Bob Powers

None of these camps were fancy. But to the families who each summer migrated to the High Sierra with their cattle, it was a second home.

The agreement these cattlemen had with the Forest Service required them to bring part of their herds out of the mountains toward the last of August. The exact date varied, being governed by how well the feed was holding up. The first gathering was handled as with branding. Each day, cattle from a certain part of the range were worked to a central location. Here, each permittee cut out forty percent of his cattle to take to the home ranch. Beef cattle were generally selected, as, by this time, they were in prime condition. These were taken to the holding pastures at each camp, where they put on a few extra pounds. The meadows were still high with feed, having supported only a few head of saddle horses during the summer.

After the range was completely worked, they began what they called the beef cattle drive. Each

family drove its own stock, and usually followed a day behind another drive. The fifty miles to the valley was covered in about four days, with the families camping along the way.

Care was taken to handle the cattle in a manner which would keep the pounds on them, with very little of the running and jostling depicted in movies. The mark of a good cowboy was his ability to ride hard and fast when the need arose. But to be content to poke along with the cattle while traveling, letting them more or less pick their own speed and keeping them from losing any more weight than was absolutely necessary, this also was quite important, as those pounds meant dollars.

Usually Art Alexander at the Onyx Ranch, or his partner, Oscar Rudnick, of Bakersfield, bought the cattle. In the early days, cattlemen would deliver the beef cattle to the slaughter house in Bakers-field, which involved an extra 75-mile drive by way of Caliente.

While the cattlemen were in the valley after this trip, the third cutting of hay was usually put up, provided the river persisted long enough to furnish water for this last crop.

If any part of the year was to be a vacation, it was after the return to the mountains for the last trip. This was usually early in the first part of deer season. The cattlemen had learned years ago that you could not get much work out of a South Fork cowboy until he had a chance to get some of the buck hunting out of his system. Just about everyone hunted, and cattlemen like Marvin and Stanley were the first to understand, because if either one of them had a hobby, it was deer hunting. They came by it honestly, since their fathers before them had looked forward to this time of year. So the men usually were given about three days to hunt, with pay. Within a day or two, quite a few bucks were hanging in the shade around the camps. Deer heart and liver would be sizzling in the breakfast pan each morning.