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authier.helo n
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ather C, Hart,64,11ving at 1405 *ate'.
man t,xort korth,Texas,was born at his father's
farm jar,16,1884. Hi c father,John C.Hart,then
oned a farm and ranch locatnd in Williamson Co,
Tex:is, Hart farmed a wall trot of fenced lend
and his cattle reseed on open range.
Lather learned to ride at an early age
and at the age of 12 he gegan to rife the range.
as continued wo.king on his fat ore's rich till
he w -s 20 ycv,rs old. He then secured work with
the 'Half Circle 3' which was owned by 4ardy 4atson.
The 'Half circle waE: located in Clay CoOlexas.
He quit the Half Circle .7' in 1906 and went to
iLndrews CoO'Tims and there worked for the CarWir
ranch. During the period 11( worlAid on the CarVier
nch he expeAenced a great deal of trouble
A.th cattle th t became addected to the loco
weed(arggialu). He quit the range in 1606 and
since 11 erwinged in stock farming.
His story of range life fo-lows:
I wet; born in 1.1lia.son %.o,Texes Mer,16,1884,at mg
f ther'!:3 farm, 4 fther's nane wis JohnC.Hart, and he cultiv ted
landolen ranged c,ttle. tie herd averaged around 1000 he -d and
he br-,nded with the outline of a heart VAls:.:2.
"The cattle grazed ln an open range, 9fi all cattle did
there in the 50's. Our adjacent rench neighbors were the.
Purcelly's Cambell's and _Leeman't. outfits. All of the ho -d
averaged around 1000. come herds numbered ltY as 250 and a few
up to 150. voe were what then v. -.e called grease -pot outfits.
"Prior tc the 8C's there a number of large renohes in
iUiamson %;43, but they hd moved f-rther
"I earned to -idle a hoes at an early age, 'bout the
first t,line f-ther tried to teach me Wee to ride a hoss,and how
tn handle one. hen I was l yers old I eterted to help look
after the herd,except for the sort periods that L went to school.
At the age of 14 I was doing the .ork of a regular trInd. Perhapn
ri['t so well as a man.but was filling in nearly no to sbuff. Of
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course, I co Idn't rope,bullgod and ride equal to a assuhich vvuld
be unreasonable to expect,but I was considered better than the
averse kid. I we larger than the aver -10 run of buckaroos of
my age. I am today abovr the average man in else. I am a tri
over eitsx4441* three inchcs tall nnd nounds,end its all
bf,nit and muscle. I was 16 years il beUre I could stay with a
pitching hose tolerable well. I never did any wrangting tIll
I ww 17 years old.
I tried tl wrangle critters when I was 14 and 15 years old,
but I was put int-, the air hiAl en ugh for oirds to build nest in
M7 pockets,in fnce of tho fact that I was strong as a young steer
bteekinf throogh a fence going to a corn patch.
The "art family,with the esception -f a coucAe extra hands
during the roundup,looked after our herd. I had tvo older borthers
and e did most of he ark after I w,c old enough to ride. About
al we did was ride the range our eyes on tho critters. All
of the riders' -:.orking for the other oufits did the same- thing,that
is worked together and each waddy .ould give attention to the
other fellow critter,if he mot up wiAl one th t n &clod it. In other
Aords all the outfits treated th cattle as t}ouh it oos their
crit'ers.
At the time I started to ork og father culdal$4 afford to
hire help,bocause the orice111eta cattle WAR t-'0 low. A panic hit
1
around 1893 an, at one time,a-ound 94-5, one couldn't give cattle
away. Emery one had to ma -4 cattle,especially if one had to hire
help to look after the herd.
"4 looked after our herd ond the cattle increased in ,12-,bers
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steadily. "ether calculated that there uo*ld be an end to the panic
an low prices. after about flur years !hings changed for the better
and we then had the cattle.
