HANDLING CATTLE ON THE RANGE 123 



of them. So one or two were caught and tried and pun- 

 ished by jail sentences for killing live stock unlawfully. 

 After that we began to find cows in the bog with the 

 hides peeled from their backs down to the water or mud- 

 line, and still alive. I well recall our horror when we ran 

 across two cows lying in an out-of.-the-way bog hole, 

 each skinned down to the middle of the sides but still 

 alive, as was shown by their moving eyes and the grit- 

 ting of the teeth which suffering cattle frequently do. 

 We finally managed to catch two Indians red-handed 

 who when brought into court acknowledged their offense 

 but declared they had not killed the cows, but as they 

 were sure to die anyhow thought they might as well get 

 the hide as to see it wasted. We got them on the cruelty 

 to animals law. 



"Developing" Water. Again in the early days during 

 the dry seasons such streams as the Arkansas in Colo- 

 rado, the Little Colorado in Arizona and the Rio Grande 

 or Pecos in New Mexico were mere sandy wastes for 

 miles and miles, showing no water whatever on the sur- 

 face. The experienced cowman, however, reaching such a 

 stream first drove the saddle horses across the sand sev- 

 eral times to "settle it." This would pack the quicksand 

 and as the horses were strong and active and kept on 

 the move, none of them was caught in the sand. 



After the sand settled, the cattle were driven onto it 

 and with their milling about in search of a drink the 

 settling process was completed and the sand became as 

 hard as a city street. With this hardening process the 

 water immediately began to rise above the sand and with- 

 in half an hour there would be a good-sized stream flow- 

 ing where there had been no signs of water whatever. 

 Twelve hours after this the water had again disappeared 

 and the sand was almost as soft and treacherous as ever. 



