A RIDE ACROSS THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT,

Otago Witness, Issue 2425, 5 September 1900, Page 70

A RIDE ACROSS THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT,

(RoGBn Pocook, in Lloyd's Newspaper.)

"Hit the trail," saya the song of the cowbe ys, ''home Avith the spurs, and roll your tail, and ride ! For since we'll all be angels, black or white, in time, let's make the best of a hard proposition and erjoy the earth Avhile it lasts." On June 25, 1899, I rode out through the gales of Fort Macleod. Nobody had ever lidden the length of the Great American Desert from north to south, from Canada to Mexico. To do that was to break a record in horsemanship ; to fail — there are lots of bones lying about on that desert. For fear of getting lose I look the Rocky Mountains for a guide. There they were in snow and sunlight again&t the Avestward s.;y, and southwards tho plains reaching aAray for ever and evei, Amen. I wanted to King hymns, but my voice is like that oi a Avolf, and it is tho intention God hearsj not the pound. Besides I rode ottt with a Mounted Police patrol, and Avhen you ride with the Queen's patrols you'A-c got to behaA'e youjrso-f. The boys had been feeding nic at the' troop metis, had given me saddle wallets and silk handkerchiefs, and advice about 0 horses's iset. Now. fc* three days the patrols passed me on from outpo?t to outpost down to the United Statcsbotiiiclary. The lr.st patrol rode with me ocross the line past the heap of &tones, Avhich are all scratched and painted Avith the names of travellers. We psmed at the ridge Avhieh divides the Arctic Avaters from tho rivers of tha Mexican gulf. From the fool of the hill I looked back, and there, against the sky, the trooper sac his horse motionless," while the sun lighted in glory on his harness, and gloAved in the warm colours of his cOAA'boy dress. Good-bye !

Forty miles away in Montana I found next day a camp of the Blackfoot nation, where 1400 Red Indians were celebrating the great American festival — the 4-th oi July. Nearing the camp, my horse, Tom, swung into step Avith a holiday crowd of cowboys, each man riding his pet pony. The pets tallosd — horse fashion — among themselves, but the men Avere thinking along at an easy trot, and only the most loquacious would interrupt us all with a remark or so to the acre. He flung out no more than three or four terse Avords at a time, but nobody marked him, because gabbling is bad form, and the best men only speak Avhen they haA'c something to say. ... A last the sun went doAvn behind the Rocky Mountains, and in the cool oi evening Aye rode to the agency buildings. Ihere was a half-breed dance, a display of fireworks, and for me a corner in the hayloft, where I got some sleep towards morning. After that for many days I rode under the shadow of the Rockies, Avhere both land and air were defiled by sheep, a kind of vermin which no horseman likes. Neither would I speak Avith the herders, a prejudice which piit me to shame Avhen afterwards I heard of the great autumn storms. "The hireling fleeth because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep" ; but the hirelings of the Montana Range are. not like that, for when the siioav storms came they stayed Avith their flocks, guarding them, saving them, and their bodies were found beside the sheep pens. Sometimes on the lonely plains I would meet the wild range horses ; a stallion guarding his harem of smugmares would come sailing down, mane and tail in the air, ears back, tseth bare.d, Avanting to fight me, neighing his lordly challenge. My horse Avould be quaking Avith fright before the great beast wheeled at 10 paces from me, cast the dust of his heels in my face, and drove his harem, of mares aAvay from temptation. I found settlements all the Avay across Montana, a house, a village, a town, or a city to camp at every night, and one wrfole day I rode through a valley of farms. Once this country Avas wild, for at this cabin a man burned his wife ; at that house three people were killed in a shooting scrap ; at yonder grog shop a horse thief Avas lynched by vigilantes ; and often along the road there Avere abandoned town sites, little bantling towns which had died in infancy. One such place Avas Three Forks placed at the meeting of the Maddison, G-unnison, and Jefferson rivers, at the main source of the Missouri, which is the longest river in the Avorld. Three Forks Avas quite a large town, with shops and churches, hotels, and stables enough for tAvo thousand people ; but there Avere f hree families left, the others driven ay/ay, I think, by the mosquitoes. For the rest, the villages and towns- and cities are Aery much alive playing at civilisation just enough to feel coarse and rough. There are mines, mills, farms, railways, and the people are enormously pleased Avith themselves. Yet one surveys Western Montana a& somethingakin to a half-boiled ham, promising but not matured. I Avas glad to press on to the gates j of the Yellowstone Park. |