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"The
process of butchering was a new development of that most useful
science. The carcass was first turned upon the belly, and braced to
a position by its distended legs. The operator then commenced his
labors by gathering the long hair of the "boss" and severing a
piece obliquely at the junction of the neck and shoulders, -then parting
the hide from neck to rump, a few passes of his ready knife laid bare the
sides, -next paring The same process being described upon the opposite side, the carcass was then slightly inclined, and, by aid of the leg-bone bisected at the knee joint, the "hump-ribs" were parted from the vertebrae; after which, passing his knife aside the ninth rib and around the ends at the midriff, he laid hold of the dissevered side, and, with two or three well directed jerks, removed it to be laid upon his choicely assorted pile; a few other brief minutia then completed the task." The picture is by Alfred Jacob Miller, entitled "Taking the Hump Rib" made during his sojourn with William Drummond Stewart in 1837. See also the 1837 Rendezvous. The
above description is from
Rocky Mountain Life by
Rufus Sage.
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away the loose skin and preparing a hold, with one
hand he pulled the shoulder towards him and with the other severed it from
the body; -cutting aslant the uprights of the spina dorsi and "hump
ribs," along the lateral to the curve, and parting the
"fleece" from the tough flesh at that point he deposited it upon
a clean grass-spot.