The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929 Page: 48
361 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
PART III
A YEAR'S WORK
In the early spring when the first sprigs of grass begin to shoot
up, the first round-up for the year is staged. This round-up is
held in the reading room of the bunk house around the big stove.
Some cowboy will say, "I saw some green grass today," and another
will speak up and say, "Yes, and I noticed the heel flies after the
cattle today." Then the round-up is on. The cowboys begin to
swap yarns of thrilling experiences they have had on previous
round-ups. Sometimes these round-ups are very realistic; how-
ever, no one is ever hurt." Some time between the first and tenth
of May, Mr. J. W. Kent, the Superintendent of the ranch, and
Mr. W. C. Beverly, wagon boss, get together and decide when the
wagon will start out on the spring round-up. The grass is the
principal thing which determines this date because it is impos-
sible to start the spring work until the grass will furnish good
grazing for the horses; however, they usually start out the eleventh
day of May. When this date has been definitely decided upon,
Clinton Henry, the bookkeeper, calls up the camps and the farms
and tells them when the wagon will start out, and at the same
time he invites everyone connected with the ranch to the big din-
ner and baile (dance), which is an annual affair held the day and
night before the wagon is to start out the next day.
The cowboys all come into headquarters on a specified day,
usually three or four days before the round-up is to begin. On
this day they gather up the remuda (horses) out of the canyons
where they have been since the fall round-up. The cook comes
to headquarters also about the same time that the cowboys do.
He gets the old chuck wagon out of the shed where it has been
since the fall work was over. The old wagon is thoroughly cleaned
and so are the pots, pans, cups, knives, forks and spoons, and any
new equipment needed is added and a supply of provisions suffi-
cient to last for the first few days is placed in the wagon. The
cook has everything in readiness two days ahead of time. After
the remuda is gathered each cowboy returns to his winter camp
and gets his things ready for the round-up. They return to head-
5Data for part three of this chapter were furnished by Clinton Henry,
Huck Kent, Tunnie Ket, Jimmie Moore and Jim Wilson.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929, periodical, 1929; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101089/m1/52/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.