Nov. 20, 2003
Only a few of the Folsom Community families are long time residents of the area. The rest of us have moved in from elsewhere, buying a ranch when one became available. So most of us are newcomers of varying lengths of time. The owners and members of what I will call the Cheyenne River Ranch group, having been on this ranch for less than three years now, and me for being the only permanent resident of this ranch for about one year, makes us the new kids on the block. In many respects that is a good thing. It is a good thing because the land mass of the ranch can be held intact. Neighboring provides a generally hassle-free crossing for trail drives to and from the Forest Service grazing allotments for those who hold the allotments and need the thoroughfare and, occasionally, the corral facilities for sorting and shipping. Neighboring provides the opportunity to join trail drives, gatherings, brandings, and riding with the owners of the cattle that go on and off the Forest Service grazing allotments.
Those occasions are always special because we have the opportunity to learn from others. We learn the topography of some very wild country; we learn about the history of the places we visit, the people who lived there formerly and constantly acquire knowledge of what did or did not work out in this country; we further our knowledge about good horses and hands and the way they operate, the local names for places and how to be safe in this country. Being safe is a very important item that I am afraid some people do not quite get. Hopefully thay learn a little from us.
We all have varied skills and varying level of skills, oftentimes taken for granted and not really appreciated. The tried and true skills of the old cowboy west have, by no means, disappeared. The working cowboys and cowgirls ride and work long hours in adverse conditions of weather and topography. And what keeps eveybody doing it is a strong sense of responsibility to tradition and to the herds.
The sometimes not so good effects are that the skills of the new people are not yet known; so what they do is always, at least at first, a little suspect; so the new people are under a fairly close, if not very obvious, observation until having proven themselves on the job. But there is also a resistance to change. Changing a fence line or a gate will always raise a query. Having a boundary survey done causes a raised eyebrow. Not keeping the previous owner's pasture structure of interior fences and stackyards tends to make people uneasy, and I guess I can understand why, but I wish it didn't.
Nobody would deign to tell a neighbor how to manage his or her deeded land--with the exception of sharing the maintenance of a fence between them. But move that fence in accordance with a legal survey and hackles get raised, even though the new fence benefits both parties. A new fence that you did not have to buy or build on a legal boundary seems, at least in theory, to be a favorable situation. It is very hard for me to see the ill in that, but once in a while the common wisdom sees only the altering of tradition, the what always was, and all the good neighboring in the world is powerless to reckon with that force.
Only a few of the Folsom Community families are long time residents of the area. The rest of us have moved in from elsewhere, buying a ranch when one became available. So most of us are newcomers of varying lengths of time. The owners and members of what I will call the Cheyenne River Ranch group, having been on this ranch for less than three years now, and me for being the only permanent resident of this ranch for about one year, makes us the new kids on the block. In many respects that is a good thing. It is a good thing because the land mass of the ranch can be held intact. Neighboring provides a generally hassle-free crossing for trail drives to and from the Forest Service grazing allotments for those who hold the allotments and need the thoroughfare and, occasionally, the corral facilities for sorting and shipping. Neighboring provides the opportunity to join trail drives, gatherings, brandings, and riding with the owners of the cattle that go on and off the Forest Service grazing allotments.
Those occasions are always special because we have the opportunity to learn from others. We learn the topography of some very wild country; we learn about the history of the places we visit, the people who lived there formerly and constantly acquire knowledge of what did or did not work out in this country; we further our knowledge about good horses and hands and the way they operate, the local names for places and how to be safe in this country. Being safe is a very important item that I am afraid some people do not quite get. Hopefully thay learn a little from us.
We all have varied skills and varying level of skills, oftentimes taken for granted and not really appreciated. The tried and true skills of the old cowboy west have, by no means, disappeared. The working cowboys and cowgirls ride and work long hours in adverse conditions of weather and topography. And what keeps eveybody doing it is a strong sense of responsibility to tradition and to the herds.
The sometimes not so good effects are that the skills of the new people are not yet known; so what they do is always, at least at first, a little suspect; so the new people are under a fairly close, if not very obvious, observation until having proven themselves on the job. But there is also a resistance to change. Changing a fence line or a gate will always raise a query. Having a boundary survey done causes a raised eyebrow. Not keeping the previous owner's pasture structure of interior fences and stackyards tends to make people uneasy, and I guess I can understand why, but I wish it didn't.
Nobody would deign to tell a neighbor how to manage his or her deeded land--with the exception of sharing the maintenance of a fence between them. But move that fence in accordance with a legal survey and hackles get raised, even though the new fence benefits both parties. A new fence that you did not have to buy or build on a legal boundary seems, at least in theory, to be a favorable situation. It is very hard for me to see the ill in that, but once in a while the common wisdom sees only the altering of tradition, the what always was, and all the good neighboring in the world is powerless to reckon with that force.
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