"During the sr1.4 roundup all the cutfts that, ranged critters
in that section united iWo one crew a:1d the roundup was did as if
tie critters belonged to ,ne man. zLome one of the various crer41 ;%ould
be appointed as the roundup boss. As the critlers were gathered,the
dif.:erent brands would be separated into one bunch. he cattle would
be .)randed and counted and then turned loose on their respective
grazig grounds. by fall the critters so-Jd be again mixed to a
great ext%nt and then Enther roundup was held to separated the
animbols.
v40 never had enough critters at one time,which At had ready
for the m rket, to make up a wiying d-iving herd. Therefore,f ther
sold most of nix cattle to cattle buyers that came thro gh the
ceantry,or he would throw in with one drover and put his critter
in the drevere herd. After the crite s v,ere sold Wtlement was made,
I didn't get into to
real randh work until 1904 at whidh time
I joined ue with the 'HIRAI' Crick J',8- named because the brand was
made thus:kJ V. 'he outfit nv o-ned by Hardy V,atson and his camp
was located near L;hamrock,l,heeler,o,Texas.
"The 'Half Circle J' outfit run better then 15000 head of
cattle and 40t, head of hoeses. There was a erew of seven hands
besides the two sons of vItson. Jim watson was the top -screw and
Jack was the belly -cheater.
"The cattle erased on a fenced range and vere herfords ad
blackpolles.
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"We lived well while )n the home ranch. The chuck was the best
and we had plenty verity of well cooked grub.
As unsual on a Ca*
ou'fit,bo-f was the main meat dish,but lateon backed that up with
lot of canad4 valketables and there vs always somethi p to satisfy
oulk 'meet tooth.
he had night rid'ng to do on the Half Circle .11,not because
it was necessary to hela the herd,but becuase of the rustlers* It
as necessary to hay ecTleone watching the herd constantly,so one
two men styed with the critters dur ng the night. During the
day the work v,e1L divided among various crews. The fence riders had
a certain number of miles to travel each day going over the fence
looking for brea;,s. Ill breaks ',ere reported .to the repair crew
that v4int to the reported spots and did the re airing. There were
the men tiv,t attended tr) tho sick and injured critters„which were
constantly showiug up.
"The grass weuld b-c•.me mighty short with the apnroach of
winter and then we drifted the herd into Oklaland herd the animals
in the Arbuckle MOlintain district. ?her v P had n, fonce and it
was necsaary to A) 114 riding at all hours t- keep the -nimnls
4Inched. There is where I pot real early day cow work. 4e lived
the open while i the Arbuckle .4ountain district. Be moved our
camp from time to time,that wts neoLsary to keen the herd on pod
zinp grounds. gims,Uring the winter amths we lived behl-41 the
Ahuck vagon,lining our flue sluatted on ur haunch ee and doing our
silver -A g rolled in a blanket. 4hen it rained or snwed,ze threw
a slicker ever the Astamill4 any mornings I have awaked to find
IA.aa encased in a shell of ice,but would warm as toast. After
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ice f-,rms one became warm,because once the ice formed then the air
and wind would be excluded and the heat form the body vas held
within the shell. I never had a cold and felt like a two year ol
mule colt allthe tie I was in the trbuokle liountfiin district.
"Our hardest job was keeping the critters from drifting when
a stor vis drifting our way. o or three days before a storm hit
the animals ould become restless and hanker to get some where else.
Occasionally we woula have a st6mpede,but the herford critters are
not much for running and ve never had a great deal of trluble to
check n stop.
"The land bere we herded our critters was tadian land and the
I Iliane looked to vzs for theirlioba",which was the Tndiam “,rd for
beef. Watson's role was to give the Indian beef in reasomable amounts.
He reasoned that the Indian would get b:Awf one way or another an d
th t it would be cheaper for us to give than fight the -'id lane to
.eep them away from the herd. The Indiana would call nbout once
each week and nick out a yearling or two and then go their way.
"dust as the spring grass got up in good shape e would drift
the herd bAsk to t're hoe ranch.
"The spring branding of calve took place :Airtng April and then
we had a busy time for a few Amkso Also, the houses were branded
during the spring.
