CHAPTER X 



RIDING THE RIM ROCK 



FROM P Ranch to Winnemucca is a seven- 

 teen-day drive through a desert of rim rock 

 and greasewood and sage, which, under the 

 most favorable of conditions, is beset with difficulty ; 

 but which, in the dry season, and with a herd of' 

 anything like four thousand, becomes an unbroken 

 hazard. More than anything else on such a drive is 

 feared the wild herd-spirit, the quick black temper of 

 the cattle, that by one sign or another ever threatens 

 to break the spell of the rider's power and sweep the 

 maddened or terrorized herd to destruction. The 

 handling of the herd to keep this spirit sleeping is 

 ofttimes a thrilling experience. 



Some time before my visit to P Ranch, in Harney 

 County, southeastern Oregon, in the summer of 

 1912, the riders had taken out a herd of four thou- 

 sand steers on what proved to be one of the most 

 difficult drives ever made to Winnemucca, the ship- 

 ping station in northern Nevada. 



For the first two days on the trail the cattle were) 

 strange to each other, having been gathered from* 

 widely distant grazing-grounds, from the Double 

 and the Home ranches, and were somewhat clan- 



