Document text
Geuthier..7helor
blIngelore,
Terre rt CO Walgt 9.ff7
per,
n 240
C.O.Sdwerds•86,11ving et 666 Sewn iv',
..fort Alcrthoiesessores born Jon 2901861 in Terrest
.Co„ texas, et his fether's,L.J.Edwords•fnts:
loot:tea west of the city of Port '.forth.
L.J.110dwrras storted to esteliAh e herd
o oettle prior to the Civil tAer end et. the
3ommenoemert of the wer hQe herd of 600
orttle,
The bora we drove to themouth of the
biohtte Alverlkorth of Seymour, Baylor
Coplexes, in 1860. Colvin Smiih boa charge
of the herd end there esteblisbed s tench.
Compensation for his work wee P presentee, of
the herd's increase.
After the Axil ever termineted0L.JAdwerus
gpve his son.C.0.8dwards„ 600 oettle,which the
son drove to Lynn Co, loxes, it,d there esteblish.
ed a ranch. From that start he iooreesed the
number of his cattle untilot one time,he owned
600000 heed ton4 since has been ooptinuously in
the oettle business..
Els story of range life follows:
'v place of' li.rth was Torrent Co, Texes,est of Fort
.;-orth, on r form owned bv my father0L.J.Edwrras. The dete
of my 17.1.rth is •Jen 2901881•Which mrkes T7 Pep 86.
Ly _ntire life hee beer devotou to the (Attie
indrustry. y fpther began his orreer in the cattle tusiness
prior to the Civil wer. Le stertea with e herd of ebout 500
rmA edont,,,d 'LOW' es his trend.
"Fethr'r entered into et egreemert with Colvin rymith,
in 1860, thrt eereement provided that smith would toke ohnrp
of the herd end receive a preoentege of the increase for his
Pei'
"Smith drove the herd to the mouth of the Little
.1ohite Liver and loonted e rproh Oorth of Seymoutoin Brylor
Co. Thrt prrengement continued for a period of five yeers0whioh
covered the duration of the Civil .er.
euthierolLheldon Fe
4,angelore,
Ierrant Cc:11004st" #7
Pe re 2
FC 240
%There wes not. much sale fnr cattle after the war began
endolso, for a time after the vier 0e:seed. Therefore, at the
en6 of rye years we had a tremenduos icreese• In spite of
aLrayegIndiens —6. other troubles the 600 bead bad Increased
to about 4000* The /miens helped. themselves to oUr cattle,
for use es food, as they desired to, vee found cattle with our
brand es for Louth as 4arrant Go, It is difficult to estimate
the number of cattle we would have hed.if none got rweY•
At the concluilor o: the five period With Smithefetter
turned over to me 1,000 heed of lettle er6 I beget') my career in
the orttle industry, and since that time I have never been out
of it. I have had herds that numbered 60,000, /n fret, there
N.
were times that I did no know how mwny cattle were cerrying
my hrril-,
",hen_:ether grve me the herd i employed Tom Preston
as my range boss, at a salary of 4i60, per month. Pe hired a
crew,Peyiru wages of around 21), per- mo th„ era they Srove
thrt herd to Lynn Coothat Was in 1868,
"I ever did any range work myself, I hrve always have
left the matter of managing the ranch entirely an to my ranch
foremen, I always tried to emplo, e dependable men as my ranch
foremen/pin thrt I was not always succeesfal,but or the whole
old quite well*
"Tom Presto was one of the b-st ranch foremen I ever
had workinv for me, In faze of all the difficulties that the
oettle men were oompeled to meet ourirk several years following
Geuthierorheldon F,
hehrelore,
Tarrrnt 0o,.;Uitt, if7
iC
Page 11
240
the closet of the Civil'00r„Preaton handled my ()tittle end rendh
'netters enO kept from going under-‘ Under his mensgement the
herd I creased with the number if osttle oerrying my brand
was estimated -to be above 50,000.