"The cattle which cfr sold,was shipped by rail to rort worth
and the 4enses City mar tots. hen a shippment was made waddles vent
with the cattle. The waddle.' work was watolAng the critters to
see that none gflt down and be stomped to death. If a critter once
got down in a packed car.it would not be able to pet up because
of the crowding by the other animals. As a ruse no critter wluld
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get down unless it becme sick. -ver, time the train stopped the
buIl nur s would look over the are o cattle end riv the criers
t1p,t (Atte tion was necessary.
"In iditon to the cattle vork we hed considerable hose work
to d. re klesee, ttmt -ere to be sold were wrangled and broke to
th saddle. The wranglinp, was done by all the crew,as everyone was
a hose buster. Weverdim :Aeon Ale the top wrangler. He had
hose busting down to a nat's eye nd ould bust a crit4Or quicker
than any in I ever suw at he work.
"-here “ore muny waddles th,lt could do a pert job of busting
The differAue was in the neatness and quickness that some could
de the job. Jim wateln was one of the fellows that could bring a
hos to thaw pronto. He cold ride 'em with or without a saddle.
The houses on the 'Half Circle Jewale not so Aad,because they
ranged v_ithin a fe ce and e had contact with the animals a great
dealtthus we did not live any reftl tough aniamls to deal with,
"I quit the 'Half Circle J' inaI906 and went to Andrews 6o,
lexae,B.of Midland* *here I went to work for "larenoe Carver. He
had a cow camp in Ilidland eo,located on the 400s -4ver and one in
aatiese
Co,where I orked, which was located in th Comoho draw
section. Carver' brand was 'CC' and he ranged around 16,0 t head
%ems of the range was fenced,but a large number of the
itte c run on the open rPlage.
"I did fence riding most of the time while -A.th the 'CC'
outfit 1/14 recived 00.per month which was 4.mnre than I received
with the 'Half Circle outfit. Night riding as not done excent
when the critters shooed a tendency to drift. The cattle o- the
';.10 range was Ilder stook than thoee on the 'Half ;1,1.cle
4authear,4)heldn '.?age #8
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dialing v,ith locoed critters,
hen I first 40t on the 'CC' I didn't know how to spot a
loc ed critter that just had a touch o. the wood,but soon learned
t- watch the animals eyes and !ook at he pupils. ;he pupils
'zould show various stager, of contraction,depeAing on the amount
that
of the weed[iA been eaten by the.eritterond contrnction was
the first sign to sh-w. iinallY the animal will stare and have
a far -away look and later it will will beao* restless,keeping on
the move,of course,hunting for the weed. It is imp-!seible to hold
a locoed critter with a bunch of cattle„unless one stays owctep of
the ::ritter every minute and when they are rPal bad a11 lades can't
hold the critter. The last stages of the animals conditions is the
losing of weight ant then death.
"I saddled a hose on morning fir a drag across the range to
dr, some fence riding. I was j ggin along at t, f-ir rte nf speed
and came to a spot v,here there %.ere several gopher mounts. Usually,
a hoes will take an extra long strid or a short one 110-keisp from
vteppit.g on the mount,but this h -se made a leap as though he was
clearing a high barik, the leap caught me off a; gt-rd nd I hit
the govmd,but held onto the reins. I never reckoned thnt the hoes
was leaping to clear the mound,but thought th,,t it was one of its
fancy tricksobecause the cowpony had the habit of itching unoxpectei-
kr. They seemed to want to 1 t the rider know that it could itch
and
an would-ellddenly stop do a little pitching then go on. I
mounted again and started on m; wa::,and soon came t- another mound,
',le critter mad another flying he p,but that time I was on my
guard ,rd stayed in the saddle. After the second jump T surmised
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4rrpint t;o4ist,./e/
tivit rev the h-es's way of missing a gopher hole 1.-ind mound. .Sure
enough the next moun we owls to he made his leap,
inally t came to gap in Allfence,sith the wire baying on
the ground, w 1 rIver thought for a moment that the hams would
do anything but step over the ‘vire. The hoes made his famowleap
poig over th,t wired and went high enough to clear a ten foot
fence. Th't jump again caught me off guard and I hit the ground,
but WA vas the last Op411,bocause from than on I sac ready for
anythiug,from tat crttter.
