Adventure Magazine Cover, June 20, 1925 — page 207: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Ask Adventure Where the Old West Lingers COWTOWNS where lead poisoning ' is not unknown today: Request:—“T am a regular reader of Adventure: thus my knowledge of your name and address; and of all the stories I enjoy, I like those which feature Hashknife Hartley and Sleepy Stevens. I don’t like to read about the west of the old days, it’s gone and the modern west is taking its place. Now can you give me some information? I know they have all the modern vehicles of transportation and all the other new improvements, but: Are there any unfenced ranges where they have their yearly roundups? Are there any cowtowns like Adventure mentions? Do the cowboys still wear the specified guns as in the old days? Do they still come to town like the stories tell us? And last of all, can you tell me where there are some good ranches that I could write to for some pictures? This is a long letter for you to answer but these things have always bothered me because I feel that in a few years the ranches will be gone and the help, in white collars and ties, will be riding in machines, and we will no longer get a thrill reading about the ranges of the old days.”—Haroitp Forp, Phila- delphia, Pa. Reply, by Mr. Harriman:—Do not be too sure about the old west being gone. I can show you scads of ranches where they still run things exactl as they did fifty years ago, only the old man is apt to go to town in a 60 H.P. auto, rather than on a cayuse. In 1920 I helped rope and brand cattle on such aranch. That same year I talked with a bunch of waddies who had gathered for the fall roundup in northern Arizona and were cursing their luck be- cause a foot of snow had fallen. Why, boy, what do you know about the west anyhow? I know a cowboy who left Shell, Wyoming, and rode for eight days. He only saw six men in the whole trip, outside of a few in two tiny hamlets and four or five in three ranch houses. I have ridden a horse all day in Utah and did not encounter a fence of any kind. There were 30,000 sheep on the plain I crossed and 65,000 cattle in the mountains where I slept that night. Everything was precisely as it had been forty or fifty years ago. Yes, there are unfenced ranges galore, where they have roundups. Yes, there are cowtowns where a man can get lead poisoning if he acts ugly or mean. I went to one in 1920. Six men shot the first day of the rodeo there. Is that woolly enough for you? ~In Arizona a man is supposed to get rid of his gun within twenty minutes of getting into a town— State law. In New Mexico they wear them any old place they go. In Wyoming it is half and half. * Cowboys will always go to town when they get a chance, but shooting up towns has become un- -popular and so many townmen own pump shotguns and keep buckshot shells, that it is risky. Anyhow, the percentage of fools among cowmen is never half as great as some writers try to get you to believe. I never even had one talk ugly to me. Fine fellows. What kind of pictures do you want to get? Those that show the roping, branding, etc.2 Not one 189 ranch in a hundred would have any such and not for sale purposes at any rate. The place to get these is in some town in the cattle country and I don’t know the firm names. Don’t you believe the ranches will all be gone. There will be lots of them in 2924. Lots of land only fit for ranches and folks will eat beef. Hints for Big Game Hunters 4) COMPARATIVE merits of double- barreled and magazine rifles for tiger- shooting: Request: —“T am contemplating a trip to India in the near future. Please answer the following ques- tions, and send me bill if there is a charge for this service. Recently I handled a double-barreled rifle and fell very much in love with this type. Are they accu- rater How do they compare with the Springfield? What do they weigh? I have been informed by a firearms “expert” that they do not compare with a magazine rifle in eficiency? Is thisso? I want one for tiger—I mean a double. What caliber would you suggest? What pistol would you take? What shotgun? What size shot? Any information you could give me on the above will be greatly appreciated.—F. W. Ko es, Biloxi, Miss. Reply, by Capt. Giddings:—I can quite under- stand your falling in love with the double-barreled rifle. Made by one of England’s best gunmakers, it is a really magnificent weapon and one in which the sportsman finds a never-ending delight. I know positively from personal experimentation that the best double-barreled rifle is not so accurate as the Springfield or certain match rifles manu- factured in this country. On the other hand the double-barrel as made by an expert gunmaker will shoot as accurately as you can hold from the various positions one assumes in firing during a hunting trip. As regards accuracy, you, I assert, will never know the difference between a well-made “‘double”’ and the Springfield in hunting at ranges under three hundred yards, provided both guns are of the same caliber. You could not, of course, compare a double .450 with the .30 Springfield for trajectory; the former bullet has many times the drop or trajectory of the flat-shooting Springfield at 300 yards. For tiger I would recommend a double-barreled rifle made by Holland & Holland, Purdy, Rigby, Lang, or any other of the top-notch English gun- makers, in caliber ranging from .375 Magnum (300 grain bullet) to the .470. It has been my experience that the “‘two shots quick” gun is superior to the magazine rifle in hunting all kinds of dangerous game. Aside from the frequent mal-functions of magazine arms in large calibers, I dislike the noisy “clank clank” of the bolt or lever in functioning, and the relatively slow speed of the following, or second shot. Tigers and hons charge with amazing rapidity. Unless one is entirely without nerves and a wizard with a magazine rifle, two shots are all that can be effectively gotten in. And in delivering these two shots rapidly and efficiently no other arm can com- pare with the two-barreled rifle, in my opinion. The double or medium and large caliber will COMIGDIOOKSEEO