"1 used the brand end s good•number of my cattle
hed their brend changed. The precentege of oes is e metter
at ootjecture„but we -iscovered opttle in many Instences,where
thP hod been changed to q.e0 end IT.A: In /*Pot, the brand
wes.chen-ed to enything one ney imegine.o.In one case we found
it chsrgeo to 'TUT'.
tii;Iscussing the question of brand .cheng0e with friends,
it hrs often been suggested to me that I change my brend so that
it would be more difficult to riter. I often thought ebout doing
$0,but never co ld figure out s brand thet could not be worked
into some other merit.
"Charly G000nicht„Custer end Atkins,0111 barrio end
others, ell of whom run opttle in thet section, tried to out
'figure tine °r end barner„but failed,
"The rustler would gather cattle end get e herd together
end then dirve it Into New Mexico,where they. hed merketo
"The opttle ruttier yes one of our big problems end
still Is.
"in the eerily cloys the oettlemen dolt rough with the
thiPf. Meny'of them were hang to it llmboor shot, Buttthet did
stop the traffic in opttle rustling.
"There wee e period durinp the 70's then thP price of
beef droppeo so low thet it 41‘ not psy to drive herd to merkets
Gouithier.Shelgoa
Itee 1.01,
Torrort Co"eist,,d7
rvgo
M 240
idisoussing the metier of pries with my foremen sold to himolwello
we will get r rest form wetobing rustlersobeceuse it wil not be
prying proposition for them". ut„ Iw,s mietotbn, they never
stono04. Many critter we rtrAled for itshitAe end tallow, which
wos salobles
"It WS trouble enoue::: to-deel witi the rustlersobut
then one Ttz'a e rustler end wel poling the fellow to look
anew the herd, lard have thrt fellow help the ruitlersiothrt ves
e bitter ill to, tyke,
"After lova Preston's tiTo as my oremen0I hod several
expeOrencen with rustler formens. I sholl !-ot mention ony
nrmen,for obvious reasons0but ectuaW I hove hod foremens
tbot rustled my cattle end were. conAirerotes of rustlers...,
reoeivea word from friendsvin each instance, thot
I bod. better check up on M7 foremen. I acted upon the informs.
Von ond found the -edvioe given eoch tine to be correct.
hCottle rustling beoese n business with meny men otter
the close, of the Civil ;,jor on4 the cattlemen were martly *b
feult for develoninF the prectic„ It sterted with paying the
vecties., bonus for broiling mrvericks,
'louring the Civil ler mony of the herds were neglected,
due tb the scarcity of help crab'. Nicause of the r,00r market. Mony
re,chers considered it e went of mony to roundup end brord amities,
tr, o few yoors were produced VAiuisnas of cattle, in the Smith.:
west, wt,ich wore running the rarer with no brood..
"It woo impoleible to .cketrmine the owner of the mevericks
end one person hod as much right to the animas PS onother. or
GauthiereSholdon
Irma at Go„ oil/at "W7
ram :i5
2n, 240
a time no one gave any attention to the meverloksi,
he -it was lerrned that orttled could be driven over
a long way without uotremental affect on the animelolf handled
oorrectly. Ihe oounrty iiorth of us west by nature, nrovieed
with adequate grasesnd water, am& herd eould be drifted
through the counrty at a speed of about eeven miles per day.
A.4.ifting the cattle at 'the speed would allow the animals to
feed properly anu thy,woulu arrive at ti -e market,thrt existed
In nsea, in goou flesh, Then driving started:aro thousands
o oat tie were drifted f4orth„ That creg-tod a deMend and fair
prices, In turn the demano orused the cettleMen to look' after
the mavericks,
"A sort of a i•fentelmens rpreememt wen; m4e,thereby it
Wes unuerstoou thrt the mavericks running on a rrng, with a
herd belog to that herd„therefore„ it was proper -for the ov:ner
or the her to bra nu such maserloko,
"Zome of the ranohmen conceived the loee of prying
their help a ,onus for brandinp mavericks, Ihrt ides started
free.for.all branding recse a,14, the range divison was for-
gotten,
"Some of the for sitlIted,waddisa sew thrt if he could
go brerdin- for his emplollerphe could 00 the same for himssito
Many waudles adopted brand en‘ hru it regietrred as brand
of their ,own, 411ey branUe4 mavericks with whrch they started
s herd of their own,
"In a little while efler the colt:andz bean to brand
maverick for himselfotte large ranchers begat to vision
Cauth,414*Sheldon it*
Lrrigelore.
