frontier +life, it is because the abuse is keenly felt by army officers, and yet +is hardly suspected at the East. + +It is a common mistake to suppose that an army officer on the frontier +leads an idle life. Rarely is more than one of the three officers of a +company present with it, and this one must accordingly attend every day +to all the company duties. The other two officers may be detailed on +special service, such as commissary or quartermaster's duties (and +the latter in a new post will be no sinecure) or attendance on +court-martial, or searching where lime can be found; or they may be on +the sick list, or guarding the wagon-train which brings supplies to the +post, or absent on the leaves which are granted after continuous +service. It is not infrequent for cavalry to be six or eight months on a +campaign without seeing a permanent camp, much less a post where any of +the comforts of civilization can be found. With small bodies of troops, +where there are but few officers to form society for one another, the +life becomes fearfully monotonous and dreary. + +Old posts are deserted and new ones built so frequently that there is +little danger of officers or men stagnating through idleness, even were +Indian hostilities less abundant. An appropriation by Congress for a new +post does not represent more than a third of the real expenditure. The +other two thirds are supplied "in kind," that is to say, by soldiers' +labor. The money appropriation is only expended for such things as the +soldiers cannot produce themselves. They cut the timber, run saw-mills, +dig drains, make bricks and mortar, carry hods, and plaster the inside +of houses. The cavalry-man is fortunate if he can leave off digging +long enough to groom his own horse. Frequently one man is detailed to +groom, feed, and take to water the horses of several of his comrades. +The American soldier on the frontier is certainly a wonderful being. He +is at most times a day-laborer, slouchy in his bearing and slovenly in +his dress. His one good suit must be saved for guard-mounting, when his +turn comes, or for inspection; and the nature of his unmilitary +vocations uses up his uniforms faster than his clothing allowance can +furnish them. He has little or no real drill, and has been known to go +into action without previously having pulled the trigger of his rifle. +He has not the mien or bearing of a soldier,--in military parlance, is +not well set up. He performs the same manual labor for which the +civilian who works beside him earns three times his wages. The writer +has seen cavalry recruits, whose company was ordered to march, recalled +from the woods, where they were employed at a saw-mill which supplied +planks for some new buildings at the post, and where they had passed all +their time since their arrival. On joining their command they were put +on their horses for the first time, and started off, armed with carbines +they had never fired, on a march of over eight hundred miles. If the +recruit gives his horse a sore back, he will have to foot it; if he +encounters Indians, he must fight as best he can. + +Yet in spite of this treatment,--which is virtually a breach of +contract by the Government, since the recruit is led to suppose on his +enlistment that he is to be a soldier and not a hod-carrier,--in spite +of his rarely being taught his profession, or shown how to become +skilled in arms or horsemanship, the American soldier is subordinate, +quick to obey, ready in expedients, uncomplaining, capable of sustaining +great fatigue, brave and trustworthy in action. The previous lack of +drill causes much difficulty for company officers when in battle, as the +recruit must then be taught on the spur of the moment what ought to have +been drilled into him in camp, where in fact his time has been spent in +wielding a trowel. But history, even up to to-day, shows that the knight +of the hod faces any odds of position or numbers at the command of his +officer. If he dies firing a carbine in the use of which he is +uninstructed (and even if he were skilled in it, it would still be a +weapon inferior to that of his savage foe), he will be lucky if he has a +pile of stones heaped up to mark his grave. If he lives through the +fight, he will have become somewhat more accustomed to the use of his +carbine, and in the next engagement will do better work with it. The +country feeds him very well, clothes him tolerably well,--if he can do +his duty so as to satisfy his officer, and if he does not catch +inflammatory rheumatism from sleeping on the ground, he must be +content. + +Generally by the time a cavalry officer has reached middle age, his +exposed life begins to tell upon him. The cavalry, being mounted, are +called upon to do most of the frontier scouting. Some of the infantry +are also mounted, especially the Fifth Infantry. Infantry in such cases +may simply be classed as cavalry, though armed with a better +weapon,--the long Springfield rifle. Marches in the middle of winter +occur only too often. In many instances the troops must march with +cooked rations and abstain from lighting fires, lest the smoke may give +warning to the Indians whom they are pursuing,--and this with the +thermometer many degrees below zero. As the Indian is as loath as a bear +to leave his winter quarters, and little expects the approach of his +foe, such expeditions are often successful, if a "blizzard" does not +happen to blow. This blizzard, as it is termed in Montana and Wyoming, +or the norther, as it is known in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas, is a +strong, piercing wind from the North, which blows for some three days, +and smites everything that is not under cover. If the troops are spared +this blizzard, they may strike their wily foe, who has evaded them all +summer, and punish him, with no other casualties than those incurred +from frozen feet and fingers, and in the fortune of battle. The +quartermaster's department furnishes excellent buffalo overcoats and fur +caps, and men _can_ march and _can_ live on cold food in the middle of +a bitter winter: but when the blizzard comes, the troops must seek the +nearest shelter, and use every means to keep themselves alive. In many +instances their wagons are broken up for fuel, as there are vast areas +on the plains where no timber grows. In the sudden changes of station +which the Government is forced to make with troops, by reason of the +smallness of our army, much suffering is incurred,--as in case of +regiments sent, without halt for acclimation, from Georgia or Louisiana +to the British line. But after the troops have become acclimatized, and +have learned to be always prepared for the coldest weather, they like +the northwestern climate, which is certainly very invigorating. + +On occasion of any military expedition, scouts are hired to discover the +position and circumstances of