RANCHING IN NEW MEXICO
The Scottish Company--My Difficulties and Dangers--Mustang
Hunting--Round-up described--Shipping Cattle--Railroad
Accidents--Close out Scotch Company's Interests.
Bidding good-bye to Arizona I travelled to Las Vegas, New Mexico, now
quite an important place. Calling on Mr L----, the manager of the
Mortgage Company, and the Company's lawyers, the position of affairs was
thus stated to me. The Company had loaned a large sum of money to a
cattleman named M----, who owned a large ranch with valuable
water-claims and a very fine though small herd of cattle. M---- had paid
no interest for several years and attempted to repudiate the loan, so
the Company decided to foreclose and take possession. Well, that seemed
all right; so after getting power of attorney papers, etc., from the
Company, I started down to the ranch, some eighty miles and near Fort
Sumner, and introduced myself to M----, who at once refused to turn over
the property to me or to anyone else, and sent me back to Las Vegas in a
somewhat puzzled state of mind. Recounting my experience to Mr L----
and the lawyers, after a long confab they decided that I should go down
again and _take_ possession. They refused me the services of a sheriff
or a deputy to serve the papers and represent the law. No, I was to take
possession in any way my wits might suggest; they merely proposing that
everything I did I should put on paper and make affidavit to and send up
to them. By this time I had learned that M---- was very much stirred up
about it, was quite determined to give nothing up, and that really he
was a dangerous man who, if pushed to extremities, might do something
desperate. The lawyers told me there was another, a right, usual and
legal way of taking possession, but for private reasons they did not
wish to proceed in that way; and so I finally agreed to go down again
and do what I could.
Buying some horses and hiring a Mexican vaquero to show me the country,
and especially to be a witness to whatever took place, we pulled out for
Fort Sumner. The spring round-up was about to begin, and near by I found
M----'s "outfit" wagon, "cavayad" of horses, his full force of "hands"
and the foreman H----. After dining with them I pulled out my papers to
show H---- who I was and told him I had come there to take possession of
M----- 's saddle horses, the whole "ramuda" in fact of nearly a hundred
head. Oh, no! he had no instructions to give them up; he did not know
anything of the matter and he certainly would not let me touch them! I
said I had come to carry out my orders and meant to do so; and mounting,
rode out to gather up the grazing ponies. At once they came after me,
not believing that anyone would dare do such a thing in their presence,
and began to jostle me, with more evil intentions in their eyes.
Desisting at once, and before they had gone too far, I told them that
that was all I wanted, said good-bye in as friendly a way as possible,
and went before a Justice of the Peace and made affidavit of having
attempted to take possession of the horses till resisted by force, in
fact, that physical violence had been used against me. This was sent to
Las Vegas, and in due course the lawyers advised me that it was
satisfactory and recommended me to adopt similar methods when attempting
to get possession of the ranches, cattle, stock horses, etc.
This was a funny position to be in! M----was a popular man; the other
cattlemen would certainly side with him and resent such novel and
apparently high-handed proceedings. Myself was an entire stranger in the
whole of that huge country, devoted solely to cattle interests, and of
course did not have a friend nor did expect to have any. In fact M----
's appellation of me as that "damned Scotsman" became disagreeably
familiar. The round-up was then a long way off down the river, some 100
miles, working up towards Fort Sumner; so I decided to visit the
ranches. We rode out to one where was a house (unoccupied) and a spring,
there stayed one night, and on departing left an old coffee-pot, some
flour, etc., as proof of habitation and so gave myself the right to
claim having taken possession. From there to the headquarters ranch was
some thirty-five miles. On our route we came across a number of M----'s
stock horses (he claimed about four to five hundred) and, taking the
opportunity, we got together some 200 head, inspected them, and in this
way, the only way open to me, claimed having taken possession. But now
with fear and trembling we approached the ranch where M---- and his
family, as I knew, were residing. A hundred yards from the house was the
main spring of water, to which and at which we went and camped for
dinner. Somehow or other M---- heard of our presence and out he came, a
shot-gun in his hand, fury in his eyes, and his wife clinging to his
coat-tails. No doubt he meant to shoot, but I was quite ready for him
and put a bold face on it. Things looked nasty indeed and I was
determined to fire should he once raise his gun. Perhaps this boldness
made him think a bit, and I was very much relieved indeed when he
resorted to expressive language instead of any more formidable
demonstration. Though it was necessary to tell him that I was come to
take possession of the ranch, he was not on to the affidavit game, and
the result was that on returning to Fort Sumner I swore to having
attempted to take possession but had been resisted by force. As
explained before, such an affidavit was, in the eye of the law, a strong
point in our contention of having taken possession. At least, so our
legal advisers affirmed.
