Document text
"Iluller, Chas. R.
Rangelare
Cottle Co.
H. P. Cook, 76, was born near Peoria,
Ill., but moved with his father to Texas
in 1866, first settling near Veil Station
in Parker co. In 1867, moved to Indian
creek, about 18 mi. N.W. of Port Worthy_
in Tafra-n-t-mo. lere, as -w -burr -he learne
to rile a horse, and become thorough].
accustomed to frontier life. They moved to
Jack do. in 1871, settling 7 mi. .of Jacks-
boro, on W. Park of the Trinity River. Worked
as cowboy for Hillery Bedford, and at age 10
went "'Up the Trail" to Fort Dodge, Kan. Was
also enployed by John ChisamL,and drove cattle
up the fanous "Chisolm Trail". Was in Indian
raids, and was present at famous trial of
Indian Chiefs, Big Tree and Santana. In 1878,
moved to Cleburne, Johnson co., tnen on to
Lamar co. Moved west again to Young co. in
1888, and pioneered in 1890 in Cottle co.
As a dugout pioneer in Cottle, was visited
by Will Rogers on his first run -a -way from
home in Okla., keeping Rogers on his place
for a month or more. Cook quit farming to
move to Paducd1, where he is now engaged as
proprietor of the Cook Hotel.
"I was barn near Peoria, Ill., March 26, 1861. As my
father had been a soldier in the Confederate Army, after the
war it wasn't so healthy for him in that part of the country, so
he moved to Texas in 1866 to start life anew.
"We spent the first year at Veil Station, Parker County,
then,in 1867, moved to Indian Ureek in Tarrant county, locating
about 18 miles from ±ibrt Worth Texas. At that time, _Fart Worth
was about "Where the West ended". As I remember it, there were
just a few frame buildings on the west side of the square.
"Pour years later, in 1871, we moved to Jack county, and
settled on the West Fork of the Trinity River, about ?miles 3.
of Jacksboro. Indian raids were so severe about that time, that
we lived in Jacksboro, which was than called Fart Richardson. as
I remember it.
T'uller, s.R
Rangelor e,
.7ottle lo.
Page 772
1-7110
"Speaking about Indian raids, I well remember the excite-
ment in the community when we heard about the famous wagon
train murder, in which seven freighters were killed and scalped.
Must have been about 1872. k7eneral Sherman happened to be
down there about that time, and it looked so bad to him that he
just had. tne Indians responsible for it 'Big Tree',11.1antanag,
and "Santankt, brought back from tneir reservation in the
Territory ard turned them over to the civil authorities for
trial, instead of giving them a military trial, lantank was
killed when he tried to escape, but the other two were tried
there in Jacksboro and given the death penalty. I was there at
the trial, and will say that the excitement was running plenty
higi. There were over a thousand people there, besides a lot
of Indians. I think one of the Indians was finally pardoned.,
and the other committed suicide.
"Along about the time of the wagon murder, there were other
raids pulled off. The way it was, these Indians were assigned
to their reservations, but they would get permission to go on
hunts, or just slip out, and go on raids instead. It was a
funny thing to me, but they nearly always picked a moonlight
night for these scalping :)arties of theirs. They would steal
all the horses and cattle, too.Lots of times they would come
in broad daylight. I remember once when a band of them came
through in their war paint. I was out in the pasture. Just as
soon as I caught sight of then, I climbed a big mesquite tree
and. hid myself the best I could so they wouldn't see me. Yell,
they went on by, and made a raid in the community and scalped
7411er, Chas.R,
Rangelore
Cottle Co.
Page -13
some of the settlers (I don't remember who tney were,now) ani
stole a lot of horses. I still think it was just a miracle
that they didn't see me in that tree.
"Yes, it is true that I went 'Up the Trail' when I was
only 10 years old. It was in 1871 that I made my first trip.
time
that4 I was working for Aillery Bedford, who lived on Black
Creek, near Decatur, Tex. He had several thousand head rounded
up to take to eort Dodge, Kanliconsisting of native Spanish
cattle (longhorns), and including steers, cows and yearlings.
I think there were 12 cowboys and a chuck wagon. Now, I wasn't
taken along as a mascot, but as I was working for Max Bedford
and doing regular cowboy work, he told the boss to let me go if
I wanted to. I made a regular hand on the trail, too, and took
my place on the shifts at night, after the cattle were bedded
down. You know, back in those days, lots of boys were good
cowboys by the time they were 10 years old. But the next
oldest boy on this drive was 18. I don't think there was any
of my age
body else in that part of the country/that was doing regular
cowboy work on the ranches.
