St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-09-02
Cattle Raising at the West.
DEMnSe, N. NJ, Aug. sth, 1881.


will excuse the disconnectedness of my
letters. write of the things which i'm
press me most in this, to me, strange
country. 1t is a well known fact, how
ever, that different people look at the
same thing in different lights, and what
might greatly interest me might pass
unnoticed by others and vice versa.
What | write has at least the merit of
truth. As | write simply for my own
amusement and not in the interests of
any railroad company, land agency, or
mining corporation, there is no neces-
sity of my trying to create false i'm
preston in the mind of the reader.
Knowing that the CGledOHiaR is a
weekly guest at nearly every tireside
in Caledonia county, and is IA not infre-
quent visitor in many home all over
the old Green Mountain state. pro-
pose at this time to tell you a little
about how cattle are raised for the east
ern markets in the great Panhandle
of Texas, hoping thereby to dissuade
some westward bound young man from
his idea of seeking his fortune or in
vesting his little all in some wild min
ing scheme in the mountains of COlOra-
do, New Mexico, or Arizona, and in
ducing him to adopt the surer and
safer method of putting his money into
something that will grow.
Generally speaking, the "tenderfoOt'
las the newly arrived is called in this
country, knows more about quarts of
milk than quartz rock, more about bo-
vines than bonanZas, more about salt
ing cattle than sailing mines; cOnse-
quently he had better stick to what he
knows little something about than to
engage in "A business he knows nothing
whatever about. But about the Pan
handle: In the first place, what is the
Panhandle of Texas A glance at the
map shows us that the extreme north
western portion of Texas is a square
"jogn running north toward Kansas
and nearly cutting off the narrow strip
of land which forms the Panhandle OF
the Indian territory. 1t will also be
seen that this region is wholly unlined
by railroads OF stage roads and almost
wholly devoid of towns. 1t has simply
been sectiOnized and divided into coun-
hx- This
then, is the Texas Panhandle: Only Il
very few years ago the only denizens
of the immense tracts of land cOmpriS-
ing the Panhandles of Texas and tho
Indian territory, the northeastern part
of New Mexico, the southeastern part
of Colorado and the southwestern part
of Kansas, We're innumerable herds OF
buffalo and scattering bands of buffalo
hunters, Indians and whites joining
in the slaughter of this noblest o
American game. They did theil
Strengthening in such IA wholesale man
ner that the buffalo is now almost ;
by-gone animal. The few that escap
ed the deadly rifle of the mighty MIN
rods have nearly all migrated into tn,
northern territories, and only IA scatter
ing few are found on their old stamp
ing grounds. During my trip in the
Panhandle last fall we saw only few
small herds and they kept well out o
rifle range. For Il year or two aftei
the terrible slaughter, the shipping o
buffalo bones East for agricultural anC
manufacturing purposes formed quite ;
lucrative business. Thousands of wag
on loads were gathered from these
plains and hauled POO miles to tn,
nearest railroad point, loaded in carr
and sent East to be used as a fertilizer
so that to day the Vermont farmer may
be using to enrich his land the bone
of the same buffalo whose hide adorn
his sleigh.
But with the exit of the buffalo cam,
the entrance of the Texas steer, ant
in such numbers that Panhandle i
again inhabited by horney tribe
somewhat less in size but of more us
to man than his shaggy predecessor
For being only a small part of on
state, the Panhandle contains, as W,
say hereabout, ga right smart of land.
1t is 100 miles from north to south ant
about 100 miles from east to west. TIL,
Canadian, or Red river of the south
runs through it from west to east, an'
into the Canadian, from either side
flow many lesser streams, some o
them going dry in seasons of drought
as is the habit of such streams in tn
southwest, but others having a con
slant supply of fairly good water. Al
handle is devoted to the production o
beef. There is no farming to speak OF
nor is there liable to be. Flood
drought, bugs, grasshOppers and othe
kindred plaques follow each other i
rapid succession, making it impOssibl
to raise crops of any kind but strang
to say not materially affecting tn
growth of the luxuriant buffalo-gras,
On these lonely plains, oftentime
fifty or seventy-five miles from thei
nearest neighborS, live the cattle king,
their herders, vaqueros, overseer an
cooks, perhaps twenty or thirty soul
all told, according to size of the here
Twenty good herders, well mounted
will handle four or five thousand hea
of cattle. keeping them at all times o