TIIE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 6t 1903
WNMBMTUL MEEP DOGS S&W&W
MIS CMSES MSWiUM H - '
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V ; . I .f- . ' V ' : : v.',. 1 . full of stories of the devotion and lntelli-
V ' - ' ' ' ' A I eence of sheep dogs. The herder who
V . : -s-a GT3U.TEAJJO
V Z WYOMING AND
Z illS SHEEP
BT ARTHUR fllAPMAN.
Th fc,Kfci gurl -nig Jim miu m
most wonderful sheep dogs In
the world."
( A fflant of a fellow, with a browned
;nd determined, yet pleneant face, had
f!sraouned from hia horse In front of
-the solitary restaurant boasted by the
-thriving sheep and cattle town of Buffalo,
In Northern Wyoming. Instead of the
beautiful, silky-haired collies conjured by
-the Imagination, there trotted at his heels
two rather small dogs, one black from
tip to tip and the other black, cave for
white breast.
Introduction to Jim Everett, like intro
duction to nearly all the outdoor men of
the West, was not a matter of getting; a
-ard past a stony-faced private secre
tary. In three minutes Jim was expatiating-
on' the accomplishments of lii
eheep dogs and extending an Invitation
to the' writer to witness some of their
feats a, bid that was promptly accepted.
Next day on the vast, open range
through which Crazy Woman Creek, a
branch of Powder River, leaves an alkali
whitened trail, "Big Jim" showed what
liia sheep dogs could do.
"In the first place." eaid Jim, "these
dogs are- not pure-bred collies, as you
must have noticed. The collie to a fine
log for sheep in Scotland, but over here
4ie needs a big strain of the wolf In him
to make hlra effective. These dogs are
flialf wolf. I caught their mother myself,
out on the plains. Today these pups show
more of the wolf strain than they do of
the collie. Their ears are always pointed
slip, and they can hear twice as well as
ran ordinary collie. They are always on
ttlie lookout for danger, and their feet
well. that Is their strong point. You see
how thick the cactus-grows in thto coun
try. Well, an ordinary dog has got bis
fleet full of cactus thorns when be comes
rliito camp at night with the band of
Flieep. After the band has been bedded
:the herder's got to spend an hour or
two by the camp tire picking thorns out
f the dog's feet. But these wolf-dogs
have got cushions on their feet that are
toucher than sole leather. You never
eee an old wolf out on the plains lying
tlown and chewing cactus thorn out of
his feet and neither do you see these
?ng9 doing the same trick. Just for this
reason alone the wolf strain makes an
animal like XI g or Lady the Ideal sheep
:tender."
Nig and Lady at this time were several
rods away, sitting or their haunches, and
looking out acroM the plains with that
peculiar, alert expression that never
reemed to desert tluim. Jim did not raise
his voice above the conversational pitch,
but, on the contrary dropped It a little.
When he said:
"Where's that coyote I"
The human ear at its sharpest could
rot have detected the words at a dis
tance of more than, ten feet, but Nig and
Lady heard every word, and Instantly
they were up and away, racing around
the band of sheep, and ready to grapple
with any prowling coyote or wolf that
might be lurking in a sheltering arroyo.
Suddenly Jim raised his arms until they
extended in a horizontal position, and
then he let them fail at his side. In
utantly Nig and Lady stopped and sat
own. with their eyea on their master.
"You see. It's not much use to yell at
a dog, especially when you've got to yell
against a Wyoming wind storm." said
Jim. "So I've trained my dogs to work
to signal regular brakeman signals they
are."
Here Jim waved one hand toward the
rft and Nig and Lady trotted off In
tii at direction.
"If I want 'em to run around the sheep
the other way," said Jim. "I Just wave
the other hand. When I want them to
c-.me In I Just raise my hands over my
1. ad like this."
