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Gauthier.Sheldon 1,0
Akingelors.
Tarr -at CotAstl.#7
Page #1
IC 240
::iilliamF.Dayton,71,1iving at 1000 Ash
Cresent SteFort Worthllexasoles born April
10,1867 nt Johnson cothib. His Zither' Nichols
Day7Animigrated from MOiwith his famillitto
Alliamson Co,Texastin 1872. Nichols mayton
located on a tract of land a nd developed a farm,
-also raised cattle. The fermswas one of the first
developed in the county.
The cattle herds belongiag to DeytontStublle-
field and. Sterling were united into .no in 1877
and driven to Llano Coorhere a cowcamp was located.
WiLLUmLWytntthen boy of IO yearslwas one of
the workers that made this drive and remained on
the Llano ranch. The herd conststed of 2000 head
of cattle and were sold at the end of two years
then William returned to his home where he remained
for a year. His next range work was with the
'Cross 8' ,located in Tom Green Co.- Later he worked
for the Sam neladerson ranch and the *hich usei the
41 -Le braad and ended his ra-ge career working fAit
the 0.8.4arold horse ranch..
7is story of r- age life follows:
-)lace of birth was Johnson Cop* the date was
April 10.1
April 10,1887. Lb father's name was Nichlos Dayuonnand he appported
his family by farming. He sold his No, farm in 1872 and moved to
Aaliamson Cotlexas. We traveled by train to Dennison wexas,and
there fat: :or bought a team of hosses and a wagon with which we
completed our trip to Williamson co,.
"rather located on a ileac* of land and fenced in a small
tract wLich he farmed. The farm;:as a..ng the first to be etart...
ad in thet, County* The land has been in the Deyton family cver
since and is now occupird by my youngest brother,O.F.4)aytank.
"hen Hy father lit in that territory it was a cattle
country. Te.re and there a few ace:s were being fenced off and
planted to cropstbut in additthon all tAt folks run more or less
caLtle on he free and open range. qy father started to build a
herd soon as we lit there and in a few rivIrs was running around
a 1000 head. Oar neighbors StUblefield and Sterling -threw their
.G7.uthier.:3beldon F.
Nangelore.
A .'arrant ColDistp.#7
herds in with my father's which mrde a bard of arond 300C
head that we dr*ve to Llano Cotwhere we established a camp.
in the crew that took the critl,ees to Llano Coos= Nick Brands,
Jim and Clayton Aubefield0Geb Sterling,my brother and We
were all you lads the oldest of the bunch was 18. Of courses
we all had the cow work learnedtbecrAme-us boys had worked on
our home ranch and in the spr.ng roundups. During the spring
roundup all the neighbore joined forces and worked the renge
-s One outfit.
,IWe lads drifted out with that heed of 3000 longhors
for about 100 mile dragsfelling more imuortant Malan the
Ptesident of the United Statesond we did a job of drifting
Moogoes old rawhides would do. Out folks rigged us out properly
with a chuck waggenz.md Plaludas We boys were told that its was
to us to make good.
“i4 had no trouble on that drive and lit in Llano Cot
without losing any critters. ut camp was established between
Castell and ValieyAlprings. Casrell was then a Dutch settleLant
anu n11 the country around it was a cattle range.
"The first thine we, lads did was to fix living quarters.
rie du c a space into a bank and topped it with lags. FEW roofing
we used polls covered with sod. .4At dugout t;as our home for
nearly two years and our nearest neighbor was loc-ted 15 miles
away. e saw mighty few peopletjuot once in a while some wade
would ride through* A few times aistrr;nger called while we were
out on the range and they helped themselves to a mess of chuck
and went on their way. When we came in from the range, evidence
GauVliertShelodnt. Page It
-.:Bangelore. VC 240
A Tarrant Co,Dist#47
the storm. Juring the whole two years we had no stai., ede which
we coould hot handleoso had no loss from stampedes. -s4i, didn't
lose any critters to rustlees,that we Pilow offit is pOssible a
few may have been taken. Others in the section diddloweveroo
I reckon we we were lucky.
"The second year after we established the cazplthe price
of cattle went to .a point that justified the owners to sell and
the;; did sell the whole herd.