"pawn I returned to the camp i told Odd tralles about the
peculair tpl.bit of the IvIis and he replied by saying,shabit,hell,
that hoes has a touch of loco'. V4 took a. look et th o critter's
eyes and its pupils 'ere contracted, Odd ordered the hoes tether-
ed with feed put before it. the hose was kept tethered for a
week or ten days. I learned th t if a critter is handled at the
first when it gets a touch of the veed,it cam be saved.
"Odd instricted me, about vat the older hfInds knew, regard-
ing the need to ',eep i 8.tc fl- locoed critters. ;ith our !losses
that could be done,41;t vith th cattle it was impozsible to keep
or eye out for contracted :Du lie and s could not spot a loco
untill the critter vas too far g'net. he only/Nrcould catch the
cattle at the strt of their be eating w -s by looking at each
of the thousands thA uere gr zing, and we could not spend that aim
"hen se gatherd oritt re for the m,Arket we would c,A out
all the locos that ospotted,but there ere times when the locos
didn't show up till we had the herd in the pen at Midland, It was
a five day drift from Lilt much to the =Vend per.. There we lond-
ed the critters into oars for shinment to the -cort Worth market,
uthier.6heldon
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By the ti -e yea hit the pens,the craving for the weed would be at
high pitch in the animals that hd a good strt on the weed. On
eeverel ecc-,sions Al got adnumber of critters into the pen before
we noticed the animals and had a pert time before we could get
the critters oat. The range critter is naturally feetful Ahen put
into a pen and when several boos t tl cutting up among a pen of
crittere something is sure to haopen. viielloon each occasion that
we pot the locos into the pen, the critters br-ke the -en fence
fighting to get out.
"A locoed critter will fight the devil to get trough a fence
and bre/1H out of a'pea,bilt the "'evil ,an't ftive it out. The animal
will fight a man end boss till it irops• V. bad t turn all the
critters but of the pen in ordet to pet at the lot:oed beast.
"One of the most troublesome stampedes I ever dorked with was
caused by a couple locos in tho herd. It happened -ith a herd beteg
driven to the penneand the herd stampeded just as we arrived. The
two locos vient hay -wire and that started the whole herd on the ran.
The pens were 1;.-f town and the critters lit out towards Midland.
he herd hit the town in high -rear and the euildinps caused them to
split in all direetiens.
"In town the animals became more excitod than ever and vere
runnine hilter-skilter. he town f lks hit for shelter,orontoe
They jut turned the town over to the animals and we cowhands.
There Ate ne scene I can see plainly to this day and it
tickles my ienards every time t recall it. sWaedies were lost
to kno just how we should go abut petting the critters out of
town,but we were doing our best to clear the streets of the steers.
Gauthier.bheldow. 1age 11
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I was riding to head off a aunch that were coming into the main
stem on a dead run. Just as the bunch rounded a corner,a wr)man
who vas loaded down with a tea of leaf lard around her ribs and hips
came waddling up to the corner. he had an arm fall of bundles,and
then the eteere saw me riding head on tovards them,or it may have
ben her th6 animals looked at,a couple of the critters let out a
snort. At same moment the snorts sounded the womans hands went up
in the air and her bundles dropped tz) the ground. .)11- let out a
yell and turned to run,but stumblA and fell. I rode betewwn that
bundle of lef ltIrd and the snortinp steers just in time to head
tre animals around the woman.
"After silt hours or so we pot the animals under contr-1 and
4n,to the pen,mihus the locos which were shot.
"It was ageCnec the law to ship a leo.vc, we always hnd tl
look the critters over carefully Olile loading the animals.
"One more word about a lc;" hoes and that is tAda. A hoes v,ith
a touch of the Toed will work till it drops without faltering.
"T remained with the 'CC' outfit f- r two year and then luit
to po ferming,bt tb? frming has been stock f-rming.