From Fort Sumner I then started for the round-up, taking with me a white
man, the Mexican having got scared and quit. Having bought more horses,
enough to fully mount two men, we joined the work. Fortunately M----'s
outfit had gone up the river with a large herd of cattle, and was during
their absence represented by the foreman of another ranch. What I did
was to get all the foremen together (there were some ten wagons on the
work) and explain to them who I was, that I was there to work and handle
the M---- cattle, that if they would help me I should be obliged, but
they were to understand that they would be regarded as doing it for my
Company. They only said they were going to help in the usual way to
gather the cattle and brand the calves; that I could work or not as I
liked; that, in fact, it was none of their business as to whose the
cattle were. So after working on a bit an affidavit was sent in that I
had "worked" the cattle and had _met no resistance_. But mine was an
extremely disagreeable position.
During this round-up I noticed that M----was carefully gathering all the
steers and bulls of any age he could find. I notified my people and
asked them to send the sheriff down to help me. Things were coming to a
point as it were; it was evidently M----'s intention to drive the
steers out of the territory, knowing that once over the Texas line we
could no longer enjoin him. His whole force of men depended on this to
get their wages out of these steers, as every one of them was at least
three months in arrears, some of them six, twelve, and even eighteen
months. Thus I knew they would make every effort to succeed in the drive
and would be desperate men to interfere with. The last day of the
round-up was over, and in the evening I was careful to note the
direction taken by the herd.
In the meantime L---- had sent me a restraining paper to serve and I was
of course determined to do it; but late that night my relief was great
to see the sheriff, a Mexican, drive into camp. Here was a proper
representative of the law at last, though I do not think he himself
liked the job overmuch, officers of his breed being habitually treated
with contempt by the white men. We agreed to take up the trail early
next morning, knowing that the distance to the line was forty miles
straight across the Staked Plains, no fences, no roads or trails, and no
water for thirty miles at least. So up and off before daybreak, he
driving a smart pair of horses, I with only my saddle pony, at as quick
a gait as a wheeled vehicle could move; drove till his team began to
play out, when luckily we came upon a mustang-hunter's camp and were
supplied with two fresh mounts. Pushing on we at last spied in the far
distance what was unmistakably a herd of cattle. Experience told me that
the cattle had been watered, a fact which was thankfully noted. Watered
cattle cannot be driven except at a very slow walk, and the herd was
still seven or eight miles from the Texas line. M----'s foreman had
made a fatal mistake! Had he not watered them they might have escaped
us. They must have thought they had hoodwinked me and were probably then
rejoicing at their success. They had certainly made a noble effort,
having travelled all night and on till noon next day at a speed I had
not thought possible. (There were even bulls in the herd.) One can
imagine the feelings of the party when they at last saw us two riding at
top speed directly on their trail. Cuss words must have flown freely,
and no doubt the more desperate ones talked resistance. I was really
anxious myself as to what course they would decide on, M---- not being
with them, and they thinking of nothing but the settlement of their
wages. On coming up to them they looked about as "mad" as any men could
be. But they decided rightly; and seeing the game was up, merely tried
to get me to promise to pay their back wages. This I would not do, but
said there was time enough to talk that over afterwards; that meantime
the herd must be driven back to its proper range, and to this they
finally agreed. Word was brought in that M---- was lying out on the
prairie, prostrated by the sun, helped no doubt by his realizing that
his little scheme had been defeated. We had him brought into camp, but I
declined to see him and returned to Fort Sumner. Soon afterwards M----
threw up the sponge, so to speak, and agreed to turn the property over
to us. These M---- cattle, numbering only 2000, did not justify the
running of a mess wagon and full outfit, so I made arrangements with a
very strong neighbouring ranch company to run the cattle for us, only
myself attending the round-ups to see that our interests were properly
protected.
Meantime the stock horses must be looked after. Fraudulently M---- had
started new brands on the last two crops of colts, the pick of them
going into his wife's brand; and her mares ranged with M----'s, now
ours. The band ran apparently anywhere. They had the whole Staked Plains
of New Mexico to wander over, there being then absolutely no fences for
a distance of 200 miles. Some 200 head of the gentler stock ranged near
home; the balance, claimed to number some 300 more, were mixed up with
the mustangs and were practically wild creatures, some of them having
never been rounded up for over two years.