"After -s.A.e of the held was Ladelmyb:other and I returned
ho; -:m. I then stayed on rrly father's farm for a co -,.e years nd
then dragccd out to Tom Green Cotin 1882. I joined the
gerchant's Dutfit which wa3 known as the 'Cross S' r.cb. Ihe
outfit w:‘-.1 calleu the 'Cross S' because the brand wac. ..ue uy
crossiru two thuss? The 'Cross was located near .eherwood.
Tom Green o, has been divided since that t ie and the town of
Jherwood is now in that part of the original Tom kireen ‘•otwhich
is Iron Co.
"ale!firossSI outfit run homes and settle. The hoss range
waa feced and consisted of 4C00 acres in which arou:_d 1. 00 head
were ranc;ed. The cattle grazed on an open rnnge -nd numbered about
5000
.J.erchant did his wn top -screw work and the other
.addies of the stead;f crew werelgill frostfnerry Cl-rk, ab hout,
•a,rvey Clark -rid I. There were always two or three driftin6
workers at the roundups Llerchant would take cx.-, four or five
extra hands.
”Eiarry Clark was our belly-cheeter and a good one too. Ihe
chuck that harry dished out to we waddles was a' lot =want than
loGauthier..iheldon Y.
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arrant Co, isti.#7
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what us lads fed ourselves at the Llano Colcamp. Us waddles
on tho 'Cross St ate well cooked meat'bread and bewis and
black cof ee to our hearts content. If one of the ddies would
go out ater wild genellark would fix the meat to suit our taste.
San Angeb43C miles to the It.was our trading town. To reach any
other town,that had any sizeuwe had to ride around 100 miles
Them W68 aot ouch to San Anglia*. It was just gettinL, a good
start. 3:he county seat was first -located at the forks of the
Concho overswhere the'XI.S.Army post was situated,Fort Chonco it
wos calle4._oan Angnotook its name from an old :trxican noled
oneClotwho lived where the town site is now. an foogabonade
his iivir,8 flxing toles an4 shilly wl4ch he 8-1d to the soldiers
Lcated t t4Ceart:
F'ohen I lit in that section jiRn Ames WLE a pc.rt cowtown.
There wase a aupp.4 store or taw and the rest of t. bublo.ess
places oe e saloonstgambling and sally ,oints.
"Ceenerallytwhen the crew had a pay day,one always after the
r.:_unducs,z,. visit to 6an Angelo was lo oirder: The 114 would
,eind accoaiAations for any of their wantssand at 1 es thei became
a little roa h. I recall one vieittus waddles made which attred
uo some ect excitement.
"Theo() werohat the time) about $00 soldiers in rort Conch°
and a L-,0oo 1.utber of them wouAd bo in .San Angelo each day: One
night ClmrktEorst and I went to town and called at a coi:Ibination•
dance 'rail and saloon. The front part was used as -the dance floor
anci the bor was in the rear. there were the usual bevy of !means
strutting around and:a good nuo•.ber of soldiers, in blue iniformat
Gnutider.oheldon r• iage
iReneelore. EC 240
A- T7.rmat CosJistio.#7
up- tc the bar znd the bartender saetlihve a shot of Axen on the
Louse'. Followin4 this each wacidlitebought n round of drinks and
Clark PrIr:! Tort doubled back. Well, by that time our iv,ts had been
bac part of our headq and we were reAv rot' some
Itc-ent.
I ver the iP wnr a large c;andeller oil law A-etty
colorc .71!ss ornanents, lit up and scrttered &on ta wells of
1
tc dance :all erewal lamps.
-Clark turned arOundl: :aced 1.1.t er..)ows oL LL*2. bcr and
a 8 a_Ains: it. rk sized u the az:MIA and qLieans
fat.- ane tLen said,'I wonder tLlese 'ldiets
;11.`!".:
4Ari Ka the; dre,.his shot
ou, tLc len. abrA f2t niprIrl g6vc: tile et of us
an 10c7, z.x. ;e AT,ot out the waillamps.
"It n Lrint 'coon lit night Euid we coL cc the soldiers
divi.hruu7fh ta,, door and winc1ows. A couDle cf t colkiiers were
tryLnp ,-7et tnrough one of the windows at the .srle 0.1ra TL4 were-
ve2drw7.• l'he:f were putting on .a pretty SC amble ri twk1;610
out. steiTed oir to the window and shot ov,.:r c...Le:r heads
oncl helped the boys ,Joild,isfully and they mude ;.he riffle
lcf•.he bar and all went u.f.der a tree c.nd stood in
the n's wade. in that erde we could not be socn,but eould
see t,14 s that were mov.Ing in Ve umn's light. st:rall bunch
of stuidiers came by shortly and one of ‘hem ws saying,11
like to see one of those covvoys right, now'. Clark steped out
of tf,c shAs find said ,'here is a cowboy', At the same instant be
Gauthier.ahe_don go,40
aange.ore.
