But these were not the same cattle. There was not a longhorn
among them; there has not been a longhorn on the range for many
years. They were sleek, fat, well-fed animals, heavy and stocky,
even of type, all either whitefaces or shorthorns. With them were
some old-time cowmen, men grown gray in range work. Alongside the
herds, after the ancient fashion of trailing cattle, rode cowboys
who handled their charges with the same old skill. But even the
cowboys had changed. These were without exception men from the
East who had learned their trade here in the West. Here indeed
was one of the last acts of the great drama of the Plains. To
many an observer there it was a tragic thing. I saw many a cowman
there the gravity on whose face had nothing to do with commercial
loss. It was the Old West he mourned. I mourned with him.
Naturally the growth of the great stockyards of the Middle West
had an effect upon all the cattle-producing country of the West,
whether those cattle were bred in large or in small numbers. The
dealers of the stockyards, let us say, gradually evolved a
perfect understanding among themselves as to what cattle prices
ought to be at the Eastern end of the rails.
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