By this time some of M----'s old hands had come over to my side. They
knew the country, knew how best to handle these horses, and by
favourable promise I got them to undertake to help in discriminating as
to which colts were the Company's property and which Mrs M----'s. So I
put up an "outfit," wagon, cook, mounts for seven or eight men, etc.,
and set out on a very big undertaking indeed, and one that M----himself
had not successfully accomplished for several years--a clean round-up of
all the stock horses in the country. These Staked Plains (Llanos
Estacados) were so called because the first road or trail across them
had to be staked out with poles at more or less long intervals to show
direction, there being no visible landmarks in that immense level
country. They are one continuous sweep of slightly undulating, almost
level land, well grassed, almost without living water anywhere, but
dotted all over with depressions in the ground, generally circular, some
of great size, some deeper than others, which we called "dry lakes,"
from the fact that for most of the year they were nearly all dry, only
here and there, and at long distances apart, a few would hold sufficient
muddy water to carry wild horses and antelope through the dry season.
But which lakes held water and which not was only known to these wild
mustang bands and our mares that ran with them. We took out with us some
hundred of the gentler mares, the idea being to graze these round camp,
and on getting round a bunch of the outlaws to drive them into this herd
and so hold them. Nearly every bunch we found had mustangs amongst them.
The mustang stallions we shot whenever possible. They were the cause of
all our trouble. These stallions did not lead the bands, but fell
behind, driving the mares in front and compelling them to gallop. When
pressed, the stud would wheel round as if to challenge his pursuers. He
presented a fine spectacle, his eyes blazing and his front feet pawing
the ground. What a picture subject for an artist! The noble stallion,
for he does look noble, no matter how physically poor a creature he may
chance to be, wheeling round to challenge and threaten his pursuer, his
mane and tail sweeping the ground, fury breathing from his nostrils and
his eyes flashing fire! Is he not gaining time for his mares and progeny
to get out of danger? A noble object and a gallant deed! Then was the
time to shoot. But, yourself being all in a sweat and your horse
excited, straight shooting was difficult to accomplish. We worked on a
system; on finding a band, one man would do the running for six or eight
miles, then another would relieve him, and so on, the idea being to get
outside of them and so gradually round them in to the grazing herd. We
had special horses kept and used for this purpose, fast and long-winded,
as the pace had to be great and one must be utterly regardless of dog
and badger holes, etc. This kind of work we kept up for a couple of
weeks, some days being successful, some days getting a run but securing
nothing. We made a satisfactory gathering of all the gentler and more
tractable mares, but some of the wilder ones we could not hold. At night
we stood guard over the band, and it was amusing, and even alarming, how
the stallions would charge out and threaten any rider who approached too
near his ladies. A good deal of fighting went on too between these very
jealous gentlemen. As illustrating what the wild stallions are capable
of, I may relate here how, one night when we had a small bunch of quite
gentle mares and colts in a corral, a mustang stallion approached it,
tore down the gate poles, took the mares out and forced them to his own
range, some thirty miles away; and he must have driven them at a great
pace, as when we followed next morning it was quite that distance before
we saw any sign of them. The story is told of M---- himself who one dark
night saw what he supposed was one of these depredators, shot it with
his rifle, and found he had killed the only highly-bred stud he
possessed.
At last we started homewards, meaning to separate the properties of the
two claimants; but M---- owned the only proper horse-separating corral
in the whole country, and from obstinacy and cussedness would not let us
use it. Here was a pretty go! To drive to any other corral would mean
taking M----'s horses off their proper range and the law forbade us
doing so, and he knew it. So we were compelled to do what I reckon had
never been done or attempted before--separate the horses on the open
prairie! First we cut out and pushed some half a mile away all mares and
young unbranded colts to which the Company's title could not be
disputed; also the stallions and geldings of like nature; then came the
critical and difficult part of the operation--to cut out and separate
mothers from their unbranded colts, and branded colts, some even one or
two years old, from their mothers. And not only cut them out, but hold
them separate for a full couple of hours! No one can know what this
means but one who has tried it. I had done a fair amount of yearling
steer-cutting; but hard as that work is, it is nothing compared with the
separating of colts from their dams. The only way was to suddenly scare
the colt out and race him as hard as you could go to the other bunch.
