Document text
Phipps, Woody
Rongelore
?arrant o., Dist. 17
Peg* in
Ito
J.C. Hess, 66, was born in Red Wing, Ills.,
where his father engaged in the lumber bus-
iness and owned several saddle horses. Hess
learned to ride at an early age. -4he family
moved to Kass in 1876, and established a stook
farm on the laud they homesteaded near Hutch-
inson. They moved again to the Choctaw Nation
in the Territory which is now Heaver kla.,
in 1886, and establishec a ranch. When Co.,15,
Hess left his family and was employed on a
number of ranches in N.M. and Okla: Then 40,
he quit the ranching business and wee employed
by cattle speculators and ()omission men in the
Ft. worth Stock Yards until his age forced him
to retire in 1931, to the Home for Aged among,
12 Mi. Es of rt. worth, 2ex. Rio story:
"by yes, I know something about cattle and the old cow
punchers. Mlle I was born in Red Wing, 71sconsin, I spent my life
with cattle pfter I was six years old. MY dad was in the lumber
business there and used several bosses so I learned to ride before
I was any good at anything else.
"when I was six, dad moved us to a place he homesteaded near
Hutchinson, Kansas, and bought about 300 head of cattle which he
branded the H Per. You make it with an Ho and continue the middle
line of the H on out to make s bar after the H. don't recall how
many head be bosses he bought but he also started to raising them for
1 the market.
"Dad was successful there and made plenty of money but he
couldn't get anymore land. The other fellows around him wanted to
hold onto their property and they were doing right well too, oo dad
decided to move to the '"erritory and establish a reel ranch where he
could go into the cattle business right instead of running a taro
along with a ranch.
"We made the move when I was 16 years old, to the Choctaw
Phipnp, coody
Rengelore
'Prrant Co., 9ist. 17
Page 2
rc
Indian nation. Ate place we settled on was located in what is now
lisavior county, Oklahoma.
"I don't recall just how long it took us to drive the stock
from the Kansas place to the Oklahoma place but it was somewhere
around a month and around 400 orAtters with about 60 brood mares and
15 colts. I was thrilled a-plebty when we got there for there were
Indians all round us. I alway$ ezpeeted to have trouble with them
but we never did. lmo only troOle was a beef missing now And then
that they'd took for meat. Thai didn't bother us any. In fact,
because dad didn't mind them talting just one now and then, made them
our best friends and they'd hell,
011 older brother's nem,
a start of our own. Ie soln ha,
us in any way they could.
was 'Butch', and dad helped as to get
a brand called the 'CO', and made
it with a big C and put a littli o inside the C. Sine. the land was
open and not a fen** anywhere, we all ran our cattle together with the
other ranchers in the Territory*
"hen the spring roundup °ems off for the calf branding, we'd
all get together and roundup everything all the way South to the Red
River, and 'fest and Mkt and Nqrth as the hills let the cattle graze*
You see, einoe there were no /*pee, they'd graze in one place 'til
it was grazed down, then move On. We had plenty of bosses in our
remuda because as I said before, dad raised our bosses and we boys
broke them in.
"Breaking bosses wee censidered just part of the day's work
and everybody had to break his; own houses in. We all had from half
a dozen to a dozen bosses in oir personal strings and kept them all
in one bunch When we weren't lilting one. 7hat was what we called,
the •Remuday. There was one 4n assigned to the remnda at all times
oody
angel ore
-'errant '7
Page '3
but when he needed help, he called on the rest of.us and we'd pitch
in and help. :bout the only tine he nef.ded help was when he had a
stwzpede which was seldom becauee the sadcle stock wee usually kept
in a rope corrall when out,on tke range. If a coyote or some other
varmint got close to the hossesi they'd mcke a break, rope or no
rope. hen we'd ilve to hunt tkem el: up and (wren them again.
"Stampedes were e thing to be expected day or night with
cattle or hoeses. You didn't tkini. ything about it at ell except
that it oaused extra work and sometimes hurt a puncher. had to
teke the risks though, because ke either worked >cattle in those days,
or he didn't work. There just wasn't anything else that he could do.
-ou know, I read a lot to pass the time (limy, and I've naturally read
a lot 'bout cowpinchers end cattle. Nearly all the writers tell of
cattle on the stomp rnd bawling. at the same time. '7e11, that's just
a dam lie because the minute one of them bawls, that strops the stomp
and the- all go to eating or laying down to rest. 'Tow, I know because
I've been there, -Aid.