It has been so long ago, I don't remember so much about
the details of the trip. I remember we crossed Red River some-
where about Spanish ifort, and bumped right into a band of
Indians the very first thing. We had explicit instructions from
the uovernment not to molest the Indians in any way, so we were
going pretty careful, not knowing what might happen. Well, it
was a funny thing; The bucks had sent the squaws out in advance
and they were waving their red blankets and shawls, which almost
171.1.11er, Chas
Rangelore
Cottle Co.
Page #4
FFIC
caused a stampede. We soon found. out, though, that what they
wanted was 'toll' that is, they wanted some of our cattle
for crossing their reservation.7e out out some of the scrawny
beeves for them, and they gave us no further trouble. But it
was a sight to see how quick those beeves disappeared. They
must have been pretty hungry for beef, because as soon as they
were killed, they didin't wait to cook it, but devourePraw.
It wasn't any time at all before they were picking the bones.
"Well, we passed through a lot of Indian resePfations and
saw a lot of different tribes, but they were all just Indians
to me. I remember they said some of them were Comanches, some
.d.owas and some uherokees. Nearly all of them wanted toll, and.
this out our herd. down some before we got to Fort Dodge. We
were more afraid of the Comanches, as they were considered the
most warlike of all the tribes.
"I made another trip to Fort Dodge with the Bedford cattle
in the fall of the same year, and over the same trail. We had
a tougher trip this time, because there was almost continuous
rain, snow and sleet all the way up. We had three shifts of
the guards at night, after the cattle were bedded down, aril I
took my place on these shifts along with the rest of them. The
going and returning,
trip mu.st have taken about six weeks's/ It was 'really tough, sleep-
ing on the ground this trip, it was so wet and cold. I had
just a couple of' cotton quilts, and, by morning there wasn't a
dry thread in them, it was so wet. I used. my -saddle. for a
pillow. "è would move the fire over, and flop down on the
ground. where the fire had been, which would stay warm for a while.
euller, Chas.R.
Rangelore
Cottle Co.
Pago 15
FTC;
We were struck by a 'Blue Norther' and the next thing it was
sleeting. The wind was blowing so hard that it out like a
knife. I had to dig into the ground that night, to keep from
freezing,This herd was gathered up in the counties of Johnson,
Hill and Tills, and must have been 3,500. I heard some say it
was 5,000, but I don't believe they could drive that many in a
herd.
"The last trip I made 'Up the Trail' was in 1874. They
were John Chimes cattle, and were rounded up in Denton and
Tarrant counties. It was a big herd, too, at least 3,000. Some
said it was 6,000 head, but I don't see how that many could be
handled on a drive, unless it was made in two herds. 'le crossed
Red River at Doan's crossing and took up the Chiselm Trail. I
have heard people say over three million head crossed at Doans in
one year, but you know that's a lot of cattle.
We handled the Indians about as usual, paying them a little
toll now and then to keep them satisfied. But we had a new ex-
perience when we got to the Aansas state line. We ran into a
bunch of settlers. The cowboys always called them 'nester'.
Now, taey didn't like for these trail herds to cross their lands
at all, and there they were gathered in groups, armed with
shotguns and clubs, to force us to narrow the trail dawn as
much as possible and keep the cattle moving. They were afraid
they would lose some of their grass. You know, later on the
Kansas Legislature passed a law to keep cattle from south of a
certain line from being driven at all into tneir state. They
claimed it was to prevent the spread of the so-called 'Texas
Puller, ahas.R. Page #6
Rangelore
Cottle Co. FTC
Fever'. It was in Jane of that year that they almost came to
war with the cattlemen coming up the trail. There might have
been a war, too, but word came through from Washington, grant-
ing the Texas cattlemen the right to drive their cattle through
the Indian Territory, and to the Aansas market.
"About cowboy lore; I don't remember so much of it. I don't
talk it either, like some of the old trail drivers, because my
cowboy days were over even before I came to Cottle county in
1890. I have heard about driving across the quicksand to get
water for the cattle, when the rivers were dry, but on the
drives I made we had more water than we wanted; they were all
during the wet seasons. I can tell you one thing, though, a
cow wont start across a swollen stream until she noses the
calf around to the upstream side, and then the calf just rests
snugly up against that mammy cow's left side. Just the opposite
with a mare, though; they swim across with the colts on the
downstream side. I think it is because the mare is a little
longer and breaks the water so that the colt has still water
to swim in on the downstream side. It would be hard to say
which side is the best, but I guess nature just takes dare of
that.
"Well, we'd usually stay in Fort Dodge about a week, and
of course, after coming sudh a long distance, the cowboys were
always ready to celebrate. They'd ride around the square and
discharge their sixshooters until there wasn't any ammunition
left, then wit. Yearly all the cattle were coming to 7ort
Dodge then, and the place was full of cowboys, and they usually
7uller,
Rangelore
lottle Co.
