Jeff Savage - American Cowboys. True Tales of the Wild West

TAMING THE WILD WEST!

James McCauley stood watch over his herd of cattle in the midnight darkness. Storm clouds plastered the sky. Suddenly, a clap of thunder stirred the cattle. Frightened by the loud sound, the cattle were off and running. Stampede! McCauley's horse got jittery and took him in every direction. McCauley was lost! The life of a cowboy in the Wild West was tough. From branding cattle to cattle drives, a cowboy worked very hard. Author Jeff Savage takes a firsthand look at the lives of American cowboys, from rounding up cattle to the end of a long drive.

About the Author

Jeff Savage has written more than two hundred books for students. Jeff lives with his wife, Nancy, and sons, Taylor and Bailey, in El Dorado Hills, a stone's throw from where gold was discovered in California.

It was so dark that James McCauley couldnt even see the horse he was sitting on. It was cold, too. James had always wanted to be a cowboy, but he didnt like standing guard over a bunch of cattle in the middle of the night.

James and his cowboy friends were driving a herd of cattle up the trail to Montana by day. Now they were asleep. Everyone, that is, except James and his buddy, Scandlous John. It was their turn to be night guards.

James could not see the hundreds of cattle all around him, but he could hear a few of them eating the grass. Most of them were sleeping. Scandlous John was at the other end of the large herd, some distance away. James was tired of sitting on his horse. He was a little scared of the dark, too. This was his third night standing guard, and it wasnt any easier than the first two. James kept thinking about his empty bedroll back at camp. He couldnt wait for the next guard to take over in an hour so he could get some sleep.

At about nine oclock, a black cloud came down from the northwest. Raindrops began to fall. Good thing James was wearing his slicker. The rain came down harder and harder, and soon it was pouring. What a terrific storm! Lightning flashed and thunder clapped. All at once, James recalled, the steers got on their feet and in less time than it takes to tell it they was gone.

Jamess horse had been trained to stay with the cattle, and so it raced off after the herd with James still in the saddle. The young cowboy was caught in the middle of a stampede. He couldnt see. He didnt know what to do. At every crack of lightning and boom of thunder, the herd jumped in fright, changing direction. James held tight to his horse. Some of the cattle ran down a ravine. Others went up and over a hill. James went wherever his horse took him. This craziness continued for two hours.

When the rain had finally stopped, the storm passed, and the moon came out to light the ground, James could see that most of the cattle were gone. They had run off and were scattered across the countryside, no telling where. Scandlous John was gone, too. Worst of all, James was lost.

The young cowboy saw that he had about three hundred cattle still with him. After things quieted down, the cattle lay down to sleep. James rode off to see if he could find the camp. He didnt want to wander too far from the rest of the herd, though, so he returned shortly. He had no idea where the camp was.

Stampedes were very dangerous for cowboys. Thunder and lightning often caused cattle to stampede, but any loud noise could startle them.

James had grown up on a farm in the East, dreaming of someday becoming a cowboy. He had no idea it would be like this. Barely eighteen years old and on his very first cattle drive, he was sitting on a horse with three hundred sleeping cattle at his feet, lost in the dark wilderness. How would the other cowboys ever find him? James got an idea. If he could make a loud enough noise, maybe they would hear him back at camp. James drew his six-shooter from its holster and pointed it in the air. Bang! The cattle jumped to their feet, and away they went.

Now I had more trouble than if I had let things alone, James said when retelling the story some years later. After chasing the cattle for an hour, he managed to settle them down again. Then he climbed off his horse, lay down in the grass, and fell asleep.

The next day he wandered for miles on his horse. Finally, through sheer luck, he found the other cattle drivers. Scandlous John had been found, too.

Young James McCauleys real troubles were yet to come. After a few days and nights on the trail in heavy storms, the cowboys and cattle arrived at the Arkansas River. The Arkansas was so wide and deep that the cattle drivers had to travel alongside it for three or four days in search of a place to cross. There were no bridges, of course, in the wilderness of the Wild West. Finally, the trail boss decided to send everyone across.

Cowboys had a tough job. Stampedes were just one of the many dangers they faced during a long drive. James McCauley learned the hard way. This cowboy sits on his horse in a photograph taken around 1888.

James rode carefully down the bank on his horse and entered the river. The water came up to his horses knees, its stomach, its neck. Soon, the horses nostrils were all that was left above the water. Halfway across, the river got even deeper. The whole horse went under. James was sent floating down the river in a strong current. At the last possible second, he grabbed hold of a steer.

I got him by the tail, James said, and away we went for the other side. James reached safety, but he had lost his horse and everything he ownedhis saddle, bridle, blankets, and spurs.

He rode bareback on a spare horse for a week until the cowboys reached Pueblo, Colorado. There, his friend Scandlous John surprised him with a new saddle. Eventually, the cowboys arrived at their destinationMiles City, Montana. James was so relieved. He had survived the cattle drive. He had become a true cowboy. Even so, he figured he was through being a cowboy. I promised myself that Id never go up the trail with a herd anymore, he said. Swimming them rivers was just a bit too dangerous for me.

James McCauley broke his promise to himself. He did go on several more cattle drives, and some were just as hazardous as the first. James couldnt help himself. You see, he got a certain magical feeling out of being a cowboy, a feeling that he couldnt get from farming or ranching or schooling. And so thats what James wanted to bea cowboy.

In the mid-1800s, the United States was like two different countries. The eastern halffrom the Atlantic Seaboard to the Mississippi Riverwas bustling with activity. Its cities boomed with factories, like the new steel mills in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Horse-drawn trolleys clogged the busy streets. Train tracks spread from town to town like a maze of connect the dots. The western halffrom the Mississippi and across the Rocky Mountains to Californiawas almost desolate. The region between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi was drier and flatter than either coast and appeared useless. Geography books at the time referred to it as the Great American Desert.