I'p went the giant's brawny arms, and
l i trotted the sheep dogs and took up
.i-ir station at their master's feet. At
n motion, one of the dogs' took a long
xi-ursion round the band, looking for
fny lambs that might have become sep
arated from the flock, thereby offering
t i.-mselves as easy prey for coyotes. An-
r .ier motion and the remaining dog "cut
t a single sheep from the bunch and
J. v ilnwn to guard It.
"That 4og will watch that sheep for
hours until I call him off." said Jim,
"and It would go hard with anybody who
tried to touch the sheep that's under his
care."
Like good soldiers, "Big Jim's" sheep
dogs hold duty paramount. They adore
their master, but at a word from him
they would go willingly with another
sheep man and work for the stranger.
Jim himself is not a herder. He has
"graduated" and Is camp tender for one
of the big sheep outfits that make their
headquarters at Buffalo. In early days,
when the longhorn steer was king of the
range, Jim was a cowboy, but like many,
other cowmen, he drifted naturally Into
the once-despised sheep business. "Bigger
pay, less work and a dashed sight better
treatment." is Jim's brief summing up of
the reasons for his desertion of the cat
tle game.
A day or two after he had shown what
bis dogs could do. "Big Jim" created
something of a commotion In Buffalo.
The most peaceful and good-natured of
men, Jim blazes Into fierce anger when
any one ventures to abuse his dogs. A
drunken cattleman from Powder River
way staggered Into the restaurant where
Jim was eating. The sheep man's dogs
were curled up near the door, and the
cattleman, who was Just drunk enough to
be ugly, kicked one of the animals. In
stantly Jim's great hulk towered over the
fellow. There was a sickening smash as
the giant's fist found lodgment on the
cattleman's face, and the man from Pow
der River tumbled Into an unconscious
heap in the corner. "Big Jim" grasped
him by the collar and tried to get him
on his feet, but the fellow's legs bent
under him In helplessness, and. In prize
ring parlance. It was evident that he
was "down and out." When he recov
ered consciousness he crawled out of the
restaurant, and. swaying unsteadily in
the saddle, lost no time In getting away
from "Big-Jim's" baleful gaze.
It Is almost an Impossibility for a
herder to work sheep on the open
range without sheep dogs. There la much
more detail to the sheep herder s work
than Is ordinarily supposed. The herder
roust be out before, sun-up. as the sheep
do not linger long on the bed ground, but
are soon up and scattered Nicross the
plains, cropping the scant grass or nib
bling at the tops of the sage brush.
Coyotes and wolves are so numerous that
It Is necessary to keep constant lookout.
Inasmuch as one herder must care for
an average of 2500 to 3000 sheep In a band,
it will be recognized at once that caring
for a widely scattered flock of that size
would soon exhaust a man If he had no
aid. The dogs render Invaluable service,
however. They are constantly circling
around the feeding flock and driving In
the sheep that become too widely scat
tered for safety. The good temper of
the dogs i endless. Their work Is par
ticularly difficult In herding buck sheep.
The bucks are saucy and inclined to fight,
as a rule and every once In a while a
big fellow makes a charge at .th stieep
dog and occasionally lands with the
force of a battering-ram. But the sheep
dog never tries to retaliate, but con
tinues his patient work as guardian to
the foolish flock. Even at night, when
the band has been worked back toward
camp, and is bedded down,- the dog's
work Is not ended. The sheep Is the
most easily frightened of all animals,
particularly at night. A Blight noise will
send the whole sleeping band to Its feet
and scurrvlng through the darkness.
Unlike cattle, they do not run far, hut
when coyotes are waiting in every draw
and arroyo. It deos not take much af a
stampede to result In considerable loss.
Naturally a strong bond of affection
grows between the average sheep herder
and his dog. The dog shares the com
forts of the homelike sheep wagons in
which most of the herders live. They
have the best of food and care, which is
no more than Just when one considers
the faithful and intelligent service they
Blve.
The stirring annals or tne vyesiaro
deserts his flock In the face of danger
considers himself disgraced, and his dog
seems to catch the same spirit of faith
fulness. Not long ago a herder In East
ern Colorado was struck by lightning.