"There is one other thing about a stomp that few of them get
in their stories. :hat is, aboot Chem starting v stomp. Nobody can
tell when a stomp is liable to start except in bad weather. -Ilan it's
heinling or lightning, they're tore likely to stomp than at any other
time. .te other thins that start them is c 'Blue Norther all of n
sudden, or some var:lint get clone to them. Trke a skunk now, we all
called them whirle oats, they eould get into a herd before you'd
know it and the cattle would be up and away before you'd even realize
they were up. -ost of the time1 even when you were right with the
herd and on duty, the first you IcAtwe bout a stomp was a sound like n
fast express train going about 1)0 miles an hour. lien you knew they
:1112ps, dy
,en6.elore
-2errent Jo., ;1st. 7
7:age '4
on heir way and it was up to you and the other waddles to stop it
some way or other. If you happened to be about 50 feet out in front,
you had the best chance of stooping it because you could try to foroe
the'le!ders to turn. If you got the leaders t* turn and keep turning,
the rest of them would follow and they'd ell be turning around in the
wine spat. it wes very i-portent to get the stomp stoeped just as
soon es eossible because if they oeme to e cliff while on the run,
they'd all pile un end lots of them would be either killed outright,
or rutned. Then if they came to e river, they'd all rile up end some
would drown. '!ost stomps usually just run themselves down and stop
wen one of the critters bawls. That's because it's hard to get in
front of the het*.
-Now, the danger to a waddy riding alJng the side of the he*d
end keepin„:: them from scattering is practically none. The real danger
is to the weedy out in front if the stomp is in the night. In the
(ley time, his hose has been trained to tvoid the gopher holes and
other things that might trip him but at night, the hos can't see any
better V'ren the wady and if it stumbles, he 'toddy and the hoes is
on the ground snd in front of the herd without time to get up and
best it out of the way.
1_ once sew a n licher by the name of rowdy McGowan that dad
paid to wor': with us fall in front of t herd th%t way. Pa was a
noor shot but he i--.171eittely shot his hoes, then laid down or the
side awey frorn the stamp end shot f,ur or five critters in front of
hi. :hen they piled up, they made a block that the critters side
steeled and went around. You talk about a sick liaking yeaddy, Powdy
took the cake. le didn't have a bit of color in his face but he
nips, ;oody
tingelore
rant jo.,'Ust. ,7
Page its
wJ,nt right to the remuda, roped him out a fresh hose end joined the
chvse. Met's the stuff s cowpuncher had to be made of to keep his
hand in. sow, if he'd have gone to the 'camp like some of our cow.
boys or today would heve, he'd have never been able. to face ahother
stomp again. s it is, he practiced shooting fter .that 'til he was
a pretty good shot.
-I never mentioned the Fell roundup. That roundup was mostly
to gather berf for the market and took more work thanthe Spring
roundup because instead of turning yhr branded critter loose, you
kept them in one herd for the trail drive. Now, this brings another
thing up that I've read about. First, let me tell you an experience
had here at the home one day.
he'd herd
thet I was
wont nention hit name because it would emberass him but
from some way,(I don't talk Ihuch about my cattle experience)
an old cow puncher and he oame in and told me about his
experiences. You know, that's about an old man can do, is live in the
pest. Ue told fbout driving herds up the trail and about 10,000 head
in one drive and 12,000 in another. ell, I kept still 'til he'd
finished, then he fsked me there I', vorked and so an. fter I told
hi a little, his face got red and he said, 'Don't pay rny attention
to what T. seid but t17ose big herds on the treil. You know, I've
seid so ruh about it thet the nuhber just got bigger every time I
to16 it.'
now, e trail drive is never over 3,00 heed at a time beeeuse
you stand big chance of 'dosing some then. You come to mountain
treils, lon distances between water holes which causes a stampede
when they smell the water 6f the wind is tower them, land owners
p-)dy
T't116elore
ar..‘ant o., :Agit. 7
7age
force you to narrow your treil herd down so it wont tremple much
e,rass and so on. ;Jay men that wasn't a down right fool, never sterted
out with over 3,CCO head for any distance.
-Our first trail herds went to tbilene, Kansss, then got
closer 'til the rail road got right up to the Indien -f'erritory.
shilping point for the :erritory ranchers Was 38 miles North of our
place. -11ile it wus n small town by the name of Englewood, YsInsas,
it vas a big shipping point. The road vies called the 'illwane 7xtensiod
und was an extension of the Ciente Fe System.