Torrent Coopi4ist**41
rage II 6.
FC 240
crowded ronge and competition tha.,t would ru/n the (kettle business*.
They decided. to check the rapid development of smell tsrches and
the first move toward that end aPs to atop paying bonuses to
the oowhondsolso* demended that the help continue mavericks,
but with the employers brand* Thisdome hod the opposite -affect.,
Instead of stopping the branding of movericks* except as the
orttlemen orderedoit caused 41 greeter disregard for range rlightS*
uThe little fellow felt that the big rorchers were trying
to i'llogn the long,* Therefore* the little fellows end the coWhand,
thet was out off from the bonusobegon to brond mavericks pm
calves ,whre tLe onlmals were found and they hunted the range
'or the orWers*
"Thar entered the connect* the persons who sow an
oprortunity to make some easy money and the result wits open
worfore in.meny sections of the country* That warfare lasted,
more or less* until the fence appeared,
.410 not wholly blase the cowhand. LO was e product
of the open rolve, w'ich wes not the property of no ono in
porticulor. h0 fought to maintain his right es he hod learned
these to he. The old cowhands as a whole, wrs a faithful end
dependable worker, ergia square desler*
"The element thrt took ruvontrge o the unsettled con,.
ditions never has ceased to be with us* The cattle thiof is
still followinp hi a trade, Le no longer rides a hose hunting
for straysvor stampedes a herd to provide the strays* The thief
today employes a truck vrd drives it on to the rings, rhy cut
a gap in the lin- fence F=r4 dtives up tr) the herd* 4h white
'..eattPro:7,1101On
;.€11147:01e*
%Lsrreitt
7
240
e14044 stock !-rr.? ciente?, therefore @roily loeaeu, It Is only
fe nimutes work ena thn Lhief Is off to u 1:7-x1g:et, ihe market
Is sew' luyer wi aisregeras to lrw ena
knowinAly buys stolen
promIty, b-causo he cinoui,.chesote ,eef et t nr1ce below the
mcrket; quotetions.
n my rrnoh I liPv0 to men storaily employeu, who o
not1,11c (41se :aut riae the fence The wetaIng for cut fences
o, it :111 V hP 7_:1-10r1 P Stlfl 31:t 4 0 10.i.•thr r.rnchmen,
loss s to th rustierspfrom ,,terrpeaos, arruchts ena
ot 01. -csu3ns.61.-? :cow -men hr3 fouitt hr-ra betties to km.en
“)-1 pa there lips bne meny Wbo unuer,
have ,t1-Y,rea sll the brttles nna sm st11 anvogeu
in thl busthess, I now 11PV0 s hero. of 4,000 urid.er tbn .0:cemon.
sT, 40, n -pa-La:VS,
m.:'ket ell stock in lexes mrrkots, :Ort -ortht,
is noi mN mein mrrket, 4. never ;;;4a, sell out slue of the state.
hen ethers 1,;:,veimkIri tives to the .,ortherr, merketpi sola
to tL i.vors Pin Vii7urou then,eri. hrve not ohenLea nv mina,
t mrae monew 11:v uo1ng so,
n A a
e hP/-%;, to the errly mrrkets wr!1 en expensive
propoeitio, it requirea e cre of 12 ren to prow,rly hen‘ge
',old on t,t,,c.Ive. iheir weges over 4IO O severrl
-c.nthe -m(Ainte to consiaerebleolso the bill for munplies,
(in top of the money for lelp ena supplies Cr-el tTne critter
11-e trell arlver firurra on Pllnan 10 peceebt loss
from returel cruee, -ome Aries it
the
10 toula no'e I heve ,Irlow of some '!rsts to;e1,: -n the ariver
tutiArr. ••olSten
l-irit Coydlisto.
lort herd. I to Lo
,11.10 cheroos
k
111.
B
:AO
1.0V= if.IA 1111
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