Many herders meet death in this way, as
thunder storms on the plains are fre
quent, and the guardians of the flocks
usually etand on the highest hills so they
can keep an eye on all of the straggling
bands. In this Instance It was three
days before the herder's body was found.
yet his dog had guarded the band of
sheep all day, had rounded up the bunch
at night and brought it to the bed
ground, and next morning had gone
through the same performance." When
the camptender arrived, not a sheep was
missing, but the faithful dog was nearly
starved.
The fearful blizzards that sweep over
the plains are the greatest menace to the
herders and their canine companions. In
Winter the flocks graze on the prairies,
and in Summer they are driven to the
mountains. There Is absolutely no pro
tection on the plains, and the herder who
strays away from his wagon In one of
these blizzards is likely to pay tor nis
. a U Im - -r . . -(1
-.if. 1,1. ur nmBtlme the shecD . William M.ooay was cb.uiil hi - u.,
will begin to "drift" before a storm, and J Cut off from his camp he wandered about
the united efforts of man and dog will not I the fenceless plain until at last he sank
turn the band back. The sheep wander I down an died. He had two shepherd
on until at last they nuddie togeiner in
some arroyo and are covered with drift
ing snow and soon smother to death. If
the herder ad his dog cannot And their
way back to camp, they perish miserably.
Last Winter a herder in Albany County,
Wyoming, would have lost his life but
for his collie dog. He lost all sense of
direction while wandering in a blizzard.
He knew the flock was perishing, and it
was his sole Idea to get back to camp to
save his own life. He struggled on all
night, with his collie at his side, but at
last gave up In despair, and sank down
in the drifts to die. Several times he
did this, but each time the dog would
tug at his clothes and refuse to allow
him to sink into the slumber that would
have been his last. Aroused by the de
votion of the dog.-the herder would
struggle to hie feet and stagger on.
Finally, In the evening of the second day,
the blizzard slackened and he saw a light,
which proved to be from a ranch house,
and he and his dog were saved.
On the Red Desert of Wyoming a
oouDle of Winters ago, a herder named
dogs thtat stood guard ove his body two
weeks. The dogs lived on the carcasses
of frozen sheep, and it was through them
that a searching party found the .body of
the herder lying face down in the snow.
Mexicans are very skillful In training
sheep dogs, and the herders of the South
west sometimes teach their canine com
panions many wonderful tricks, such as
going to camp and bringing back a sack
of tobacco or any article for which the
herder may ask. Occasionally, on the
Montana plains, one meets an old Scotch
herder, who has cared for sheep in the
old country, and who is an enthusiastic
and convincing champion In behalf of
the pure-bred collie.
As a rule, when they have outlived
their usefulness, and can no longer un
dergo the exhausting work of herding
sheep, the faithful dogs are replaced by
younger animals and spend their remain
ing yeans on the "home ranch" and who
slioi say that these pensioners have not
earned all the favors they receive?
Denver, Colo., Aug. 29.
KANSAS CITY INVENTOR , "WHO HAS DOjNE
OTHER THINGS , THINKS HE
HAjS SOLVED THE PROBLEM
ANSAS CITY, Aug. 24. (Special Cor-
respondence of The Sunday Oregon-
Ion.) To harness the sea. That Is the
ambition, the hope of George C. Hale, of
this city, known throughout the world as
an Inventor. For 15 years Mr. Hale has been
working on an Invention that would take
the power of the waves from the ocean
and convert that power Into electricity
for commercial purposes. At last he has
perfected a machine which. If the dem
onstrations of the model are to be taken
for anything, will actually harness the
power of the ocean and make that power
of commercial value.
It was 15 years ago that Mr. Hale sat
one night on a pier at Rockaway Beach,
watching the waves as they pounded
against the stonework. And, as he Bat
there, a steamer, outward bound, passed,
with tts stream of waves, tiny beside
those breaking against the pier, follow
ing the revolutions of the heavy propel
lers. Then it was that Mr. Hale realized
the power of the waves and the possi
bilities for motive power If the strength
of those waves could only be harnessed.