"Now, about the rustling, there was many a wet rope swung in
the twrritory but they left our part of the country alone. 2ne of the
reesons was my dad. He was kind of u queer duck that felt that if
everybody tended to his own business ll, he wouldn't have time to
tend to somebody else's. Ye would go to the long loopere as soon as he
heard they were in the Territory and say, 'If you bother any of 7:ack
7 -es' stuff, I'll get you sure'. You'd think some of them would drop
him for _7e7.A.ng tough with them but they never did. Tnsteed, they
just never showee up in thee neck of the country.
"Of course, they bothered other people's stuff and lots of
them were made good Indians. liat's an expression I used bet:muse "!t
onrries what I neen but 7'11 explain what a goo6 7ndien is. It's a
dead one. Ile Tndirns never Sothered )ur stuff es 7've elreeCy said.
1igilance con-lttes were formed from tie.e tib time and dad wee invited
to join but he alwnys refuged. .ten they'd invite my bud nnd me but
we took after ded and turned them down. good thing too beceuse those
.things elweys turn out bed after they do the good they set out for.
In the first place, we bed law in those days the sene es we have now
'eedy
-nngelore
7errent O., isti
T'age'!•7
excent Then we first went to the 7ereitory. Tt wvs then '10 men's Land'.
'e ell fire,ured -''at it lees the law's place to hnndle those things end
we never meddled*
-One of the hangings Iles invited to take part in wes when a
couple of fellos by the name of -ety and lieever were caught hoss
rustling. The ranchers in that pert of the country had missed quite a
few head fro tine to ti -71e and they were mad for s :re when these fellows
were ceught. The men that caught then though, took them to Paris, texas
where there was a 7Thited states court. :Jhile they were still in jail,
a bunch orgenieec to go down and breek the jail down, get the rustlers
end hen then. I sew them leave the -erritery but I never went with
the'. tat I meant to say was, when they left the lhoctew at Ion in
the ''erritory. -e were also invited to join the 71ux but we figured
thmy'd finelly do like the 71gilance oore,ite-s, get to satisfying
personal. ytd7es efter they's done the good they could do.
"After T !eat to be 25, dad owned several sections of lend and
the ecrene T'd proved up on and homesteaded efter I was l. I deeded
thio to him because T eented to 7ive it to hi-. "::,esidc's the land,
tied, y bud and me owned quite e few critters -re:: losses and that
e'euld have ben enough to keep n fellow sntisfied but got e hanker
to work for some ei outfits where they had nore exciteelent. 'hen
too, T wanted to se ne country too so I just up end left my bui in
charge of our critters nnd went to rev,/ 7eeico. •ltogethers I guess
there wasn't letel than 100 brood mare, stout 35 colts, and over 1,400
heed of critters.
The e.ost prized bunch of o;itters was a herd of
about 00 fine geldings we used for saddle took end sale. hile
they weren't wortL as ''.uch es the cattle, still we worked theel so
much that we got attached to them tnd liked them most.
-eie 15, oody age '3
en; °lore
reent :o., let. 7
left the home ranch and stopped at the YL outfit which
tc,fs locate- ne ort Jupely, in the eerritory. lhey run about
head of cattle and we had plenty of exoiteLAInt alright but
we worked almost ell the time because there wes so ra.:ch to do and
so few weeeles to handle the work.
"Of course, the better the rider, the batter the pay but
anybody could go to work on the YL. :hey'd size you up and take
your pedigree, then 'ut ou in the place you'd do the most good if
y3L1 ',man t rale et hendling cattle.
"I spoke of reeding lots nwhile ot T've reed a lot about
de -d shots in ny time but I never saw but one. Thile I was figured
eefair shot, I couldn't hit but three out of six at a board about
a fo)t leng and a f3t wide after jerking it out of the holeter at
full speed on my hoss. You'd do it by jerking it out and shoeting
es fast es you °eel() tri
-This shot 7 snoke of was e fellow that came mysteriously
to the Y. :is mime was een ealston but that wes all he ever told.
e didn't heve to tell anythina elae end never did while the rest
of es_ told everything we ever knew from Li; to time. I don't want
Y,Ju to get the iepreesien thet we talked f-11 the time,. :hen we
talked, it s while e were riding the range together end not
working Lett just going somewhere, or, at nieht eroad the oampfire
or the ehuck wegon. .'e told lets of tell tales besides sang and
tele about our pests. an never joined in on this but we figured
frore his talk, that he ems from e Canadian nge, or sorteehere
in the :,ortie end was wanted by the law.
