Document text
7544
/24:14,
Phipps, woody
Nflngelore
Tarrant Co., Dist 47
Riley Patrick, 75, was born tpr. 3,
1862, in Albany N.T. His father, a
Union soldier, moved the family in 1865,
to Ft. Riley, Indian ?err., or, to the
site the City of Tulsa, Okla., now oeoupiee.
mile tetriok was taught to ride's horse at
an early age, and rode one to school as a
child, he didn't work any cattle until Sam
Burnett, who operated a ranch S. or Ft.
Riley, employed him in 1883. He left in
18&17, and drifted to San Angelo, Tex., whore
he was employed by the Stillman Rambo then
by wellington, a **Me dealer, then drifted
to the nog Rama:. After a short time, he
was employed on the Wilder Ranch in Sen
Patriot* Co, then the Wadden Ranch, N'óJ
the Welder Ranch.. The last ranch he was 4
employed on, was the Canada Ranch, loe. N.
or Victoria, Tex. After leaving the Canada
Ranch, he went to Fort Worth, whore he was
employed by cattle dealers, lets; employed
by the Fort worth Stock Yards utitiliiet age
and infirmities forced him to retire in
lti35. He now sell pencils on the streets,
and resides in the Reliance Hotel, Ft. worth
Texas. His Story:
pag4 41
7O
Sure. I lived and worked on the range when it was really
a cattle range. You see me here. All broke up, and selling
pencils to get by. I could go to live on several ranched and
have nothing to do but set around, and maybe feed a few ohickens
or so. The reason T don't 6o it is because I was man enough at
one tie to make a living on the range just like I told you, and
that kind of a men never gives up 'til they throw dirt in his
face.
I wasn't really born on the rafts, though. I was born
in Melly, New York, on April 34, 1862. My dad was a Union
soldier, and when the war was over, we moved to Fort Riley in
the Indian Territory at call :unotion. Tulsa Oklahoma now sets
on that spot. Kid like, and seeing a, lot of cow punchers all
the time, I wanted to learn to ride a hoes, and that's the first
Phipps, roody Page f2
Rangelore
Tarrant Co., fist. #1 rc
thing I guess I did learn. Later on, when went to sohool„ I
always rode a hose.
My family was away* set against as ever being a Gov
puncher. so I didn't get to be one 'til after dad died in '80.
He wanted as to be a lawyer. The main reason idly I never was
one was because I didn't have any ambition to bb one, and nY
folks didn't have the dough to put as through. You know, it
takes dough to learn to be a lawyer. All I ever.done 'til dad
died, we to ride *round, hunt and fish. I had ass hoes of
my own, end it wasn't a pony either. Most of the kids of that
day had a pony but had a rani hoss. It cost my dad about Z00.00
in s day when the best hose flesh was selling for around 440.00.
"A few months after dad died. I was hired by sea Burnett
to rids herd on his cows. He run a ranch on about 10 seotions,
with *bout ROO acres leased for grazing. I goes- the place was
about three mile* South of Fort Riley, and run around three to
600 head of bosses, and four to 5,000 settle. Re had several
irons, the main ones being the 0 IT, and the XX irons. he
reason for having so many irons was beGeuse he bought and sold
so much.
He'd buy up fro.T. three to 5,000 head, then trpil driie
'am to tenses City. These trail drives would be split up into
about three bunches, in order to handle the herds better. -e
didn't have but about eight regular hands, and had to hire his
troll drive hands. He'd hire,fOrty-50 hands for every drive.
Had to have *ea because n trail drive takes ...plenty help.
hisnit no trouble to get hands bonus* a oow puncher is shout
the worst drifter there ever was. drifted aplenty ayself.
hippe,'oody
Rangelare
Tarralt Co., Dist. 17
Page 15
The regulers on Sam's Ilece was Bill Stegelman„ who
later turned out to be the greatest U.S. Aershall ever use, Jos
3anada, Jaok Farraday, 'hitey Lewis, L fellow named Red, and I
forget the rest of their memos. fter el, it's been quite a
spell since I was with The reason I recall the ones I
named was beosuse I was thrown with them more than the others.
'lthough, we wee all the best of buddies. If you jumped one of
us, you might's well jumped all of us because you had to fight
us all.
It wee a noted fact that every. time a, ranch crew met
another' In Fort Riley, it wouldn't be long ltil there was a
fight, and, likely as not, it'd turn out to be a gun fight,
.And when they had a gun fight, somabody'd hit the dust goner.
Looking back at it all new, and the time we met others, T
'believe the ranch ram rods sort of worked together and tried to
keep their hands away from the others.
The Burnett riders slung -together better then, the
others too, because they were into more than the other ranches.
