The Trail Drivers Of Texas Volume I Second Edition

Revised VOlLUME I The Trail Drivers of Texas Interesting Sketches of Early Cowboys and their Experiences on the Range and on the Trail during the Days that Tried Mens Souls True Narratives Related by Real Cow-Punchers and Men who Fathered the Cattle Industry in Texas Published Under the Direction of GEORGE W. SAUNDERS, President of THE OLD TIME TRAIL DRIVERS ASSOCIATION Compiled and Edited by J. MARVIN HUNTER SECOND EDITION GEORGE W. SAUNDERS President and Organizer Old Time Trail Drivers Association FOREWORD. This volume is brought forth to present a link in the long chain of Texas history that cannot well be spared if the rec ord is kept straight, and posterity is given a true account of the deeds of daring and heroism of the early pioneers of our great state. The characters mentioned in this book are men of sterling worth and integrity, as has been proven in every instance wherein they came in contact with the prob lems and difficulties that made for the development of an empire so vast in its possibilities as to excite the envy of the world. These pages sparkle with the lustre of deeds well done by a passing generation, and it is our purpose to keep bright that lustre, that it may not pale with the fleet ing years. The men and women, the pioneers who blazed the way for the present day civilization, happiness and prosperity in Texas, are looked upon with the greatest respect and ven eration. Fifty years ago the Indian, the buffalo and the deer roamed at will over the Texas prairies. A half century now intervenes, but today prosperous cities dot the green distances and men and women who thirty-five and forty years ago drifted to the great and boundless West with hardly a penny aretoday wealthy and in the saddle in the States affairs. They endured many privations. They fought for what they believed was right. They blazed the trail. The people of today, the younger generation, are not unmindful of what the early settlers did for them, and as they enjoy the splendid prosperity that is theirs they silent ly thank the earlier ones. To the memory of the old trail drivers, the Texas pioneers to the heroic mothers, fathers to the young and the brave who fought manfully for proud, imperial Texas, this volume is lovingly dedicated. THE TRAIL DRIVERS OF TEXAS Before the advent of railroads the marketing of cattle was a problem that confronted the man who undertook the rais ing of cattle in Texas. The great expanse of unsettled do main was ideal for the business. No wire fences were here to limit the range, grass was knee high, and cattle roamed freely over the hills, valleys and prairies of Texas. The long horn was in the hey-day of his glory. The limitless range, broken by no barrier, extending from the Gulf to Kansas, offered ample opportunities for the man with nerve and de termination in this great out-of-doors. There being no fences he allowed his cattle to scatter over the range, but at times he would round them up and throw them back in the vicinity of the home ranch when they strayed too far away. In the spring the big round-ups usually took place, when all of the cowmen of each section would participate, coming together at a stated time, gathering all of the cattle on the range, and branding what was rightfully theirs. Be it said to their credit, those early cowmen seldom claimed animals that belonged to a neighbor. If a cow was found unbranded, and there was anyevidence that she belonged to some cowman not present, or who lived over in the next neighborhood, the owner was notified and usually got his cow. There was a noticeable absence of greed in those days in the cattle business, for the men who chose that means of livelihood were of that whole-souled, big-hearted type that established a rule of live and let live, and where a man was suspected of being a thief he was watched and if the suspicions were realized that man found that particular neighborhood to be a mighty unhealthy place to live in...