Will Bassett
farmer and cattleman, Ironshire · active 1938
Led, with Ned Lynch of Ocean City District, the eight farmer-cowboy riders who scouted the Worcester County beach at dawn on 9 August 1938 for a herd of three hundred or more wild cattle and stayed fifteen hours in the saddle rounding them up.
In the record (1)
1938 · 1938-08-09
Cowboys rode the beach below Ocean City for fifteen hours in August 1938 rounding up a herd of three hundred wild cattle
'At dawn Tuesday morning, eight farmer-cowboy riders, led by Ned Lynch, of Ocean City District, and Will Bassett, of Ironshire, scouted the beach on fast horses in search of the herd of 300 or more wild cattle that inhabit the beach areas throughout the year. For fifteen hours Tuesday, the riders remained in the saddle, roping and rounding up the cattle. One 1,000-pound wild steer that sought to break ranks as the herd passed North Beach Station, was quickly subdued when Deputy Sheriff Lynch tossed a [rope].' The round-up was to replenish the supply of beef and veal 'furnished the nation annually by Worcester County herds' - cattle driven up the beach 'en route to northern markets and slaughter houses'. Three hundred head of feral cattle living year-round on the same sand the resort sold as a beach, and a cattle drive past the old North Beach life-saving station.
Source · checked 2026-08-11