Document text
Continuity, written
By Ruby Mosley
For Rangs-loro Volume
RANGELORE
page one
*I'm a cowgirl, but I never could teach my husband
to be a cowman,* says las. Ben McCulloch Earl Van Dorn
miskikons of San Angelo, Tomas.
wily father built the first frame house in Grayson
County. I was born in 1862, at Whitesboro, Texas, in that
little house. The very next year we moved to the country.
My father being progressive, we had the first orchard in
that area. We had a ranch of 1,000 acres on Red and Little
Wichita Rivera, and six large farms. We also had access to
the open range for cattle and horses to roam.
*Coe day during a round -up the cowboys found a fawn;
it was so cunning they brought it to me. This was py favor-
ite pet, I would sleep and eat with it. I was about eight
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years old, and we had great romps together. When spring
came my fawn had grown and was very destructive to the
orchard. One morning father said, 'Ben, I'd like to swap
you out of that deer.' I said, 'hat have you got?* He
said, 'I'll trade you that little speckled heifer for him.*
agreed, of course, because I thought I would get to romp
with the deer anyway, but no, father sent me away for a few
days and when I returned:my deer had been killed and most
of it eaten. The next morning I went out to the hay stack
and my heifer had a little calf, the blackest little devil
you ever saw. This was how I got my start in the battle
business.
was a fruit peddler, and I wasn't but nine years
old either. Old Judge Harris was my helper. I would gather
the fruit and carry it to the courthouse and he would help
sell it. Can you imagine Judge Stovall (our present County
Judge) even buying a peach from a little stringy head country
girl, let alone help sett it?
"I kept saving my nickles and dimes and every time I
got enough to buy a dogie, I bought, 'cause it toot dogies
to make cows. I just kept this up until I got a start.
'Then I was a little girl about 12 years old, me and
my sister were oarring about 400 dogies from Jack to Alma
Cbunty. We rode &along and began to get hungry. In them
days we had to find a place suitable to stop our cattle be-.
fore we could stop and eat. We unmounted our ponies and
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made a fire and put our coffee in a skillet to parch; it
surb was smelling good, I heard a noise, looked up, and
yelled, *stampede." We sprang on our horses and galloped
around and around until we got them under control. It was
like the old tale, Gingham Dog and Calico Cato there was
no sign of fire, coffee nor skillet left. The remainder
of the journey was very pleasant.
"'I kept adding to my herd, riding tbe range, and
cutting out cattle until I had a nice business. When I
was seventeen years 04, I bought and sold cattle like a
man.
"Jim Loving was Secretary of the Cattle Association.
He had a lot of friends and often gave entertainments, we
would ride fifteen miles to his house to a dance. The fid-
dlers would get better all the time and many times we would
gallop home in early morning.
"When I was nineteen years old I married W. A. Miskimon.
I had property and cattle too. We lived in track County seven-
teen miles below Jacksborough. We had a mighty hard time, lots
of cattle, and dry weather. My husband wasn't no cowman, I
tried to teach him about cows but he never could learn, not
even to feed one. At last God gave me a boy. We would have
to stay by ourselves on many instances. Once my husband
went to Missouri on business. The severe drouth had caused
all the water holes to sink and all wells to dry up. I
strapped the baby on my back, papoose style, and would walk
a mile or two for water. The wild hogs rooted in the law
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'places,and water would come up in small holes. With my
baby on my back and a tea cup in my hand I would dip
water here and there until I filled my buckets and carry
the weary load home. ,The people of to -day demand water
in the house or will not rent. I didn't stay out of the
saddle long. I began riding the range again when my baby
(papoose,I called him) was quite small.
Me started to Tom Green County, September 1, 1889..