But if by bad luck its mother gave a whinny, back the colt would come
like a shot bullet, and nothing on earth could stop him. Fortunately I
had kept a fresh horse in reserve, a very fine fast and active cutting
pony. I rode him myself, and but for him we would never have
accomplished what we did. When we got through our best horses were all
played out. But it was absolutely necessary to move our own mare band to
the nearest corral at Fort Sumner, a distance of thirty miles, which we
did that evening. To night-herd them would have been impossible. The
title to many of these colts, branded and unbranded, was very much mixed
up, and indeed still in the Courts. Nevertheless I prepared next morning
to brand them for the Company. The fire was ready, the irons nearly hot,
when up drove M----in a furious rage. I do not think I ever saw a man
look so angry and mean. He held a shot-gun in his hand and, presenting
it at me, swore he would kill me if I dared to proceed any further. My
foreman, who knew him well, warned me to be careful; there seemed no
doubt that he meant what he said; he was too mad to dispute with, and
so! well, his bluff, if it were a bluff, carried the day and I ordered
the mares to be turned loose. As it turned out afterwards it was well I
did so, as further legal complications would have resulted. But as I
began to think of and remember the time that had been spent and the
amount of hard work in collecting these horses, I felt rather ashamed of
my action. And yet, can one be expected to practically throw his life
away, not for a principle, but for a few head of young colts not even
his own property? But, as said before, the disputed title influenced me
to some extent; that, and the muzzle of the shot-gun together certainly
did.
A word about mustangs. They were very wary, cunning animals, keen of
scent and sharp of eye. Invariably, when one first sighted them, they
would be one or two miles away, going like the wind, their tails and
manes flying behind them; and be it noted that when walking or standing
these manes as well as tails swept the ground. Few of them were of any
value when captured; many of them were so vicious and full of the devil
generally that you could do nothing with them, and they never seemed to
lose that character. Like the guanaco of South America, the wild
stallion always dungs in one particular spot, near the watering-place,
so that when hunting them we always looked out for and inspected these
little hillocks. It may also be mentioned here that guanacos, like wild
elephants and wild goats, have their dying ground, so to speak, where
immense quantities of their bones are always found. Cattle when about to
die select if possible a bush, tree or rocky place, perhaps for privacy,
quietness, or some other reason unknown to us.
The next and last time we rounded up the stock horses I left the wilder
ones alone, and gave a contract to some professional mustangers to
gather them at so much per head. These men never attempt to run them
down. They "walk" them down. A light wagon, two mules to pull it, lots
of grain, some water and supplies, are what you need. On sighting a band
you simply walk your team after them, walk all day and day after day,
never giving them a rest. Keep their attention occupied and they will
neglect to feed or drink. Gradually they become accustomed to your
nearer presence, and finally you can get up quite close and even drive
them into your camp, where your companions are ready with snare ropes
to secure them, or at least the particular ones you want to catch.
Prince, a horse I used to ride when mustang hunting, once accidentally
gave me a severe tumble. He was running at full speed when suddenly a
foreleg found a deep badger hole; over he went of course, head over
heels, and it is a miracle it did not break his leg off. These badger
holes, especially abandoned ones, go right down to a great depth, and
the grass grows over them so that they are hardly visible. Dog holes
always have a surrounding pile of earth carefully patted firm and trod
on, no doubt to prevent entrance of rain flood-water; thus they are
nearly always noticeable. Dog towns are sometimes of great extent, one
in my pasture being two miles long and about a mile wide. They are
generally far from water, many miles indeed, often on the highest and
driest parts of the plain and where the depth to water may be 500 feet
or more. They must therefore depend entirely on the juices of the green
grass, though in dry seasons they cannot even have that refreshment; and
they never scrape for roots. But even the small bunnies (called
cotton-tails) are found in like places and must subsist absolutely
without water, as they do not, or dare not, on account of wolves, etc.,
get far away from their holes.
No sooner was the M---- trouble well over than my Company saw fit to
foreclose on two other cattle outfits, one of which bowed to the law at
once. The other gave us, or rather me, a lot of unnecessary trouble, and
I had again "to take chances" of personal injury. All these cattle were
thrown on to the M---- range, and this increased the herd so much as to
justify the running of our own wagon and outfit.
Eastern New Mexico, the country over which our cattle ranged, was a huge
strip of territory some 250 miles by 100 miles, no fences, no settlers,
occupied only by big cattle outfits owning from 8000 to 75,000 cattle
each. The range was, however, much too heavily stocked, the rains
irregular, severe droughts frequent, and the annual losses yearly
becoming heavier; so heavy in fact that owners only waited a slight
improvement in prices to sell out or drive their cattle out of the
country. The way the cattle were worked was thus. The spring round-up
began in March, far down the river, and slowly worked north to our
range. Our wagon, one of many more, would join the work some 110 miles
south of our range, but I sent individual men to much greater distances.
The work continued slowly through the range, branding the spring calves,
and each outfit separating its own cattle and driving its own herd.