Sam going around and baying so maty.osttle, and getting so many
irons, it was sort of nctural Wirt more than just the ones he
bought found their way into his herds. mother thing, Sam's
cows were what's known as wprolifiel. His,cowe'd have four...
five salves a year. we used to say that a calf had no right to
get away from it's mother because it'd likely get a strange
iron on it if it did. For that renson, Sam paid more then the
other ranchers, *d wouldn't hire nothing but the best riders
and shots. Re couldn'. use no other kind. :oo much ehanee of
trouble, end whin you had trouble in those days, you'd bettor
PhipDs, oody
Rangelore
-grrant co., Dist. 17
P5gt7 04
PC
file your hand with a six shooter and shoot straight and raster
than the fellow you was having your trouble with. Of course,
we didn't go to work as rustlers. Thera was rustlers in the
cJuntry but we didn't go to work that way. 40 just had. an
understanding and knew that we had to products. In fact, we
didn't cell lifting cows rustling when es done it for the ranch.
e called it,' Buokarooing s. Another thing, nobody talked
about. Not even around each other. 70 just done our work,
which was what we was paid for, and nothing LAI said about it.
I said we had to be good riders. Other ranchers was
alwtys bringing wild hose stuff to Burnett's pleas to have us
bust 'em for them. Sam's big hose herd was mostly wild stuff.
re didn't have these hosses for _sale, but just for use on the
itgaelf. go out and bust 30-40 at a time, andire'd
just bust the ones we personally wanted ourselves. 'hat say,
we always had good hose flesh to work with. That's almost the
main thing there was to ranch work. Good hosses. Men a hose
got to where it didn't have the heart for the work, or had an
atoAdent, we shot it.
A big rounds is an important thing on a trail drive.
!limes drives always had a big remuda, whereas, the other drivers
tried to get along with as few bosses as they figured would get
'em thr)ugh besause the 11he bosses, the fewer the mon they
had to put on the remuda. Reason knew ab out the other drives
was because when a drive cons through our territory, and they
were short a man at so, the boned login us out. no was always
ready to go on a trail drive because we'e be able to go to
plates like, Parsons, 'Kansas, and Kansas City, where we'd be
Phips, ody
Rnngelore
Tarrant Go., Dist.
Page 15
Fe
able to go on a whing ding. All of us fell )ws liked to throw
a whine ding when ever we got a ohanoe, end the trill drives was
the only time we ever got away from Yort Tlley, which after all,
was a little place.
Of *ours., a trail drive wasn't a picnic. 4e'd have to
go through a lot of brush on the drive, and at our beat, weld
stand to lose from three to 400 critters on every drive. 'hen,
you had the Indians to watch out for. ?heyld Pak you for beef,
then if turned down, they'd stampede the herd. You take the
Osages Etna the Shawness,and they was reel friendly. They'd go
to the trail boss end ask for say, 20 head. !Then Sam was .long,
held alwrys turn down the first asking. Then, they'd stand there
and ask for less. Usually, when they asked Sem for 20 they
left with about two. lie reason San always out *en down was
because he knew they'd steal a few heed anyway.
"In going through the brushy eountry more than likely,
we'd have the herd strung out for anilesor so, maybe four or
five miles...All accor(Ang to how many bead we had in the drive,
and the country we was going through. 71hen weld have the herd
all struntz out that away, we souldn't poesibly watch all the
critters and the Indianola wait in a place 'til there wasn't no
low punchers in sight, then they'd out out a few heed, seven
or eight. They was so elle* at it, that we hardly aver caught
*em in the rot. e just missed the emitters and that was all.
However, if they turned down eompletely, they'd stampede
the herd and weld lose a whole lot more.
The Delayer tribe was about the smartest meek thieves
of all the Indians. Then wo ewe them, we'd sure tightmn our
Phivs„ woody
Rangelore
Tarrant Co., Dist. 01
Page #6
FC
guard because if we didn't, they'd try to take the whole herd.
And, they was smart enough that they didn't always depend on
a stomp to scatter the cattle. You see, some of the Indianssa
stampede the herd, then when it was all scattered, they'd ride
around and gather up all they could oatoh. nother thing, if
a herd got too badly mattered in a stomp, acme of it'd never
be rounded up again.
The one tribe thmt we seldom ever saw, but when we did
see them, it meant trouble, was the Saggin Fox Tribe. ,They was
killers. Their system was to thin out the cow punchers and
then take whet beef they wanted. I never was in a trail driVe
that met the Saggin Foxes, but I heard a -plenty about tem. No,
I oan't say that I could bee to the places where these tribes
hung out. I'd say that they didn't have no certain place but
moved their tribes around from time to time. The peaceful tribes
usually had a looality where they'd stay, but then, they'd move
ar)und in that locality.
We had a -plenty stampedes in our own roundups, though,
that wasn't :mused by no Indians. They was **used by strange
animals coming up to the herd, skunks, strange noises, suoh as
a Angly saddle in a lull, or anything along thtt line. The
thing that nearly always caused stomps was storms. Lightning
storms especially. 4any's the time I've seen lightning flashing
around on the horns of a herd. That makes 'am mighty skittish,
end I don't blame 'em et bit because it's mighty scary tints
when that happens.