A- Tarrant Co,Distvvil
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shot into the air nd ve followed by shooting also. ihe three
soldiers showed themselves to be good retreaters and were ahead of
their shadows getting away from where they were to &,me where else.
"Us waddies then mountt-Ad our flosses and hit for thc camp,
because we reched that the sheriff may want to have us stay with
him for t .e night and that would spoil our plans,due to the roundup
next morning- we wanted to be on hand
"ae roundup started with the cap located at Leven.Alountain
witt ar-und 2CC hands ,whocih were the waddles woricthe for the various
outfits that had joined forces for the ro.,ndup. second day
fills Johnson,6heriff of the county ,dropped in lookii.g for three
rawhides that had shot at U.S.soldiers. He had five de.uties with
him anci t.le laws questioned the waddles ,but cpule not Iihd any one
that saw,or knew anything about the shootii.g. Upe oi the reasons
the laws faiimeto meet up with any one that coulc give the desired
informrticn w:s that he did not question we three !Jaddies.- he was
mighty c refui to keep away from :where we were. He re_.orted that
the waddles that did the shootirlg must have dragged out of the
country's° tl.it matter was closed.
"Roundups in the TemOSPOen country followed the same routine
:13 did in -illiamson Colbut had more hands and handled bigger
herds.
"1 saw an unsual fight between two waddles during that
roundup,on_ of the few that I evtr saw amopg waddies of the same
worki:c crews. However, thesee two men were working for different
outfits and had a grudge that had been standing for a long spell
of tiAit.- The grudge was fanned into white heat when the boys Met
a
,Gauthier.Jheldon F*
Gingelore.
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FC 240
at the roundup. They filimaly agreed on m,AeLhod of settling their
diference and the following deal took p14ces Each mounted a 11-,-ss
and started to ride towards each other, from a distance, and began
as they started to ride. Lae was a strr.ngir to me and I d
don't recall his namelbut one I knew and his name was"Frog Fond".
rorLs, made the first hit and the stranger drojped out of his
saddle an:-. died in a few .minuted.
"1 worked dit. the 'Cross 3' for two years anodthen joiged
the Sam !ienderson outfit,who' hi":: ad was '4 L' and called the
Four dross L brand. It was loasted around -16 miles V. of the
'Cross outfit and run about 8000 critters. I did not Stay with
the Four tooss L outfit longlbecause my hankering us for a job
with a hoss outfit and I got a chance to join the '0 H hose
ranch and took the job.
The '0 IP outfit run around 2000 head of hos6cs and my work
hoses. Harvey lark,Jim ..a.liams,Will-CaOltaa4m4. two
ethers ;e the crew at the time I was with the 10 rench.
The wild critters were buoted,rode five or six times and
then sold for gentle saddle Loses., The average price received for
a busted hoss was around $30
wt. became a top wrangler. 4his statement uRy sound witty,
but we never tackled a critter that we didn't succeed in busting.
Wrvey Clark was the best hoss wrangler I have ever seen straddling
a hoss. fiervey was a rail fellow. In fact, he seemed to be all arms
and legs. Saddle or no sa.dle,he could ride 'ea as well one way
as t* -,e other,. have seen him grab a hand full of mane anA owing
himsclf astraddle of a critter, then put on aa pretty piece of
Gauthier.Sheldon F.
'Rangelore.
tarrant Copist2.47
1.r.ige #9 4
FC 240
riding one could hope to see. He would stick his long lege fop.
ward arif put his toes under the animals front •legs,nest to its
chasten'. with that hold he could etey with any of the snake bloods.
Its R rule C ninutes would be ample time to one of those critters
in the :ooi to dive up the fightobut at times we would i,et an extra
stubborn en -liter and eeehaps an hour's time would be required to
force it to ±VQ in.