Twelve or more wagons meant some 300 riders and about 3000 saddle
horses. So the operation was done on a grand scale; thousands of cattle
were handled every day, and altogether such a big round-up was a very
busy and interesting scene. Intricate and complicated work it was, too,
though not perhaps apparent to an outsider; but under a good round-up
boss, who was placed over the bosses of all the wagons, it was wonderful
how smoothly the work went on. A general round-up took a long time and
was no sooner over than another was begun at the far south border (the
Mexico line) and the thing repeated. Our own cattle had got into the
habit of drifting south whenever winter set in. It took us all summer to
get them back again, and no sooner back than a cold sleet or rain would
start them south. In fact, in winter few of our own cattle were at home,
the cattle on our range being then mostly those drifted from the
northern part of the territory. Such were the conditions in a "free
range" country, and these conditions broke nearly all these big outfits,
or at least compelled them to market their stuff for whatever it would
bring. Partly on account of long-drawnout lawsuits we held on for seven
or eight years, when on a recovery of prices our Company also closed out
its live-stock interests.
During the turning-over of these, the Company's cattle, to the
purchasers, of course they had to be all branded, not with a recorded
brand, but simply with a tally brand, thus /**, on the hip. Had there
been a convenient separate pasture to put the tallied cattle into as
they were tallied, much work would have been saved and no opportunity
offered for fraud, such as will now be suggested and explained. The
method adopted was to begin gathering at one end of the range, tally the
herd collected, and then necessarily turn them loose. But we had bad
stormy weather and these tallied cattle drifted and scattered all over
the country and mixed up with those still not rounded up. This at once
gave the opportunity for an evilly-inclined man to do just as was soon
rumoured and reported to me. It was even positively asserted to me by
certain cowmen (this was while I was confined in bed from an accident)
that the buyer had a gang of men out operating on the far end of the
range, catching and tally-branding for him the still untallied cattle. A
simple operation enough, in such an immense district, where four men
with their ropes could, in a few undisturbed days' work, cheat the
Company out of enough cattle at $20 a head to be well worth some risk.
Several men were positive in their assertions to me. But I knew these
gentlemen pretty well--cattle-thieves themselves and utterly
unprincipled; perhaps having a grudge against the said buyer, perhaps
wanting merely to annoy me, and also possibly hating to see such a fine
opportunity not taken advantage of. In the end, when brought to the
scratch, not one of these informers would testify under oath. Whether
afraid to, as they would undoubtedly have run strong chances of being
killed, or whether they were just mischief-makers, as I myself have
always believed, it is impossible to know accurately. The buyer, being a
man of means and having many other interests in the district, would
certainly hesitate long before he took such a very dangerous risk of
discovery. All that can be said about it is that though I employed
detectives for some time to try to get evidence bearing on the subject,
no such evidence was ever obtained. The shortage in the turnover was due
simply to the usual miscalculation of the herd; the herd which never
before had been counted and could not, under range conditions, be
counted.
These were still "trailing" days, which means that steers sold or for
sale were driven out of the country, not shipped by rail cars. One great
trail passed right through our ranch (a great nuisance too), and by it
herd after herd, each counting, maybe, 2500 cattle, was continually
being trailed northwards, some going to Kansas or the Panhandle, most of
them going as far north as Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. These latter
herds would be on the trail continuously for two or three months. Our
own steers were always driven to the Panhandle of Texas, where, if not
already contracted to buyers, they were held till sold.
[Illustration: HERD ON TRAIL. SHOWING LEAD STEER.]
A herd of breeding-stock when on the trail must be accompanied by one or
more calf wagons, wagons with beds well boxed up, in which the youngest
or new-born calves are carried, they being lifted out and turned over to
their mother's care at night or during stoppages. In the old days, when
such calves had no value, they were knocked on the head or carelessly
and cruelly abandoned.
It is a strange fact to note that when a herd is on the trail there is
always a particular steer which, day after day and week after week,
occupies a self-assigned position at the head of the herd, and is
therefore called the "lead steer." I have often wondered what his
thoughts might be, if any; why he so regularly placed himself at the
head of affairs and was apparently so jealous of his commanding
position. Yes, the lead steer is a mysterious creature, yet if displaced
by death or some such cause, another long-legged, keen traveller will at
once take his place. It should be explained that a herd on the trail
travels naturally best in an extended form, two deep, seldom more than
three or six, except towards the tail end, called the "drag": so that a
herd of 2000 steers will form a much-attenuated line a mile in length
from one end to the other.
