The Last of the Range Riders
As the agricultural transformation of the Columbia Basin accelerates, a veteran cowboy prepares to trade his horse string for a motor vehicle.
James J. Hull, one of the few range riders left in this country, passed through White Bluffs this week on his way to Yakima, where his remaining cayuses will be converted into a gasoline wagon. Mr. Hull formerly made his home at Wilson Creek. He has been in the range stock business, directly or indirectly, in the Big Bend country for the last 15 or 20 years, and in early days rode over most of the land in that country now prosperous wheat or fruit farms. The horses were brought over to this side of the Columbia and their leaving practically marks the passing of the range horse in Grant county.
“their leaving practically marks the passing of the range horse in Grant county.”
Hull’s transition captures the exact moment the open range gave way to intensive irrigation and modern infrastructure. The 'gasoline wagon' replacing the horse is a potent metaphor for the industrialization of the West that was underway in 1916.
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