the "hostiles," as Indians are called, for +attacking whom orders have been issued. Their rewards are usually +regulated by the importance of the information they bring and the risks +they have run. Many of these men will do excellent service, and +sometimes in a modest way. Many more, on the other hand, will lie +_perdu_ until their rations are consumed, and then come back with some +startling but highly untrue information. They have proved themselves to +be not too good to burn the grass, to efface the trail of the enormous +body of Indians they pretended to have seen. These men usually don a +costume like that of the hero of a dime novel. They wear long hair, +occasionally neatly bound up into a queue with a snake-skin. Sometimes +they cut out the roof of their sombrero, to permit their flowing +topknots to wave forth like feathers. They use much of the Indian's +ornament, often adorning themselves by sewing elk-teeth on their +garments; they also imitate some of the least excusable customs of the +savage. All of them endeavor to adopt some prefix to their name. A Mr. +Johnson, who was drowned in the Yellowstone, acquired the _soubriquet_ +of Liver-eating Johnson, by eating and pretending to prefer his portion +of liver in an uncooked condition; and he was as well satisfied with +this name and the notoriety it implied as are Indians with their +zooelogical titles. + +"Squaw-man" is the name given to a white man who has married one or more +Indian wives, and been regularly adopted by their tribe with whom he +lives. With the exception of being of occasional use as an interpreter, +he is an utterly worthless person. He has completely left his own race +and taken to the ways of the savage, and is equally despised by the +whites and by his adopted brethren. Many of the woodcutters who supply +fuel to steamboats on the upper Missouri marry, or rather buy, Indian +wives; but they do not form part of the tribal family, as does the +"squaw-man." Often it is policy for them to take wives from tribes +which are dangerous to their safety. A wife insures protection from the +depredations of her tribe; and when her lord and master is tired of her, +or wishes to form other business relations, he simply tells her and her +progeny to go home. These men have the reputation of being most active +agents in supplying ammunition to the Indians. + +At the border of the British possessions, sometimes on our side and +sometimes to the north, are several thousands of half-breeds who seem +descended from French and Scotch fathers. They speak Cree and some of +the other Indian tongues, but customarily use a French _patois_ which is +easily understood. Their government seems to be founded on the old +patriarchal system. They are strict Catholics, and are duly married by a +priest, who makes occasional visits to them, and insists upon legally +uniting in wedlock such couples as he thinks have proved this ceremony +to be necessary. They lead a nomadic life, trading between the whites +and the Indians, supplying the latter with ammunition, subsisting mostly +on game and buffalo. The latter they make up into pemmican,--a large +bundle of finely chopped fat and lean, seasoned with wild herbs, and +tightly wrapped up in buffalo-hide. This they sell, or keep for winter +use. They travel in curious one-horse carts, in the manufacture of which +little or no iron is used, the pinning being done with wood, and the +wheels bound together with thongs of green buffalo-hide, which shrink as +they dry. As these carts will float in water, an unfordable stream can +be crossed by swimming the horses attached to the shafts. These people +always camp with their carts in a circle, the shafts towards the centre, +and the carts prove an effective barricade against any enemy without +cannon. Their stock is corralled every night inside the circle. These +half-breeds must be classed more as Indians than as whites, as their +actions, habits, and beliefs are inherited more from their mothers than +from their fathers. + +A great and always remunerative pursuit on the frontier is that of +cattle-raising. A well-selected range, near streams which do not dry up +in summer, and with timber, or such undulations of the ground as would +afford shelter for the beasts from the worst winter's winds, together +with a small capital and reasonable care and exertion, will in a few +years produce a fortune,--and not only a fortune, but robust health for +the herder. The season when he is away from his cabin, herding up his +cattle, is mild enough to allow sleeping on the ground. He is not +compelled, like the soldier, at times to endure the blizzard or to sleep +in the snow. Many young men engaged in cattle-raising are of excellent +education and social position, and very much attached to the life they +lead; and well they may be, as it gives them all the pleasure the +frontier can afford with no more hardship than is good for them. +Choosing congenial companions, they build a comfortable ranch, stock it +well with books, and employ men to assist in the rougher duties, either +by hiring them with fixed wages or giving them an interest in the herd. +The day is passed in the saddle, the evening before a crackling +wood-fire. The only time when great exertion is necessary is during the +"roundings up"; then their whole property in cattle must be brought +together, the young calves branded, and the brands of their parents +retouched if effaced. There is no animal near by powerful enough to +destroy cattle, and there is nothing to prevent their yearly increase. +The Indians may kill one now and then for food, but cannot drive them +off, as their movement is too slow. Cattle-stealing is not so easy as +horse-stealing. + +All these frontier folk eat, drink, and live, and after their manner +enjoy life. We can perceive that they have occasional hardships, but +they have pleasures which may not be so easily understood by people who +live in comfortable houses, and drive in well-hung and well-cushioned +carriages, or walk paved streets. A life in the open air, freedom from +restraint, and a vigorous appetite, generally finding a hearty meal to +satisfy it, make difficult a return to the humdrum of steady work and +comparative respectability. They have their place in the drama of our +national life, for better or for worse, and their pursuits and character +must be recognized and studied by any one who would comprehend our great +Western country. + + + Transcriber's Note: + + _Underscores_ have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Frontier Folk, by George Booth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRONTIER FOLK *** + +***** This file should be named 37110.txt or 37110.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/1/1/37110/ + +Produced by Anna Hall and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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