A Sheepherder`s Diary

MAY 1932
.dune XXVIU
Number4
A S H E E P H E R D E R ' S DIARY
Brother of O w Badger Chapter CYriter From Far-of Nevada IYhere
Sheep Are as Important ar Banks o n Wall Street in New York
Trirtrte Rntrch, A7ez~arla
western air. Several thousand feet helow are spread out the sage covered
E.4R RROTHER EDITOR:
You have asker1 me to write tlats of the Dcep Creek \'alley where
an article and su~gestedthat Kit Carson once trapped mustangs
our Delta Chi Brothers might he in- and Mark Twain saw his first coyote
terested in the state of Sevatia in e n - as related in "Roughing It."
This cabin is a lonely ptace hut just
eral and especially ib recent liberal
divorce and gambling legislation. Any- now there was the echo of a yell something I might say of Sevada wouJd be where d o m a deep canyon we call
either in its praise or its defense. I t "Choke Cherry." It was a long howlhappens that two or the recent amentlrnents to the divorce law k a r my name
Lambs
a
5 the in~rorlucerand I 1va.q among
tho% who battled on the floor of the
Fmver House for the gambling bill.
Naturally, I take issue \vilh article!:
or stron:: criticism written by some of
our porl Eastern citizens \~lho{lo not
seem to clearly untlewtancl Sevarla's
problem!: ant1 I fear that if either ol
the above subjects Irere chosen for this
article it rvould prove to be only an
argument cluttererl ~vithfipres, sharpener! hy retort, and sholr-ing a legal
complexion throughout.
For that reason I prefer a subject
more common, more easily hantllcd,
and one over ~vhichthere is no controversy. Plllom me to choose:
D
Spring
"SHEEP"
This letter is being started late in
the afternoon in a small log cabin
about nine thourand feet above sea
level in the Deep Creek mountains. :Is
1 look out the open door now there is
very Iittlc loreiround in the picture;
that is overlooker]. ~h~ bac2;flauntl in
distant, but plainly visible in the dear
%ITUOP~IY
~ T P I I ~ ~ P I T I lnkm
S
c!ose
trp. I I O W F I ~ m
F ~o . ~ Io j t b ~ m~ l r j r c rl o
pt,rfr,,jts-
ing sort of yell: the kind of yell a
distressed sheepherder will give -.hen
he wishes to frighten sheep out of the
timber. S o clouht it was kiven by one
o f my herders who is trying to rouocl
up some lost sheep. The herd is Fat
short 01 its number and out several
black sheep cailecl markers. Thme e l
us are '"racking" lost sheep, and I happen to he here now because my goocl
horse has had about all he can stancl
Tor one clay.
T might explain that I am a Tau
Kappa Alpha man gone "Sheepy."
Opportunity in the form ol the
sheep bu~inesscame "knocking" and
looked too good to turn down. It is not
so long ago that wool was worth forty
cents a pound and even these SevarEa
feeder lambs sold for seven ant? eight
dollars. In those days the bleat oi a
sheep was music to my ears and that
peculiar smell they have 5vas not offensivc. Today it is so different!
For three p a t s now I have lorfeitecl my heritage to a place in civilization anrh have s p n t most of my
time on the range learning why sheep
herders go insane. Today that pcculiar
smell is a hit sickening to me ancl the
bleat of a sheep grates upon my ears
and tliagusts me, especially, I f it is
loud anit often repeated, became that
means the old ewe has lost her lamb.
Many writers have hewailerl the
fate or the man who lost his "all" in
the stock market crash, and the farmer
Who has too much
hut
if
any, have told the story of the tellow
- .a
s
:
.
.
7.4
pritq:p
slicb ns onr might scf an?
t f r ~ ~orrf
r
o n 1111- Tn'11rri' R t l ~ r kor on rl1on.v nthrr rnnckrr (iuf ifr IBr. . \ l t * ~ ~ ~tl~t~t'))
(lfl C
tures it, he cannot sell those rirteen
dollar sheep for as much m four, or
the lands lor enough to pay two yesrs'
taxes. That is a sad story.
A f e n pages from a sheep man's
diary might he interesting:
herded the Figure Eight herd all summer tleserved a week's vacation now
so he ran go to town and blow in his
earnings while it is still goorl weather.
This morning I paid him up. He had
M
O
O coming-"Wow!" T h i n g are
getting in a bar1 way. The price o f
xrool ancl lambs must come up or wages
must come tlown. This morning I took
the herd myself ancl will now let my
Ileard grow lor a week or more.
