Document text
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monge..lore
14211110 MeAulay
Maverick, Texas
Pi=
RANGE*LORZ
Page one
W. B. Dunlap of Bellinger, Texas, tells his
cowboy experiences as follows:
"My first job was with a Lr. Hensley in Calla-
han County: That was where I got my first elpOrience
in riding the range and handling *stile, and I liked
it so well I keptlet it.
"I got the roaming fever in 1882 and went up to
Four Lakes and got a Job on the LID ranch, whore I
worked for two years. I had some real experiences
there, too. The LFD was a big outfit. In 1883 we drove
5400 steers in one drive, to a rancher on the Texas
Plains near where the town of Littlefield is now located,
and we hardly touched the big herd. There were two wagon
outfits end forty*five men with the drive. We followed
Page two
the Pecos candhill route end as it was in the month
of April we had some terrible sandstorms on our way,
which made traveling very disagreeable and slowed us
dorn cone. Of course the steers had to be watched
closer in all that cloud of dust. Lut one good thirg
about that drive, we didn't have any wire fences to
bother us.
"I always preferred the side of a hill for bedd-
ing down the cattle because if somethlig disturbs those
above, they jump up without those below being aware of
it, and vioe versa; but if they are bedded down on
level ground and some part of the herd becomes disturb-
ed, the whole business will get up before you hardly
know it, make a break and begin to run. And once they
start, it's some job to stop them. About all you can
do is try to get them to circling, then keep them mill-
ing until they're played out.
"After I left this outfit I went to work for the
Champion Cattle Company in Mitchell County. I worked
on the .CA= ranch, a very big outfit. One hundred men
were employed end there were one thousand saddle horses
for the ranch work. Every fellow had to be a rood rider,
able to ride whatever bronc he was told to ride, and 1
have seen as many as eight empty saddles in one morning.
"One spring an old boy came to Colorado City, look-
ing for a cowpunchin job, he wore button shoes, derby
Page three
hat, and a seissore-tail coat distinctly the dude type
found in the Last. We didn't. know where he hailed from
but when our boss hired him we thought we'd sure have a
barrel or fun out of him. They cut him out a mount of
saddle horses and the first one he selected to ride was
a little dun pony with a wicked eye, which he evidently
didn't notice. He got on him and almost immediately
came in contact with the floor of the corral. That
brone pitched him off three times but the fourth time
he stuck, and he got to where he wasn't afraid of any
horse. He made a crackerjack cowhand.
W. razzed the green hands something terrible.
Ws reveled in making them look ridiculous. They were
always put on the toughest brones and given the dirt-
iest jobs. One of the favorite methods of initiation
was leggin' them. We'd turn them across something and
then take off our chaps (we celled them leggin's) and
put it on them until they hollered 'Enough.' We got
pretty rough sometimes but you had to initiate a fellow,
proper, or he wasn't any account. Then he "belonged".
Ho was one of the boys after that.
"I helped with one big spring round -up where there
were about fifteen or twenty thousand head of cattle. It
was at Dove Creek Springs. During the winter months the
cattle had been allowed to drift and herds from different
outfits had become mixed. All the ranch outfits in that
part of the country helped in the round -up. tech outfit
Page four
had a boss and these bosses selected a general boss for
the whole crew. The cattle had drifted down on the Coneho
Avers, anu some had gone as far as Levils River, so the
riders were sent out iJ all directions and they brought
t.e cattle together at Love Creek. They were so thirsty
and there were so many of them, the boss told us to let
them go to water first; then they drifted out into the
draws to graze and we'd work about one of these draws
a day, each outfit cutting out their brand and holding
them. It took us stout ten days to get them separated.
"There vac a right smart of trouble in this sec-
tion Curing the wire cutting days. The open range
cowmen resented fence building, because it shut them
off from their free range. In 1684 during a big round-
up over north of 4ingate in Nolan County, when the boys
came to a fence they'd just cut the wire and go right
on. well, of course this caused a clash between the
range men and the "setters" or "squatters" as they
were called. The Texas Bangers were sent out to settle
the tr)uble s4 aftor making several arrests they put
a stop to the tent's cutting. But the strife between
the open range men and the "mall men" continued for
sone time. It was against the la v at that time to
carry arms, but all the boys in that round -up were armed.
One old boy had a pretty white handled six-shooter he set
a heap of store by, and when he learned that the rangers
Benge-lore
Annie 1b3Auley
l'everick, Tease.
LIELIOGRAiTY
•B. Dunlop, leilincer, Ratio, interviewed,
rcbruery 8, Mt:.