One of the loneliest Old West jobs had to be the line rider.
In the Old West days before Joseph Glidden’s patented barbed wire invention crossed the prairies, ranchers found it difficult to keep their cattle on the home range. To keep them from wandering to a neighbor’s pasture or getting lost in the wilderness, cattlemen built little cabins scattered around the circumference of the ranch.
Then a cowboy got stationed at each one.
His job entailed riding out every day, in alternating directions, to check that no cattle grazed where they shouldn’t. If they did, he drove them back. In the roughest part of winter, the snow and chill made each day a battle for survival. The line rider had to do his own cooking. No one to talk to but his horses.
Steady work for the rider at a line camp could make a cowboy a bit touched by too much solitary time. One of the downsides of these Old West jobs.
Big Nose Freddy spent the winter of 1872 as a line rider on the North Platte. For weeks he read over and over a medical encyclopedia, his main form of entertainment. When Freddy returned to the home ranch in the spring, he claimed he had every disease known to man. He was convinced he had symptoms of them all. For years afterward cowhands avoided Freddy. They tired of listening to his ailments.
Every community group needs line riders, some sort of variation of this Old West job. Especially churches. What do modern day line riders do? They make sure no one wanders away because of lack of caring or misunderstanding and into harm’s way.
Saint Paul said, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers” (Acts 28:2).
What’s the job description of a line rider?
1.) To be on the watch for who’s missing. When the fellowship gathers, the line rider seeks out strays. Finds out why they aren’t there.
2.) To be able to work alone. Must walk the lonelier path. The line rider goes after the ones lost while others stay busy with the many found.
3.) To know when to take breaks. Those who spend a lot of time looking for strays also need social times. Activities with others. For accountability and for support. To prevent loss of reality because of too much seclusion.
Line Rider Old West Jobs by Stephen Bly Copyright 1993
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A list of Old West jobs and professions: http://arcana.wikidot.com/list-of-wild-west-professions
COWBOY ETHICS … Before the American West was settled and barbed wire closed off the range, the Code of the West was the one civilizing influence that could be relied upon. http://cowboyethics.org/cowboy-ethics.html
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This is quite inspirational and informative. Thanks for sharing.