"4 -he trick in busting a has lays in knoin kite action. 6eme
eitches ,oint elevate and jump forward with eadh4;unv. Such critters
are a. cincheort of a rocking chair. Some jump t$ one side with
ther elevationseone first to one side then the ()that'll:hose we
called tbe fence...rowers. the fence -rovers were the hardest of the
2itche,e to stay withobecause of the short ti:Ae one had in which to
calcultte t!lt cotting move. All that a wranglee le,s to go by is the
1 muscle movent that starts just before the trit,ers etakes the jumppl
Ry kee irg one's eye on the shoulders one could catch the next move.
"The wire fence made it ap6earenee about 16n and than
it was not long till the ra ges were fenced. When that took place
in the ;Isin Morel° country it started .a lot of trouble caused by
fence cutting.
"ihe cuttgeg was done by the rustlers and the smallOhecherst
called Vlo grease.ipohs. The rustlees cut gaps to allow the critters
an oeert-Ig to stray out of and the grense-pots did it to :rovide an
oAtriirc, so they could have a way in and out of their eampf•
,'The creneree,Gfierel tracts of land would pine in fence
building and iffiliculigy fence in te grease -.pot. For instaneeta
.'Gauthl,r.5heldan F.
Irt:_re
Tarrant Copist,.07
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fC Z4C
fe-cc iiOd North, East,SouSh and thence Weat an:4 each distance
of lb _Iles Al more would fence in all on the inside of this square.
Or afeme unhing cast and vest built as a drift fei'metwould block
orf fol;,_s ,;o_IL,g to any point at the opposite side. ell, them whibb
were effected by the feLce would cut their way out. ifey not only
cut the feLce,-uut cut the wire so it was useless for fencing again.
lot of the fencing was dons for the purse of squeezing
out the z,i.ezlz;e-pots,but most of the little fellows zould net take
the squeeze. the fight got real hot for a time an& i same cases
the leciti.1,1te fence was cut on general pricipless *finally the
Texa6 ,Ac,era took a hand in tLe matter and the agguement was
slittled force of the change taking place in fari,Lii./_ disvlac_ng
the Jr- „,i72:411
-11c rustles cut fences to maks gaps for criters to
drift t.]_roa6h. The rustlers would watch the lint riders and when
the ridc.. passed At certain section the cuttin6 be done.
;7te.1. id not be discovered till the rider pasi,..ed the peCtion
an his :-A?st ride.
len a sttai was discovered,a party of middies would try
to tr31.1. tht rustiees. ,t,mle times the cattle wo. id be caught up
with an,. taken without the rustlees being seentuncl at Use& the
rustlecs :Aso iere caught. The rustlers as a rule, vere hangedotb
a lf_Lb,if oe was handy., in the absence of a handy litb the boys
we e 1:r-lided for the eternal range. However, the rurtlees made the'
,by far, than caught in the steal.
escape more time
0.0
Geotidw.Sloaldon 16.
Bangalore.
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u It was'quite common to see fellows ha eng at the end of
a few -foet of hatpor laying in some draw with the eternal brand
marks. Jio did the hanging or shooting was never told. Fact is!
it w s rceonecl impolite to ask questions about such doings. .There
was :fot .r:„1- question asked about any k4nd of a shooting farcss. It
was the usual way of settlipg disputessand the fellow that in the
ar2Ammc.r.t vas 1..he one that could shot true and dryer quick.
!Tftter of shooting cauaes me to reell Al Goodla waddy
who or.--oC. Ifx. the Aerchants outfit. He w-r,s fast an true with the
gun. id.t .(t,y co:ad lay his gun on his shouldertpointing back, eld
by WAR? lirrartinto which he lookedtto i*e behind he could hit
a marilie i. on th ground and make it jump into the airtand than
hit it •before it returned to the ground. the :And of shooting
he c,D.2 lo the usual was'you may guess. L e realy was a master
of *0-e p,lx-une
Air wges those days were around 830 m mnth and I reckon
AI of it i ent for shooting material and a greater part of the
5w ct for munition used in target practice.
n7erides rid1=-g my top act was roping. I etld put the rope
on either nil) of a running critter. 4hel'e were otieF that were
able to lo t:1.e same trick. TO be a top hend a wa64$chad to be a
AmoTztv:.ri• and roping.
ffttr I left the 40 H 4 boss ranch I returnoL to the ierchunt
outfit for a ohort spell. I went hole to spend the Christmas of
1886,w th- tLe intention of (,,turning ,but didn't do it. I then
endel career as a ra ge hand and went to farming. In the later
years I alit ftruing and took uppeabanlcal work*