We had about 1,000 head of cattle and 300 head of horses.
had five cowboys to help, as I've said, my husband was
no cowman, couldn't ride nor, out out cattle, so,he wasn't
web help. The boys laughed and told me they could track
my route by my hair hanging on the bashes. I had rode
through them Indian hillspearraling the wild mustangs to
tame them. I tell people that's why my hair looks like this
now. We got as far as Graham City when the rain poured
down. We spent the night and went an alright. When we
neared the Brazos River, I told my husband to see if the
river was up too much to cross with the horses. He vent
and came back and told me to go see, since he didnft know
nothing about cattle. I sent my husband on with the horses,
he crossed and pat them in the corral. Me and the boys were
to hold the cattle. We drove them down to the river and
oamped with intentions of pushing them across the next morning.
The cowboys were from the malarial country and when they got
cold and wet they took chills. I got on my horse and logged
the wood up, built a fire for the sick boys and made blankets
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down, the poor boys with high fever and me with the cattle.
That was one awful night, trying to hold the cattle all a-
lone, with wolves howling and panthers screaming, and boys
sick. I stayed on my horse, rounding the cattle, keeping
them down. The boys were better next morning and we pushed
the bellowing herd across the swollen stream. We came to a
shack where my husband had camped. He was on the porch wash
Lag his face. We got breakfast ready and ate and stood a-
round the fire until we dried out, as we were submerged in
the Brazos. We continued our journey on to Tom Green Count,
which was comprised of several counties then. We came to
Red Creek which looked very desirable for camping. There
was plenty of water and fresh fall grass.
"Mr. Miskimonta mother lived here and he went straight
to visit her, leaving me and the boys again. He always
trusted the boys with me, as a real cowboy can always be
trusted under any circumstances. We herded the cattle on
that area until the fence was built and ranching started.
In the ldter part of 1889 we built the old ranch house that
now stands on the corner of Randolph and First Street. I
traded a little old red bull calf for that lot. I have the
house divided off into two apartments, and it stays rented.
"Ranching business looked fine, my herd had increased
so mach and water was plentiful. I bought old man SVmourte
oattle and horses in 1893. We had such a great herd I sure
%tough did have to ride, rope and cut out cattle, but they
never got too tough for me.
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"In 1894 a severe drouth came.Oattl werevasarving for
water and food. They died by the hundreds each day.
There was no rain for nine months. I knew something had
to be done.
"I was pretty much of a business woman, as well as
a cow puncher. I really had a credit rating with Dunn
and Bradstreet, as good as gold. I wrote in arid had
supplies sent down to open a dress and millineTIshop.
got my goods on a ninety -day plan and I did a good business
right where the Marantt_ State Bank stands to -day. In
those days we had certain restricted districts where the
women were nor allowed on the atreeta.*
*Red light districts.
1••••••••••••.......
I managed to contact them with my little old negro boy.
He would take their orders.
I would send pictures and scraps
of material like my dresses were, and they would choose what
they wanted. The negro boy would fill their order. They
bought hats the same way, by pictures. Their money was as
good as anyonecte40.eaimil they had a lot more money. I kept
the ranch out of debt and that was my motive.
"I sold my business, and had $500.00 in cash and $300.00
in merchandise that I sold to an Ozona merchant. The drouth
was over, ard our ranch out of debt. I went back to the ranch
where I belonged, to roam and ride with the cows and horses.
I never could teach my husband to be a cow man, and somebody
had to.
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"I had to go back to town (I operated the old Nesbitt
Hotel), my only daughter was born there. Again I was suocese-
cW_ in business, came out with money. I'm a better business
woman right now than most yoting people.
"I got our ranch business going pretty good again. My
husband had to go away on business, and I donned my riding
habit and went with him as far as Abiline to help get the
horses started. It was late in the night when I got back
and I was so tired I lay down on the porch to sleep. Bang!
I heard a noise and got up and a man was trying to break in
the back door. He knew my husband was gone. I rushed in
and got my shot gun. I had no ammunition but bluffed the
coward. I went through the house to the back door and knew
the old aneak. At the point of my shot gun I told him to
get going. He had driven his wagon near my house and put
his little girl to sleep under the wagon. He rushed back
and put the mules in a high lope. I told him if he stopped
before I heard him cross the four -mile hill I would follow
him and kill him. He really went on over the hill in a hurry.