When he came back to Kansas City he
began to work. Model after model was
made, only to be thrown aside and a new
idea carried out- There was but one way,
he realised, to hold the power and that
was by compressed air. At lost, however,
the right idea came, and a few days ago
he gave a demonstration of the machine
to scientific men of the city, a demon
stration that convinced the scientists he
was correct In his beliefs that the ma
chine would be able to take power from
the ocean and convert It to run street
cars, light a city, and, in fact, every
thing that Is now done by steam.
The model which Mr. Hale demon
strated, is built on the scale of one-half
an Inch to the foot It Is simple In con
struction. The main part of the body of
the machine is to be a V-shaped abutt
meni vltb Interstices at regular Inter
vals through which the water flows. The meats on the wings that had fitted Into
machine Is to be built - on the shore, of
masonry or, steel, and therefore will not
suffer from storms as other experiments
that derived their power by floating have
done. On the model six "wings" of steel,
resembling doors, are hinged to perpen
dicular shafts that are Disced In front
of the V-shaped abuttment, and provided I
.! t. innB BA . v, .Ha n-tmrn TnaV rise
or fall with the tides. The shafting to
which the wings are attached is equipped
win gears which mesh into piston rods
operating six air compressors. The com
pressors discharge through double check
valves Into a globe-shaped receiver, and
from the receiver the air Is taken to two
engines belted to dynamos. And, that,
according -to Mr. Hale, Is all that Is
needed to take the ocean's power and
place It where It can. be used to much
greater advantage than merely to make a
mournful sound and cause that old, old
question. "What. oh. what, are the wild
waves saying?"
"She's done now. she's done," Mr. Hale
exclaimed enthusiastically when the demr
onstration was given last week, "and I've
won out on the stlffest fight I ever had In
my life. Work? Of course it'll -work.
Why, man, with this machine the real
machine. I'm talking about, uot this little
old model here why, with this machine I
could furnish the whole city of New York,
or arty other seacoast town, with light,
power and heat for 10 per cent of what It's
costing now. Now, boys. Just show how
this tbing-eraa-Jlg works."
He was speaking to several of his
workmen, who were holding a large
paddle that rested In a tank of water.
The men gave the paddle a push and a
small wave flowed toward the model. As
It struck the wings of the machine there
oame a sound of rushing air and the
wings slid swiftly toward the abutment
The paddle was drawn backward and the
water, following, rushed through the
apertures against the cup-like arrange-
the open spaces. The wings shot outward
again and were ready lor anotner wave.
"Look at the register," Mr. Hale said.
It showed that Ave pounds of air had
been compressed. A few more strokes
with the paddle and the Indicator had
gone to 20 pounds.
Guess I'll let the engines work
awhile." came from Mr. Hale, as he
turned a small cock. The next moment
the fly-wheels of two tiny engines were
whirring and the dynamo to which they
were attached, was generating electricity,
tricity.
"And this is only a model Just about
one-fiftieth as large as the real machine
would be," the Inventor explained. "But
I've worked everything out to conform
with the scale of reduction. This little
machine has one-half horse power. The
machine I would build for seacoast
work would be 60 feet long, with 40 wings,
Instead of six, that would be nine feet
hieh and 12 feet long, xnat
would develop 300 horse power.
"Now, you see, the beauty of this ma
chine," and Mr. Hale became more in
terested In his work than ever, "the
beauty of this machine is that a storm
can's hurt it It's built on the shore, of
masonry and steel. If the waves come
In faster than usual, the wings have to
work with the same rapidity, because,
you see, they are governed by the flow
of the water. To tell the truth, there's
a benefit In a storm for this thing. It
would Just generate that much more
electricity. Of course, the flow over the
circuit would be the same, on account
f the current governors. The surplus
could be put Into storage batteries."
Just then some one beoame curious.
"How about the cost of maintalnance?"
he asked.
"Isn't any," Mr. Hale replied. "All
you have to do Is to put up the ma
chine and then hire some one to oil
it The waves do all the work. Two
men, experienced, of course, could watch
a battery or elgnt or lu or cnese iiiii"i.