September 24, 1928
"Domingo-the Rasque who has
September 25,1928
"I am very sleepy torlay. The sheep
who bought sheep at sixteen doIlars
each and thousantis of acres of wetern
range lantls at inflated prices and now
that he has learnetl that a sheep is not
the lovely little animal the Hitde pic-
-
-
U N I I ~ ~ ~ .
did not lie well last night. The moon
was bright and they could not resist
the temptation to get up and feed
ateunrl. 'rhat old moon might be a big
help at lave-making but it is surely
na friend to a sheepherder. Last night,
before I went to hetl, the sheep tried
to leave l~stl ground several times.
:ilter I went to I~erlthey made several
breaks aver the hill hut my little dog
Kelly was on pyarrl. I hatt to p t up
only once-the rest of the time I
mould poke my head out the small
winrlaw at the hack of the camp and
-.
VWho ubo~~ldrt'!
lifir. l o "rirlt.
tltr "red jiudr" nrr2 cnllingr'
1 1 1 ~r,rlrph"
1
orrt in ,IT~vndo,with nxotbtbr Grnrgctln, ~ s p r c i ~ ~082
l l y onc o j fkrse sprirrg r h y s :irlrrn
clothed in about four inches of snow.
A very cold wind has c h W many
an dd biddy to the point "fall down
-no get up" We are moving the
Anchor herd to the ranch to pull out
"drags" (sheep too weak to follow thk
herd) and Jack Rke is following with
an mbdance wagon to pick up h s e
old girls who have decided to Iie dam
and die."
-
A p d 20,1929
-
lhri r b r t h ~ v u bi e g h - d a few milu jn*.mt, we fidthe T
sheep, and $ h t y of scensry fm o t r y m .
"Give $em hell,
Kelly." He would
run elm wound the
say
from Kelly
told me He had done
the job of his own
accord. I just love
that little black
"ypb"
('The drcumstances f am in today
are quite a contrast to those that April
20 have found me in during the pitst
four years. While writing this 1 am
seated on the m e t of a hiU with what
is left of a herd of weak winter hilled
sheep spread out before
doUu ahrrp at tht-Wha=
has been-nothing has statted to wow
vet-mavbe thev-are all mine to &e<
* %id&& o i with the
h Ranch,
I
-.
L
&
,.
,a
,-
#-I V L
God's
nle--stand up and
bleat."
-
Well-yes,
there
are times when the
bleat of a sheep is a
phasant sound.
Shearing time is a
very busy time and
urnally full of dif-
I
-
A $ d 29, 1929
"The Figure
Eight herd went in
the shearing cod
this A.M. The
weather is ideal.
How fortunate 1am 1
All my neighborn
a
'928
an the sbeep bud-
ness in Nevada. It
sheared h that Wiz-
~ksw* a w u IHI
#arid-
e~ttrim,
ma
the brown*
of my
little brsdr
dog Kelly. This A.M. the world was
it
rw k ...y to jwg~tdpr-,
s ~ # w &
@Y-'
m aus, UI
~ e l mr a .
lost
Parks lost
-4 a d
sheep.
V T h on'*
"four kmmnnr" oJ the she@ WWM.Whoma cmc g # u ~wkkh arr
is j~lshckwiu be awarded a m
u wod nudater.
300, Warner 300, Catigne 125, Kempey over 100, Syms 25, et cetera, et
cetera, on into the good weather and
I believe I am not going to lose one
from taking off their winter underwear.
-
A fellow must have a break once in
while-but let us take a look at shearing time in 1930.
-
April 27, 1930
"The weather man has gone on a
strike-We are having storms that are
raising particular Hell with the shearing. The Jim Clover crew is at Tippett
and not half through there. If the
weather had been good, we should
have been all sheared out by now. God
knows when the crew will get here and
in a few days the Figure Eight herd
will be lambing. I pace the floor in
vain attempts to decide what is best
to do. There is no other crew I can
get. Today I drove to Tippett to get
some idea when they will be through.
If it does not rain or snow tomorrow,
they should be through by April 29.
I pleaded for half the crew to come
now and let the other half finish there
-no luck-"Old Chief Clover" turned
a deaf ear to my words of request and
the picture of sorrow to come if my
sheep are not sheared pronto.
-
May 2,1930
"My God, these are terrible daysI have heard many arguments as to
whether it is best to shear before or
after lambing but I have never heard
any one say you should shear and lamb
all at the same time in a snow storm.
Speaking of trials and tribulationsconsider this-Here we are shearing
in an old fallen down, dilapidated corral built in such a way that to fill
pens you have to pick up nearly every
sheep and throw it in, and a t the same
time lambs are being born and
tramped to death all day. We are
short handed and what men I have
are no good. The sheep not in the corral are not being "herded" but merely
looked at by a worthless, flea bitten,
lousy Mexican, who has let them
spread until there are ewes and lambs
for ten square miles.
