The country around Okar was devoted to cattle. Sanderson's practiced
eye told him that. The rich grassland that spread from Okar's confines
was the force that had brought the town into being, and the railroad
would make Okar permanent.
Okar did not look permanent, however. It was of the type of the
average cow-town of the western plains--artificial and crude. Its
buildings were of frame, hurriedly knocked together, representing the
haste of a people in whom the pioneer instinct was strong and
compelling--who cared nothing for appearances, but who fought mightily
for wealth and progress.
Upon Okar was the stamp of newness, and in its atmosphere was the
eagerness and the fervor of commercialism. Okar was the trade mart of
a section of country larger than some of the Old World states.
Fringing the hitching rails in front of its buildings were various
vehicles--the heavy wagons of Mexican freighters, the light buckboard
of the cattleman, and the prairie schooner of the homesteader.
Mingling with the vehicles were the cow-ponies of horsemen who had
ridden into town on various errands; and in the company corrals were
many cattle awaiting shipment.
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