Which reminds me of an incident in this connection. I was moving a small
lot of steers, some 400 head in all, to pasture in the Panhandle of
Texas. The force consisted only of the wagon driver, one cowboy and
myself. But the cowboy turned out to be quite ignorant of the art of
driving cattle, did more harm than good, and so annoyed me that I
dismissed him to the rear to ride in the wagon if he so chose, and
myself alone undertook to drive, or rather not so much to drive, that
being hardly necessary, as to guide the herd on its course. I got them
strung out beautifully half a mile long, and they were making good time,
when suddenly a confounded sheep herder and his dog met the lead steers
and the procession was at once a scene of the most utter confusion. It
should be explained here that, in the case of a small herd thus strung
out, its guidance, if left to only one man, may be done from the rear by
simply riding out sharply to one side or the other and calling to the
lead cattle. How I did curse that wretch and his dog. A man on foot was
bad enough; but a man on foot with a dog! Horrors! Yet, perhaps, barring
the delay in getting the cattle started again, the incident had its
uses, as it had just previously occurred to me that the line was getting
a bit too long and might soon be out of control. Such are the uses of
adversity.
It can be understood that even a small herd of 400 lusty young steers
can keep a man, or even two or three men, busy enough, especially if
there are any cattle on the range you are passing through. In this case
there were fortunately few.
Amarillo, being the southern end of the Kansas railroad, was a great
cattle market. Buyers and sellers met there; and there, immediately
around the town, were congregated at any time in spring as many as
40,000 cattle, all under herd. Amarillo was then the greatest cattle
town in the world. She was the successor of such towns as Wichita and
Fort Dodge, simply because she was at the western terminus of the
railway. Though a pretty rowdy town her manners were an improvement on
such places as Dodge, where in the height of her wickedness a gambling
dispute, rivalry for the smile of a woman, or the slightest discourtesy,
was sufficient ground for the shedding of blood.
My life during these eight years had its pleasures and its troubles;
certainly much discomfort and a lot of disagreeable work. During the
working season, April to November, my time was mostly spent with the
round-up or on the trail, with occasional visits to our head office in
Las Vegas, and also to Amarillo on business matters. To cover these
immense distances, near 300 miles (there were few or no desirable
stopping-places), I used a light spring wagon or ambulance, holding my
bedding, mess-box, grain for the team, some water, stake ropes, and a
hundred other things. I nearly always camped out on the prairie, of
course cooked my own meals, was out in all kinds of weather--sun, rain,
heat and drought, blizzards and frightful lightning storms. My favourite
team was a couple of grey ponies. From being so much together we got to
understand each other pretty thoroughly, and we had our adventures as
well. Once on going up a very steep hill the ponies lost their footing.
The wagon backed and turned over, and ponies and wagon rolled over and
over down the hill among the rocks till hung up on a cedar stump. I was
not much hurt, but found the ponies half covered with stones and rocks
that had rolled on to them, the wagon upside down and camping material
scattered everywhere. Cutting the tugs and rolling the stones away the
ponies jumped up miraculously little injured, and even the wagon still
serviceable, but I had to walk a long way to get assistance. Then we
have fallen through rotten bridges, stuck in rivers and quicksands, and
all sorts of things.
One pony of this team, "Punch," was really the hardiest, best-built,
best-natured and most intelligent of any I have ever known. Many a
time, on long trips, has the other pony played completely out and
actually dropped on the road. But Punch seemed to be never tired. He was
a great pet too, and could be fondled to your heart's content. He had no
vice, yet was as full of mischief as he could possibly pack. His
mischief, or rather playfulness, finally cost him his life, as he once
got to teasing a bull, the bull charged, and that was his end.
It was with this team too that when driving in New Mexico through a
district where white men were seldom seen, but on a road which I had
often selected as a shorter route to my destination, I came on a Mexican
ill-treating his donkey. His actions were so deliberate as to rouse my
ire, and I got down, took the club from him and threatened castigation.
On proceeding on the road I passed another Mexican mounted on a horse
and carrying a rifle. Happening by-and-by to look back much was my
surprise, or perhaps not very much, to see the gun and horse handed over
to the first man, and himself mounted and galloping after me. Knowing at
once what it meant, that his game was to bushwhack me in the rough cañon
immediately in front, I put the whip to my team to such good purpose
that we galloped through that cañon as it had never been galloped
through before. I would have had no show whatever in such a place, and
so was extremely glad to find myself again in the open country.
Another time I hitched up another team, one of which, a favourite
mustang-chaser, had never been driven. We made some ten miles all right
till we came to the "jumping-off" place of the plains, a very steep,
long and winding descent. Just as we started down, Prince, the horse
mentioned, got his tail over the lines, and the ball began. We went down
that hill at racing speed, I having absolutely no control over the
terrified animals, which did not stop for many miles. Again, with the
same team I once started to Amarillo, being half a day ahead of the
steer herd. First evening I camped out at a water-hole and staked out
Prince with a long heavy rope and strong iron stake pin. The other horse
was hobbled with a rope hobble. Some wolves came in to water, and I was
lying on my bed looking at them when the horses suddenly stampeded, the
strong stake rope and pin not even checking Prince. They were gone and I
was afoot! Prince ran for forty miles to the ranch. The hobbled horse we
never saw again for more than twelve months, but when found was fat and
none the worse. Next day the trail outfit came along and so I hitched up
another team.
