Show WOMAN LEARNS LORE OF WESTERN RANGE rid rides es herd with cowboys Is Ex expert on brands buffalo gap S D when it comes to cattle lore of the old west identifying brands or even riding herd on the critters few men could compete with queena stewart stewert just plain queena to the cowboys of the west queena rode herd with her father the late frank stewart bringing ii in cattle from mexico and texas by the thousands to graze the plains from the time she was nine they tolerate useless gals around the outfits of those days so she just naturally had to learn brands today she probably is the foremost student of brand nomenclature in the country and has listed the or more brands of the dakotas in two volumes besides being vice president of the association of secretaries of state cattle organizations secretary of the western south dakota live stock growers association she is secretary of the south dakota brand commission where one of her duties consists in helping to wipe out rustling rustlers still active theres plenty of rustling yet she said the days when a man could round up a herd of cattle and hold them are gone but with trucks and good roads a modern cattle rustler can load his truck and be miles away before the owner discovers his loss state inspectors have been able to check much rustling through copies of brands furnished them by miss stewart choosing a brand is as delicate an act as naming the new baby she says and points out that although humane societies have protested branding the animal in reality suffers little pain from it she pointed to one of the cattle on her acre ranch my own brand is XI I 1 picked it because its easy to run on that only means it goes on easily and is easily seen and read brand tricks fall fail rustlers have a lot of tricks to change brands but none that would fool an expert cowman she said often burn the second brand through a wet blanket to make the new brand appear old she asserted that the re burning of the old brand causes it to heal slowly but in spite of this the only conclusive evidence is the skin of the dead animal where the old brand shows up distinctly miss stewart was one of two girls sent overseas during the world war from south dakota by the general federation of clubs 1 I did everything over there from singing with a 40 piece orchestra to dancing with the men and making doughnuts by the hundreds she said her girlhood ambition incidentally was not to become a brand expert she had several years of training in voice in baltimore and chicago now wherever she goes ashes called on to lead the community singing and every range nurtured raspy voice tunes in |