his an never showed off, nor breeeed but ?then the occasion
arose, re it did with all range work and P t unexpected times, Dan
PhiT)ps, -Taody
Rangelore
•rrant c0., Dist. 7
:Age 49
was a miracle with a gun. Beams* he almost bed to enter the
friendly contests the boys would have from tine to time to pass
'way the time snd have e little fun, he'd ride and shoot with the
rest of us. t the mime distance I'd shoot my board, he'd shoot a
silver dollar and follow it across the ground as it bounced under
the impact of the bullets. I tell you, he was .en absolute miraclei
T was still on the 1% when he left, and he left the way he Game.
Aust vanished into the night when the rest of us wart asleep..
"/hen T left the 118, I went back to nenver county and went
to work for the AUT. Old leo Young owned this outfit and run about
60 bosses in his remuda with over 5,000 critters on the range. I
worked there for a spell, then lit out for New l!exioo.
-The first berth I got there wee on the Anchor D, which was
owned b a widow women and run by Sweet, Slight and Shannonhouses
who ran the S to the South. You make the rnohor fl by burning
an Anchor first, then burning a D right under it. The Anchor D
run about 12,000 head in the Saint Padre's Mountains.
"I put in a season on the Alohor D, then drifted South to
the Triple S. They made their "brand by burning an S on the critter's
left shoulder, side and hip. Three S's, or, the Triple S. It was
an ordinary ranch of about 12,000 cattle and run about the same as
the Anchor D.
"The next season, I drifted farther South to the Bell outfit
Just above the Canadian River end North of Tuscosa. It was another
ordinary ranch with around 12,000 head and they burnt a bell on their
critter's left side. The difference in this ranch was that it was
owned by some Englishmen and you never 'saw the owners. The ram rod
?hive, 7.o,)dy p-ge z-10
Rangelore
Tarrant Co., 1,iat.;7 PC
was Bud Aiwa', a men that was well known for his honesty in every
trick, and a good rider, roper, a fair shot, and a real cow man.
He knew cattle better than most people know their children. I'll
tell you right now, that when Bud Wilson told you he could do a
thing, he could, and when he told you to do e thing, you'd better.
:Te wouldn't tell you to do anything he couldn't do, though. That
oovere n pretty big field. The thing about it, is that men were
he-men in those days and you could depend on a man'swword. They'd
tell tell tales alright, but you knew when they started in what it'd
turn out te be.
Well, then -1 drifted on South the next season to the old
LI outfit. Seems like all the boys worked on the IA at one time or
another. All the drifters seemed to make the LIE on their way North
or south, whichever way they were headed. The hospitality there
was just like it has been pictured in books. You didn't have to
wait to be invited to stop. Before you got into the ranch yard,
somebody'd sing out, 'Light, Stranger, Chuck your hose and o'non
in to the kitchen'.
"The LX was a big outfit and run over 30,000 cattle along
the Canadian River below Tusoosa. Of all the ranches I had dealings
with, the LX was about the friendliest one. l'eld have contests at
every chance and want you to know that a contest on the LX was
something to write home shout. I net a couple of Oregon boys by
the name of loss Cook and Johnny Brennan. Thaw boys could ride to
a fare -you -well. I never saw either one of them bucked off. in
fact, Tess Cook rode a hose by the name of 'Bleck Lightning' that
had never been ridden 'til he rode him. ?hot hoes was a n -killer
and had killed three or four punchers the t meat on in spite. or what
Phipps, ioody Page Ill
Pengelore
7arrant Jo., 7Ast. 77 70
whet they'd been told ibout the hoes. That they'd figured on, was
making a rep for themselves as a brone stoilper right.
"1 rods Black Lightning myself after Jess pulled the trick.
I often wonder if I'd have rode him before, If:miming ',hat T did on
the hoes. I kind of like to believe I'd have rode him had thc
proposition be n put up to me right.beoause I tried to do everything
I see anybody else do. In order to hold top puncher's pay, you had
to be able to do anything any other top puncher oould do and I knew
that.
"Another rider I met on the LX vas Tad Southard. Re was
tops at riding most any boss flesh he over saw. As a rule, he did
nearly all the brono busting for the LX but it was bseause he wanted
to. They didn't fore* you to bust brows. It was just a part of
your mark and a puncher usually busted whet he used in his string.