Page if 7
770
pulled a few wild pranks before their return to Texas. You
know, the cowboy is noted for pulling pranks.
"Well, we moved to Lamar county for a while, then went
to Young county. I lived there about two years. As I had got
married, we decided to go further west and make a new home,
so in 1890 we came out here and settled in the Ogden community,
about 12 miles east of Paducah. W.GJAorris and John Wilson
were the only families living there at that time, so Mrs. Cook
and I are actual pioneers in this county.
"You know, there are drawbacks to every country. I guess
the most complaint here is sandstorms and drouths, but some
years we don't have either. Besides, most everybody who has
lived nere very long have about got used to it, even the gyp
water. 7van the top soil seems to have gyp in it, and I suppose
in some places more taan others. I remember we once made up a
batch of sorghum molasses, sometime back in the 90's, and do you
know at the bottom of the vat there was at least six inches of
solid gyp.
"In 1896, we moved to about 5 miles west of Paducah, into
the Fairview community, now called Valley View, and several
years later moved to Paducah. Mrs. Cook and I run the Cook
Hotel here. We are accustomed to this country and think the
people here are as good as taey are anywhere.
"There is one happening I didn't tell you about. In fact,
I didn't think anything of it much at the time. It is about
Will Rogers. I think it must have been about May, 1894, when
in a dugout
we were living/in tne Ogden community.
As I remember it, it
Chas.R.
Rangelore
Cottle Co.
Page le
711
was in tne late spring. Cne morning, a dilapidated buggy,
drawn by a small bay pony, rolled up to my front yard gate
and stopped. It must have been about 12 o'clock, because it
was just at dinner time. I could see that the driver of the
buggy was a loose-jointed, bow-legged boy, about 15 or 16
years old. As I started to the gate to see what he wanted,
he hailed me and said: 'Say, mister, don't you want a hand?'.
"Well, all the settlers were having a tough time that
year to make ends meet. A long drouth was on and nobody had
raised anything much. I was hunting and trapping wolves and
varmints and selling the hides, in order to get money to feed
my family. During some of the. long drouths that occurred back
in those days, many of the early settlers resorted to gathering
bones off the prairies and hauling them to market 65 miles away
for the paltry sum of three or four dollars a load, just so they
could live 'til times got better. So I just told the boy that I
didn't have a job to offer him, but to nitoh his pony and aome on
in to dinner. He said his name was 7ill Rogers, lind it was, too,
because I saw him afterwards in a little town in New Mexico where
we both happened to be at the same time.
"That boy stayed with me for a month or more. He went out
with me on my hunting trips, and he helped do the farm chores.
He was an interesting chap and was a big help to me. I really
wish I could have kept him. After he had been there awhile, he
and I began to get better acquainted. I treated him like a guest,
and soon won his confidence. He told me that he had left home
because his dad wanted to send him off to school, but he wanted
Allier, Chas. R.
R angel or e
tle Co.
Page #9
FTC
to be a cowboy and make some money. He was anxious to get a
Job on a ranch. It wasn't long before he sold the horse and
for )45.30
buggy/to a man by the name of lunningham, and then he bought
a little mustang mare from Itank gasley for )15.00. I could
see that he was getting ready to go. He said. he was going further
west.
"Well, the mustang wasn't broke to ride, so I roped him for
the boy and helped. him saddle tip. Then he got on him, and you
should have seen that pony pitch. He was plunging and bucking
so wild. all over the pliace that I thought he would be thrown and
maybe badly hurt. That 'Strawberry Roan' that you've heard so
much about didn't have much on that little mustang. But Will
Rogers just stuck to him like a tick.
"He finally told me goodbye and said the next time I heard
from aim he would be rid in' the range. I didn't see him again
until that time I met him in Yew Mexico, like I told you, but
I saw a lady who runs a hotel at Plainview, who told me tnat it
wasn't long after he left my place 'til he showed up there. Said.
he stayed at her place a little while and then got a Job on a
ranch out there, but didn't stay on it long. Later, I got a
letter from him and he wrote me about everything that happened to
him after he left my place. That letter got lost and we never
could find it again. I would give a lot if I could find that
letter now.
"The old. dugout 'Idlers I lived when he stopped. with me is
about fifteen miles east of Paducah, about a couple of miles
to the right of the highway and beyond the Ogden schoolhouse.
Tiler, Chas. H.
Rangelor
Cottle Co.
Page #10
Fin
You. turn in at the old Tvans Place and go south. It has been
a long time since I saw it, but there isn't anything there but
a hole in the ground,almost filled up,and a few rocks laying
around. I gu.ess the settlers out here nearly all quit living in
dugouts by 1900.