"Anytime we expected a stomp, we'd all be out a -riding
around the herd, singing songs, talking to the critters.. We
7-hipps„ ?rood;
Rengelore
TfIrrant Co., Dist. f7
Peg"
PC
knew, of *aurae, that they oouldn't understand us but that shows
you what plifitelogy Gen do. We done that to Make the critters
feel thpt we wasn't soared of nothing, hoping that thTy'd take
the same slant. It worked most of the tins. You'd never know
'til it was too late when it didn't work, because they'd be,off
like ha express train when it didn't work. One minute, they're
all standing around, or lying down, with softs a few of them a
bit restful. :he next thing you know, there. not a eritter,in
sight that aiat doing it's lev,511 best to run it's legs oft. If
ymi happen to be in front of the herd, it oould be just too bad
for you bessuse a bard on the stoup runs over everything in it's
way. That's one of the reasons so many critters get killed In
a stomp, beosuse they run over a cliff, or something, and stomp
a good many of them down,
Mores quit* an art to stopping a stomp, too. It's
important to stv one as soonle possible, to keep as many as
you can fro -1 getting killed. The way to stop a stomp is for
some good rider with a ood hose, to get out in front and get
the lender to turn. Ono* be get* the leader to turn, and keep
turning, the whole herd gets to running In a circle, or what's
dolled, I tfter they get to milling, they run 'til
they're all tired out. After one of the *-itters beide, others
take it up, and the stomp is stopped in a few minutes after the
first bawl. That's another one of the rensons Sam wanted all
top riders. In come of a pinch likes stomp, any one of his
riders was capable of getting out front at the first *bane*.
One of the funniest things about Sen's outfit, was the
Phipps, -oody
Rengelore
Trrrant Co., Dist. 1'7
rage #8
FC
chuck wagon. Not that the wagon Woolf was funny, but "hat the
boys done to all the coolwe that took it over. While I wee on
the pleas, the only time they was able to keep a cooky almost,
was on the roundups, because they played every kind of a joke
on any new comer that wasn't on to heir jokes. They'd give
'em outlaw hosses to ride, telling them before they mounted that
it was a tame hoes, or anything like that. The roundup cOoky
was a cow poke like themselves thet was plenty tough, but stove
up frou riding wild hoases. Every step to him, ,was e pain.
It night have been,thet they just respeoted his oondition,
don't know. I do know, though, that they never played anything
on hin and they could hardly ever got a cooky to take their
kitchen over.
As I said, net quite a lot of drifting cow pokes from
other pieces, and I away* listened to their tales about these
plaoes. The wildelt tales was told about eat Texas, so after
about four years on Sam's pleas, T decided to drift. I drifted
to San Angelo, Texas, and MEW out to the Stillman Ranch. They
only run a few head in the XY iron, and I didn't stay with
'-em but about two months. Just long enoUgh to get their Spring
roundup work over with.
Next fellow I went to work for, wee a cattle dealer at
Snn Angelo by the name of Wellington. He run a mall ranch in
the 00 iron, and I wasn't long with him either.
Slim I'd heard a lot about the, king Ilf,noh in the
Rio Irande country of Texas, I decided to drift there. I hired
out to the number two ranch at Falfurias. hst was a curious
plows. They never asked a assa's name, but all' the whites was
Philms„ io)dy
Rnngellre
T'rrant
they still still run about 10,000 herd there now.
After a short time there, I drifted on to the Canada
-_,.aaoh, run by Jim, Bob, and :like Canada. That was one of the
old.** ranches in the country. 3n s000unt of the Canada's doing
so much buying and selling, they run from 20,000 head to 70,000
he d at a time 04, the reneh. lie Camden done the most of the
trail driving in that eountry. lheyed start s drive to elver
into Kansas City, going up the Old Shoshone Trail. I think
a u.S. Pighway now goes up that trril. don't. exact,ly reeall
the number of it, but I think it's the I 77
They made their drives from tvey book, when they had to
go all the way to Krems city. /every year, the trims got Whorter
and shorter, until, the last drive was mrde just before the 1900„
to the Sante Fe Spr„ at Bay city... ?he next year, the Saint
Louis, Brownsville, and lexica railroad built a spur right up
to the ranch,. It's all now owned by the Mop reed.
That Spring roundup following the last trail drive made
by the Camden was the last work I ever done on any ranch. I
left there to come to Fort Worth, Where T went to work for
cattle devlers. Then the Yards ells built, I went to work there,
and worked right up was lot go because I was too old to
get around fast enough. Mile working on the verde, handled
many a critter from one of the ranohes I put in a little time on.
;ad it always node me a little homesick. The reason I atuck was
because I was working in a town, and there was "tore money in it.