The Indian shearers go into their
wigwams-pound
on tlie tom-tom
and pray for sunshine-all in vainI t rains or snows every day-We have
a lot of beddin discarded because of
the lice the Mexican brought and one
camp wagon has been pulled out and
left on a hill by itself-all set up with
the "seven year itch." If I believed
more in prayer I would raise my two
branding paint-covered hands to the
snowy sky and yell at the top of my
voice. "Lord, Lord, what has brought
thy wrath upon us?"
Lambing Time-It is a bit hard on
the patience and a man's good nature-Let us see what our sheep man
had to write in his diary during Lambing time.
May 15,1931
"We are having many twin lambs
these days and they are the cause of
much work. We usually number each
pair and their mother with colored
chalk so that when one gets lost we
can carry him over near his mother
and if she refuses to claim him we tie
her by one foot to a bush for we know
then that she is either a social gadder,
or a woman who demands much time
for herself and says to ''Hell with children."
-
May 16,1931
"Today I am very sleepy and tired.
My face and my neck are itchy from
four days growth of beard-my eyes
are sore from dust-my feet are sore
from walking and another place is sore
from riding horseback."
ewe puts her head high-spanks the
earth a whack or two with her front
foot, like an angry woman, and then
starts up country. The little lamb, a
few hours old, fills his lungs and says
"Maaa." The old ewe stops short and
turns around with a "Bababa" ahd
then runs back to the lamb-that
senseless thing that nine times out of
ten tries to follow the man or the horse
he is leading or even the dog-anything but its mother. Finally, Mother
and lamb are together and then the
whole act begins all over again.
-
August 15,1931
"Today we pulled all strays out
of the Anchor herd. This was just an
ordinary day in the dusty corral. A
fellow admires the fat ones, pities the
poor ones, and cusses them all before
the day is done."
Yes-SHEEP-How
different they
are from what the Bible pictures them.
Let me adopt our sheepman's words.
How true it is that any one who
handles sheep might admire the fat
ones and pity the poor ones, but he is
sure to cuss them all before he is
through.
Fraternally and Sincerely,
CLELGEORGETTA,
Wisconsin '28
Carlisle Advances
Dfay 17, 1931
"Just another ordinary lambing
day. Hour after hour I rode from one
bunch to another, catching a sheep
here and one there-driving this bunch
this way and that bunch that wayWill I ever forget the bleat of a sheep?
Over and over again it happens that
a tired and disgusted man-a fellow
who knows what the world looks Iike
at 3:00 A.M.-a fellow who is dirty,
unshaven, itchy, sore-footed and legweary-such a man comes upon the
scene as a wise man coming to call
upon Mary, the Mother of Christ. But
this is so different! He comes not with
gifts but with swear words. The old
1
Gratgul Appreciation
VWe recognize with thanks the courtesy of the Denver Daily Record
Stockman, and especially Mr. Arthur
C . Johnson, its president and editor,
who has been kind enough t o lend t o
us all of the pictures which are reproduced in this article written by
Brother Clel Georgetta, Wisconsin '28.
Brother Georgetta, in addition t o being a writer and raiser of sheep, is a
member of the legis!ature of Nevada,
and, w e predict, will be heard from
again in his rise to fame.
THEEDITOR
1
Floyd L. Carlisle, Cornell '03, and
a former "AA" of the fraternity, is
the newly elected chairman of the
Consolidated Gas Company of New
York. He also is chairman of the
Niagara Hudson Power Corporation.
One feature of this move is that another Delta Chi, George Bruce Cortelyou, Georgetown '95, and Secretary
of the Treasury from 1907 to 1909
under Roosevelt, was re-elected president of the company for the twentyfourth time.
IS THIS EDUCATION
I can solve a quadratic equation, but I
cannot keep my bank balance straight.
I can name the Kings of England since
the Wars of the Roses, but I do not know
the qualifications of the candidates of the
coming election.
I know the income theories of Malthus
and Adam Smith, but I cannot live within
my income.
I can explain the principles of hydraulics,
but I cannot fix a leak in the kitchen faucet.
I can read the plays of Moliere in the
original, but I cannot order a meal in
French.
I have studied a psychology of James and
Tichenor, but I cannot control my own
tempqr.
I can recite hundreds of lines of Shakespeare, but 1 do not know the Declaration
of Independence, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, or the Twenty-third Psalm.
-N.E.A. Press Service