CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 29 



owned this herd had three larger ones. I saw a little 

 calf just taking his first steps on the prairie, and stopped 

 to observe him. The cow ran away at my approach, 

 but immediately came back and stood resolutely and 

 defiantly by her young ; indeed, so wicked did she look, 

 that the driver whipped up his horses and got away as 

 soon as possible. These Texas cows are dangerous if 

 approached too closely, and, from the fire in the beast's 

 eyes, I am sure she was going to charge. 



It is a study to observe the habits of the prairie 

 cattle. They run in families like buffalo, the cows 

 keeping their calves with them sometimes until they 

 are three or four years old. It frequently happens that 

 the mother has under her protection sons and daughters 

 larger than herself. The cow watches over her off- 

 spring, and when they disobey punishes them with her 

 horns, to which they tamely submit, like well-trained 

 children. In the middle of the day the cattle leave 

 the high grounds and go to the river bottoms for water, 

 and about nightfall return to the high grounds. In 

 travelling back and forth to the water they march in 

 single file, using the same paths as the buffalo, and, like 

 them, wear deep ruts in the earth. The cattle fre- 

 quently go four and five miles to water, but, having 

 slaked their thirst, nearly always return to the same 

 ground from which they started out. The following 

 are the names of some of the principal cattle-owners in 

 Wyoming Territory and Western Nebraska. In Lincoln 

 County, Western Nebraska, near North Platte, a station 

 on the Union Pacific Railroad, the following owners 

 keep the number of cattle set opposite their names : 



23* 