You'd naturally lose a couple of bosses a year anyway, and you just
replaced those you lost. Personally, I've lost as high as six in
one season. They** break their leg in a gopher hole, got gored by
a steer, or anything that could happen to a hose to make it useless
for cow work.
"About the best rider I ever saw was John Springer. Re
worked all over new exico but mostly on the LIT ranch. I saw him
ride in a contest when he was working on the LX at the time I was,
and he put up a good ride on a hoes that was pretty bad. Re made
a better show when he rode by such as, hitting the hoes with your
stetson, roweling, or anything else thlt would make him madder.
Alen you did that, the ride usually lasted longer and made a better
show.
flhions„ •'oody
D,rapalore
nqr-ant :Ant. '7
7age :112
IT
-In.the first place, John rods about the best all around
hoss I ever taw, for a saddle hoes: He owned him personally and
naTted him Browny, because he was a brown !ustang with ,a little
Gteoldust 3prmish blood in him. That hos could out, peg, out out,
race, jump hurdles, in fact, that Oelding could do anything you
ever heard of 'a h083 doing. 14) could almost talk. ,*.ny puncher
could walk up to Browny and ask him where John was, end the hose
would go get him if he hed to go into the bunkhouse or where sever
he had to find him, nuzzle him, and lead him to the pungher that
asked for John. Us boys treated that boas like some folks do a
pooch. We'd get it apples, sugar, anything it,mobid eat. tnd we'd
talk to him and try to believe he'd understand everything we'd say.
I do believe he'd understand some of it. One of our jokes we to
say something nasty about one of the waddles around him, then ask
nrowny if it wasn't so, and he'd shake his head up and do was
Thep, no matter who ycu picked out, unless it was John himself,
and asked -3rown, if he had any sense, he'd shake his head no.
—len, I got tired of the TX and drifted up to a real sure
enough ranch. -'he ST. It was boosted rilit out of Tucumeari, or
Blue Hole.. The Blue rtile name came from a huge volcano crater that
stood out on an open plain. Just a big hill with no other hills
around. sort of a freak of nature. Well, the ST was -owned by
sone rnglishmen and mist have had right at 400,000 head-on it because
it was split into eight divisions and each division had over 40,000
on it. I worked under a fellow by the nee of Eubanks. He was
GOVOR
the ram rod over his section just as the other itigki divisions
me e under the direction of foremen, and all took their orders out
of headquarters just like big faetory.
"Ihipps, raody
1,angIsloes
Ilarrant Co., list.
gc 13
"I didn't oars much for the work on the UT becomes felt
like I was -sort of a cog in a machine but I lived about the same
there as I did on the other places. I mean by that, that I lived
in a dugout when I was at hepdquarters, ate at the chuck wagon,
had contests from time to time that sort of livened things up, and
in general, it was about the same as the dithers excepting the
roundups used more men, there were more cattle to brand, and there
were more treil drives made.
"The ST sold cattle everywhere. I went on two drives from
the ranch to Abilene, Kansas. It wasn't necessary the last time to
go to Abilene es we ()mild have shipped the from a place much eloser
but the ram rod decided to go on as he had before. Both times,
when we got to the genets border, the land owners met us with guns
and made us narrow our herds down as far as possible and begrudged
us every drop of water the critters took even after they were paid.
They were the ones that helped railroad oonstruotion along by
forcing the cattlemen to go to the nearest railroad and ship to
his market. :test of the cowmen were highly in favor of the railroads
because it got their critters to the market with less weer and tear
on the wh)le. The usual trail herd really benerfi“ed and got fatter
on the ,trail beoause they were grazed along the way. sometimes
though, y)u couldn't get the grazing just right and the critters
lost weight. a trail herd of several thousand critters, the
money loss in beef wrs something to think about.
"I only made two other trail drives that were longer than
the drive from the ST to !bilene. I made one from the Mite leks
seotion where the Pell ranch was toasted to Lewiston, "ontens.
The herd was about 1,500 Bell critters and about 800 others from
fhipps, :;o3dy
Rz;_ngelore
?vrrant 3o., :Aut. ,7
-age 14
-,f'
1.1.1
some grease pot outfits that only owned a few head at a time.
The other drive was from the Saint Lndrews -ountain seotion and
'Fs 15,00 cattle from the Anchor D and 1.500 from the rriple S.
These drives lasted through November and December and were really
tough.
