HOMES AND HABITS OF STOCKMEN. 387 



road towns. At best, this is a slow and hard way of earning a 

 living. Often as many as six teams and as many men, will 

 drive up to the ranch and ask for food and shelter for the night. 

 We always give them their supper and breakfast, and when 

 they leave in the morning, one of the men will say, " WeU> 

 boss, we will make this all right at the round-up." 



HOMES. 



Some of our stockmen have neat residences in Medicine 

 Lodge, where they live with their families, and have permanent 

 ranches in other portions of the county. These ranches are fitted 

 up with conveniences for handling stock and are also compara- 

 tively comfortable for their men. The owners of these ranches 

 ride out two or three times a week to the range and superintend 

 their ranch in person. 



BACHELOKS. 



We have also quite a number of single men engaged in 

 stock raising. They live in a hewed log cabin, with roof covered 

 with gypsum ; a shutter to the door, and a glass in the win- 

 dow. A home-made bedstead, a table, a cook stove, a shelf 

 against the wall for books and newspapers, and some have even 

 the luxury of a chair, and a looking-glass, as large as your two 

 hands. 



The largest number of our ranchmen are living with their 

 families on permanent ranches. Many of these ranchmen 

 have a young man living with them who own stock themselves. 

 These men take care of all the stock on the ranch. Such an_ 

 arrangement is mutually profitable. 



PROFITS. 



Ranching is profitable even where you are only able to» 

 keep all the heifers. In this way you save one-half the annual 

 income. But the majority are doing better than that. Ranch- 

 ing is a pleasant, free and easy life, and the saying of the cow- 

 boy is, " I will not do any thing I can not do on horseback." 



WANDERERS. 



There is still another class of stock-raisers. They have no 