Ever afterward this same man never passed my house, but would
circle away around, with his shot gun between his legs. He
was never seen without that gun for fear my husband would
kill him. Revealing his name now would startle the social
Dahlia of to -day. The little girl that was under the wagon
asleep is a very prominent woman of to -day. He also had a
good wife that lives here now; that's why I have kept silent.
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I Mast make this statement for the sake of our dear cowboya,
the man who tried to attact me was not a cowboy, for any
time
woman was as safe with the olycowboy as she would have
been with her brother.
"After we got established again we began to gather
stook around us. Our ranch was well known and we enjoyed
helping cowboys; our house was always open to them. Boiled
beef, red beans, and good black coffee brought many a cow-
boy our way. They showed their appreciation by rounding
up my cattle any time they found them on the range, and
returned them safely.
"I continued riding the range.. In that Seymour
bunch I bought, I found a frisky little horse. I called
him Bed. I put a haoka-more on his nose and mounted him.
He made a paw at the sun and fell backward in the cow dis-
posal that was about knee-deep. (It was easy to slide off
at the side since I rode a side saddle). I did the same
act three times and the fourth was a sueoessfhl attempt.
I rode old Bed until. I thought he would fall for punishment.
This really made a fine pony.
"We had another fine horse we called Silk Stockings,
because of his nice stocking legs. The owner of his mother
once said, 'she's as fine as split silk.' we watched this
horse two or three years before i decided to ride him. I
caught him and saddled him up. The cowboys held him while
IoaAisboil on. He bucked some but I rode him. His worst
trouble was pawing and fighting when he was being saddled.
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One morning I wanted to ride Silk Stockings. I knew I
couldn't mount him by myself. I carried him to the wagon
yard (*here Hemphill Wells now is) for the cowboys to hold
while I mounted him.
"I was riding with my new side saddle, hand made, *bet
cost me near a hundred dollars. When Silk Stookingsleaped
for one of the boys, he threw the hacka-more at him and it
wrapped around my waist, just as I was trying to mount.
Well that horse pitched me as high as the courthouse and
ran through a fence. He tore my fine saddle into strings.
From then en I rode a man's saddle. Now for the cows. The
worst cow I ever saw, I had to milk her of course. (I was
a little dare.devil). She was an old brindle cow and would
hardly let me come near. I wore my old black bonnet and she
hated it, I guess. I always had to tie it on to keep her
from kicking it off. We finally sold that old heifer.
"One day a great big black sow came to our house and
I penned her. The next day she had 14 of the prettiest
little pigs that ever was born. There was no such thing
as advertising in the newspaper. We posted signs on the
bulletin board in the lobby at the courthouse. Well
carried my sign and began getting results. Every day the
ranch men would come. I would ask them if she was branded.
*No," was their answers. I just said, Moll she is still
my sow and pigs.' The wealthiest oil man that Texas has
produced was a poor man then and worked every trick possible
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to get his paws on her. There are three of San Angelo's
most prominent men that can tell you about this old sow.
They tried to olaim her.
One day the owner finally,' came. Mr. Klrkendall rode
up and said,'Mra. Ben, does that sow have a CIO on the right
side?* I said, 'yea.' Then he said, 'Let's look under her
hide, and see if she has some buckshots, I had an old sow
that looked like that and I shot her several times for eating
chickens.' Sure enough,her hide was full of buckshots. He
didn't want the sow but took two of the .4111W and gave the
remainder to me.
*I've had many trials and tribulations, but I awn a
good country home now and lots of chickens and stock, four
lots in Westland park, and all the west end of block pi on
West College Avenue. My one daughter, her husband, and
children are here with me. I am about as happy as most
people of my age. The general public knows me as "Flapper
Fannie,* as well as *Ben.* I'm still working hard as a
ceevisam for my husband, 'cause I've tried for 54 years to
teach him, and he has never yet learned. Ea never will as
long as my name is Ben McCullooh Earl Van Dorn Miekbeene