But the worst trouble I used to have was with a high-strung and almost
intractable pair of horses, Pintos, or painted, which means piebald, a
very handsome team indeed, whose former owner simply could not manage
them. Every time we came to a gate through which we had to pass I, being
alone, had to get down and throw the gate open. Then after taking the
team through I had of course to go back to shut the gate again. Then was
the opportunity apparently always watched for by these devils, and had I
not tied a long rope to the lines and trailed it behind the wagon they
would many times have succeeded in getting away.
Yet it is only such a team that one can really care to drive for
pleasure; a team that you "feel" all the time, one that will keep you
"interested" every minute, as these Pintos did. How often nowadays does
one ever see a carriage pair, or fours in the park or elsewhere that
really needs "driving"?
"Shipping" cattle means loading them into railroad cars and despatching
them to their destination. The cattle are first penned in a corral and
then run through chutes into the cars. One year I sold the Company's
steers, a train-load, to a Jew dealer in Kansas. They were loaded in the
Panhandle and I went through with them, having a man to help me to look
after them, our duty being to prod them up when any were found lying
down so they would not be trodden to death. At a certain point our
engine "played out" and was obliged to leave us to get coal and water.
While gone the snow (a furious blizzard was blowing) blew over the track
and blocked it so effectively that the engine could not get back. The
temperature was about zero and the cattle suffered terribly; but there
we remained stuck for nearly two days. When we finally got through, of
course the buyer refused to receive them, and I turned them over to the
railway company and brought suit for their value. The case was thrice
tried and we won each time; and oh, how some of these railroad men did
damn themselves by perjury! But it is bad business to "buck" against a
powerful railway corporation. This will serve to give an idea as to what
shipping cattle means. Many hundreds of thousands, or even millions, are
now shipped every year. Trail work is abandoned, being no longer
possible on account of fences, etc. Such great towns as Chicago and
Kansas City will each receive and dispose of in one day as many as ten
to twenty thousand cattle, not counting sheep or hogs.
It was when returning to Amarillo after this trip that I was fortunate
enough to save the lives of a whole train-load of people. One night our
passenger train came to a certain station, and the conductor went to get
his orders. Nearly all the passengers were asleep. When he returned I
happened to hear him read his orders over to the brakeman. These orders
were to go on to a certain switch and "side track" till _three_ cattle
trains had passed. At that point there was a very heavy grade and cattle
trains came down it at sixty miles an hour. Two trains swung past us,
and to my surprise the conductor then gave the signal to go ahead. We
did start, when I at once ventured to remark to him that only two trains
had so far gone by. He pooh-poohed my assertion; but after a few minutes
began to think that he himself might just possibly be wrong. Meantime I
got out on the platform and was ready to jump. The conductor most
fortunately reversed the order, and the train was backed on to the
siding again, none too soon, for just then the head-light of the third
cattle train appeared round a curve and came tearing past us. It was a
desperately narrow escape and I did not sleep again that night. Writing
afterwards to the general manager of the railway company about it my
letter was not even acknowledged, and of course no thanks were received.
While on the subject of railroad accidents it has been my misfortune to
have been in many of them, caused by collisions, spreading of rails,
open switches, etc., etc., but I will only detail one or two. Once when
travelling to Amarillo from a Convention at Fort Worth the train was
very crowded and I occupied an upper berth in the Pullman. As American
trains are always doing, trying to make up lost time, we were going at a
pretty good lick when I felt the coach begin to sway. It swayed twice
and then turned completely over and rolled down a high embankment.
Outside was pitch dark and raining. There was a babel of yells and
screams and callings for help. I had practically no clothes on, no
shoes, and of course could find nothing. Everything inside, mattresses,
bedding, curtains, baggage, clothing, babies, women and men were mixed
up in an extraordinary way. Above me I noticed a broken window, through
which I managed to scramble, and on finding out how things were returned
to the coach to help other passengers. Underneath me seemed to be a
dying man. He was in a dreadful condition and at his last gasp, etc.,
and he made more row than the rest put together. Reaching down and
removing mattresses, he grasped my hand, jumped up and thanked me
profusely for _saving_ his life. He was not hurt a bit, indeed was the
only man in the lot who escaped serious injury. The men behaved much
worse than the women. However we soon had everybody out and the injured
laid on blankets. Meantime a relief train had arrived with the doctor,
etc. He examined us all, asked me if I was all right, to which I replied
that I was, as I really felt so at the time. But in half an hour I was
myself lying on a stretcher and unable to move, with a sprained back and
bruised side, etc., and a claim for damages against the railway company.
