Document text
4 trs. Annie EcAul-tv
Texs
)un-,y
LOTE
aft•litc4.440)A.0
egrAe
Page 1.
FUTTTA. HTGGIT-]0-2:A:: was born in Er;Ath County in 1833. He Moved
with his parents to Col:e County in 1339.
eivZI-OPer.
Mr. Higginbotham says, "-1c'iri t.0 rl vel, ;/-Jult,. My father
and grandfather before me -rere stock farmers and ranchers. I have
lived on a ranch north of Bronte all of my life. After my father's
death, my mothe•r continued to live on the old place and aske,7 me to
take it ov,r, and so I have continued as a rancher and stock. farmer
at the same place.
"I used to help with the round -ups when I wasn't more'n twelve
or fourteen years )1d. The -'d always make me help hold the cuts.
'Alt one thing I was proud of, they'd alwa;:s let me jo to dinner with
the first Lunch.
"I began trying to ride br)ncs when I wasn't more'n fourteen or
fifteen, I _;uess. I got thro-ve a lot, but never 7eriously hurts 74e
boys th)uc;ht Old Dick Hazelton was the _;reatest feller in the world,
because he w's such a 5ope bronc buster. He was the hero of ranch boys
then. My gre-Itest aspiration "as to ride like him. He was a good
buster. He could ride anythi-r!L7.
"I gave up the idea of being a bronc rie.der after a few 'e-rs and
settled down to real ranch worVi..
tl
"When I was about fifteen years old, another by and I drove a
bunch of cattle6bout a hundred headito SAtwater. We were driving
them from the Richard place near Bronte) /nd Mr. Richard told us to
try to have them at Sweetwater by night.,57
guess we rushed them too much and when we got within a few
miles of town/they were so tired they'd haraly drive. Some of them
bean to lie— down. One steer, nearly two years old, refused to go
an inch further. He just couldn't stand on his feet. Somehow or
other we managed to get ,him up on the horse with me. We continued
that way7very slowly for two or three miles) until we met Mr. Richard
who had come out from Sweetwater to meet us. He put the yearling in
his buggy and we mana,:ed to get the herd into town about ten o'clocy
that night. I was eiga"tired, too.
"I worked in Crocket County -fourteen month abut the time I was
/1
grown. I guess I was ninteen years old. I worked for Clayton and
Childress on their seventy five section ianch. They worked eight or
ten men rezul.l.r. There i-eA-me drift fences on the creek that
liah.i.rd to keep repaired. Sewed like we had lots of rain and every
time it rained the creeks .ot up and washed the fences down or damaged
them.
"Every thing was fenced so our rounding up wasn't hard. They had
corrals in which to herd and cut them, and branding chutes to brand
them in.
"I've kn)wn a few good women riders. The Hannah sisters and also
the Calloway sisters, They Imp ,lived on raches near Blackweland
did regular ranch work. The Calloway girls us4to get lots of kick
out of goinj to a dance and shootin"em up, as they called it. They
Page 3.
considered themselves wild cowgirls, but no one really took them
seriously.
essie Calloway, the older sister, w)uld ride pitchin' horoeo.
She especially lilcea to riae high jumpers. They seldomgotTtolaptomgh—L
for her to ride. After their marriaf:es kft—wit+r-1 I'm
told they lylve live( very c:uiet and contented lives.!)
[NO TEXT AVAILABLE FOR THIS PAGE]