"There were times when you'd have to go a couple of days
without water for the stock. Ones, they went three days end when
the wind happened to come from the West and they smelled water,
they struok out and all we could do was just follow and hope they
wouldn't many of them get hurt. I had one experience of it herd
smelling,water:for 15 miles; When a herd started toward a water
hole, even if it was off the trail, we'd follow along. They'd
get to the water's edge, and those coming from bvhind would push
them on out into the water. -Then you'd get to the water, the
river would be e mesa of cattle cod they'd drink 'til they were as
round as a ball. They'd remind you somewhat Of these balloons.
!la big end round in the middle.
"The time they smelt water for 15.miles, I got in on about
the middle of the herd and watehld them shove the others in, then
come on down to the water, only to get shoved in themselves. They
drank and drank, then heme out on the bank end laid down in the
shade of some trees that implened to be there and rested awhile,
then went back two or three times more to drink iome more. .Then
most of them had gotten about ell they wanted, there were at least
1,000 heed over on the other side of the river. 'hay just seem
across when they got into the water so deep they couldn't stand
on, the bottom. It took us a day and a half to get straightened
up out of that mess immense we had to go over and set the others
Phipps, ;;oody
inngelore
Tfrrant Co. :lat. f7
on the other side.- fhe way thgt was done was, the ram rod had to
call for volunteers to go over. It wasn't required of you to risk
your life in a river that writ et almost flood tide like that one
was, so he celled for volunteers.
"I was one of the first to volunteer. I figured that it
wouldn't be so hard because my hose was a good swimmer end I knew
4 could swim it across and beck if neceasPry. ?4,11, I was the
first to hit the water. It was coming down so fast that the hose
couldn't make any hegd way so I let the hose have it's heF.d. 'Mgt
is, r turned the reigns loose so he could swim on across without
me worrying him. !Te still didn't go very good so I got off and
caught shold 0 his tail, figuring on mounting him before he came
out of the water.
"It was a mistake to get off in the way I was because I'd
taken all my ol)th s off and had tied them on the back of my nook.
Alen the olothes became water soaked, I had trouble in holding on
to the tail, then accidently lost my hold altogether. One of
the boys on the bank jumped off after me to save me from drowning.
Mien he got to is., I was floating on my back and warned him that
I'd sink him if he caught on to me to hold him self out of the
water. He assured me that he w's there to help me and told me not
to as tab onto him that way either but to hold onto his bandana and
he'd tow me out, fie took me ovet to the side where the strays
were, and after I got out, I ego pretty well tired out but regdy
to go on after drying off'Pnd warning by fire. Then I said T
awe going on after coming so nenr drowning, the ram rod didn't
have a bit of trouble in getting all the volunteers he needed to
handle the strays.
Phipps, .00dy
Sangelore
Tarrant co., Ast. 7
:laza "16
:00
-well, we fidlished that rive withaut much mare trouble.
Ve found good grazing and plenty of water nefIrly ail the way end
after all, that's the cowmen's rial job. 7:ben be has plenty of
I
grass and water, he has little se to worry over. I've seen it
so dry at tines that you'd have o find some quick sand, run the
cattle over two sides, which w44 force the water up in the middle,
then let a few at 8 time drink om that place. &fter awhile, you'd
have to dig a hole in the place there the water was coning up because
it'd be getting scarcer. That s an unusual apse, though.
"1 gues 1 was about 35 ears old when I left the 3T to go
to the Kansas City Stook Yards 40 work in some capacity, handling
cattle on the yards. I hired mit to Cur? and Ryan, cattle speaulators,
and they sent me here to 7ort 8 th because I rezaly knew cattle. I
don't say this to brag, but becense I grew up aro.nd cattle and would
have been awful dumb if it didn t tine -1.1y 'oak in. Cur? and Ryan
just bought cattle to eleoulate on. :herd buy a herd, grade the
oritters into two or three grHde, then sell them off that way.
7hey'd pull every stunt they CoOld thin', of to make some money on
a herd. le'd handle from 65,30 to 70,000 heed a year, right here
on the yards and other please 4c.e around here,
"I worked for them 'tiltI was about 40 years old, then took
a herd of 3,000 steers up to it old stomping ground in the °blots,
Nation. I was the ram rod, or *roman, and I used the same old
brand I had with my bud. The brand. I was located close ,to
Ashomingo, Oklahoma, and kept tihe herd there 'til we sold them the
next yen.. hen T came on bec41 to 7ort ::ort1-1 and worked for tht.
difrerent co-imission men 'til d nee force(' me to quit pnd come out
hers to the flea. for Aged )Lasoii in 1V31. I never merrle6.