Road branding

Here is what a census taker wrote about the experience of the trail drive for a special report on the cattle industry in 1880:

When first put on the road, the cattle are closely guarded and driven briskly for several days until the danger of their breaking away for home is passed. For the first few days at sunset the drove is “rounded up” compactly, and half the men, [who] relieve the other half at midnight, ride round and round the bed-ground. This labor decreases as the cattle become more tractable, and two men at each watch are then sufficient to guard them through the night. . . . At daybreak the cattle are moved off the “bed-ground” to graze, and while the two men who were last on guard remain with them, all other hands [eat] breakfast. The first ones to finish breakfast relieve the guards on duty and allow them to come in for their morning meal. Then, the horses being caught and saddled and the cook having cleaned up, the drive is started again and continued until about eleven, when the cattle are allowed to graze again, and lunch or dinner is eaten. Immediately after that, the men who are to stand first guard at night, and who also act as horse-herders, go ahead with the messwagon and the horses to the next camp, where they get supper, so that when the herd comes up they are ready to “graze.”… The bed-ground is, when possible, on elevation, with space sufficient for all the stock to sleep . . . . The distance traveled each day is twelve to fifteen miles.