Another time, when riding in the caboose (the rear car) of a long
freight train, with the conductor and brakeman, the train in going down
a grade broke in three. The engine and a few cars went right on and left
us; the centre part rushed down the hill, our section followed and
crashed into it, and some seven or eight cars were completely
telescoped. I had been seated beside the stove, my arm stretched round
it, when, noticing our great speed, I drew the conductor's attention to
it. He opened the side door to look out. Just then the shock came and he
got a frightful lick on the side of the head, and myself was thrown on
top of the hot stove; but none of us were seriously hurt.
Again, once when making a trip to Kansas City and back, the whole
Pullman train went off the track and down the embankment; and on the
return journey we ran into an open switch and were derailed and one man
killed. Both might have been very serious affairs.
With the closing out of the Mortgage Company's interests of course my
salaried employment came to an end. But before closing this chapter it
should be mentioned that I had in the meantime suffered a nasty accident
by a pony falling back on me and fracturing one leg. It occurred at the
round-up, and I was driven some thirty miles, the leg not even splinted
or put in a box, to my ranch. I sent off a mounted man to Las Vegas, 130
miles, for a surgeon, but it was a week before he got down to me and the
leg was then in a pretty bad shape. He hinted at removing it, but
finally decided to set it and put it in plaster, which he did. He then
left me. The leg gave me little trouble, but unfortunately peritonitis
set in. The agony then suffered will not soon be forgotten. There was a
particularly ignorant woman, my foreman's wife, in the house; but I had
practically no nursing, no medicine of any kind, and the diet was hardly
suited for a patient. The pain became so great that I was not able to
open my mouth, dared not move a muscle, and was reduced to a mere
skeleton. Then it occurred to my "guardians" to send once more for the
doctor. Another week went by, and when he came I had just succeeded in
passing the critical stage and was on the mend. In after years this
attack led to serious complications and a most interesting operation,
which left me, in my doctor's words, "practically without a stomach";
and without a stomach I have jogged on comfortably for nearly ten years.
How a little thing may lead to serious consequences! I had previously,
and have since, had more or less serious physical troubles, but a good
sound constitution has always pulled me through safely. Among minor
injuries may be mentioned a broken rib, a knee-cap damaged at polo, and
another slightly-fractured leg, caused again by a pony just purchased,
and being tried, falling back on me; not to mention the _sigillum
diavoli_ (don't be alarmed or shocked) which occasionally develops, and
always at the same spot.
While the round-up and turnover of the Company's cattle was proceeding,
I thought it well to keep lots of whisky on hand to show hospitality
(the only way) to whomsoever it was due. On receiving a large keg of it
I put it in my buggy and drove out of camp seven or eight miles to some
rough ground, and having, in Baden-Powell way, made myself sure no one
was in view and no one spying on my movements I placed it amongst some
rocks and brush in such a way that no ordinary wanderer could possibly
see it. From this store it was my intention to fill a bottle every other
day and so always have a stock on hand. But Kronje or De Wett was too
"slim" for me; a few days afterwards on my going there, like a thief in
the night--and indeed it was at night--I found the keg gone. Someone
must have loaded up on it, someone who had deliberately watched me, and
his joy can be easily pictured. So someone was greatly comforted, but
not a hint ever came to me as to who the culprit was.
My intercourse with M---- provided some of the closest "calls" I ever
had (a call means a position of danger); still not so close as on a
certain occasion, at my summer camp in Arizona, when one of the men and
myself were playing cards together. We were alone. The man was our best
"hand," and a capital fellow, though a fugitive from justice, like some
of the others. It became apparent to me that he was cheating, and I was
rash enough to let him understand that I knew it, without however
absolutely accusing him of it. At once he pulled out his gun, leant
over, and pointed it at me. What can one do in such a case? He had the
"drop" on me; and demanded that I should take back what I had said.
Well, I wriggled out of it somehow, told him he was very foolish to make
such a "break" as that, and talked to him till he cooled down. It was an
anxious few minutes, and I am very proud to think he did not "phase" me
very much, as he afterwards admitted. Peace was secured with honour.
I was lucky to be able to leave the West and the cattle business with a
hide free from perforations and punctures of any kind.