Why, there's practically no cost to It.
For $75,000 a battery of these machines
could be placed on a seacoast and
would furnish 15,000 horsepower. Two
ordinary turbine engines, now used In
the power houses to generate power,
would cost 25,01K) more than this whole
battery, and then, after they were In
stalled, there would be the expense of
coal, of men to watch the boilers, to
handle the fuel and the ashes and to
do the thousand and one other things
about a power house: But with this
business the waves of the ocean keep
busy night and day and the expense
lsnf there at all."
George C Hale Is a man who has been
made rich by his Inventions. During the
last 36 years he has invented the Hale
water tower. In use by the Are depart
ments of every large city of the world, a
fire-alarm system now in use in New
York City and many other things. Includ
ing the swinging harness used by police
and fire departments all over the world.
"Hate to brag about myself, but I guess
I've done more for horses than lots of
humane societies," he said one day last
week. "Before I Invented that swinging
harness, the horses used to have to keep
their harness on all the time so that they
might be hitched to the fire apparatus
quickly. Used to have to sleep with it
on. Of course, the horses never looked
nice, nor were they well cared for.
Couldn't even take their harness off to
groom them. But now. It's a whole lot
machine different"
Among his B0 or more Inventions, are
the Hale tours, a moving-picture device
In use at Coney Island and many other
parks throughout the world.
But the last invention, Mr. Hale regards
as his greatest.
"It's economy that everyone Is looking
for," he says. "And with this Invention,
there Is nothing but economy. After this
is put In operation the cities of New
York, Boston, Galveston, New Orleans,
San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Los An
geles and any other seacoast city orone
near the coast will be able to enjoy
cheaper lighting, cheaper streetcar fares
and In fact economy In everything with
which electric power Is connected."
Diving for a Locomotive.
F. Hopkinson Smith in Everybody's
Sometimes a diversion in the custom
ary work of recovering sunken prop
erty would occur. It was a locomotive
on one occasion; she had attempted to
cross a trestle and had topplea over
In thirty feet of water bottomed by
mud.
"Get her up?" said Captain Scott
"Certainly where'll I put her?"
"Back on the rails," said the mn
ager with a laugh at the Impossibility
of the task.
"All right; she'll be there in the
mornin' " and she was.
It was but the work of half a day
for Captain Scott to rig up a pair of
sheer poles, drop beside In his diving
dress,- pass some heavy chains under
the boiler and between her axles, hook
a block Into a ring, take a turn on a
hoisting engine aboard his wrecking
tug, open a steam cylinder and up
she came. To lower her gently to the
rails and wash her clean of the mud
with a nozzle attached to the hose of
his steam pump was the last service.
"There," he said when she was
scrubbed clean, "now git a fire under
her and pull her out; she's In my way."
There I" no Failure.
Thomas Speed Mosby, in Success Magsrins.
There Is no failure. Life ltself's a song
Of victory o'er death, and ages long
Have told the story old of triumphs
wrought
Unending from the things once held for
naught.
The battle s over; though defeated now,
In coming time the waiting world shall bow
Before the throne of Truth that's bullded
high
Above the dust of those whose aahes lis
All heedless of the glorious tight they won
When earth obscured the light of victory's
sun.
There is no failure. If w could but see
Beyond the battle line; If we could be
Where battle-smoke does ne'er becloud the
eye.
Then we should know that where these
prostrate lie
Accoutered in tiabillments of death.
Sweet Freedom's radiant form has drawn
new breath
The breath of HXe which they so nobly gavs
Shall swell anew above the lowly grave
And give new Ufa and hope to hearts that
beat
Like battle-drums that never sound retreat
There is no failure. God's immortal plan
Accounts no lews a lesnon learned for man
Defeat is oft the discipline we need
To save us from the wrong, or teaching
heed
To errors which would else more dearly
cost
A lesson learned is ne'er a battle lost.
Whene'er the cause Is right, be not afraid;
Defeat Is then but victory dolayed
And e'en the greatest vict'rles of the world
Are often won when battle Hags are furled.