The Semi-weekly Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 1923-19??, 1933-02-21
IN THE OPEN
WHERE
THE SKY
is THE ROOF

+ since Dy pf0lH1Hetit ifdtiNes soi MAUI
son county, now long since dead, who
was actively engaged in that period in
doing big things in ranching in Kan
sas, and also in Old Mexico, has re-
Gently came to light and has proved so
interesting to the editor of the Demo
crat that he wishes to pass it on to
the readers Of the sold Reliable"
The letter was written by Addison
i Watson, scion of the Watson family
which had much to do with the early
4 development and later with the pros
perity of our county in the days when
Madison's pure-bred live stock had a
national reputation. The Watson let
ter was addressed to Samuel Farrar,
since deceased, an older brother Of r.
Link Farrar, of London, both sons Of
Thomas Farrar, whose lifetime was
spent in the livestock business in Lon
don. John, the father Of Xerxes
Farrar, the veteran London banker,
was younger brother of Thomas.
The following from ]. Walter Far
rar, Kansas City attorney to Line.
. Farrar, tells of the finding of the Wat
son letters and other interesting facts:
Kansas City, Mo-, Jan. 81, 1888
Mr.. r. L. Farrar,
London, Ohio.
i Dear Uncle Line:
Enclosed you will find copy of a
letter which Ad Watson wrote to
father Samuel Farrar) from Santa
Catalina, Old Mexico, April 8, 1889.
We found this letter amongst the pa
pers which mother had kept all these
years. 1t occurred to me that as father
and Ad Watson were boys together in
London, that the editor of the paper
might be glad to have this letter OF
the information contained therein, for
an article in the paper.
You know that father and Uncle
: John Farrar had ranch at or near
Medicine Lodge, Kansas, about 1879
and that Ad Watson was also on a
| ranch near there. Tom Stutson, your
father and Uncle William later were
interested with father in the 1882
Ranch, located at the headwaters OF
the Cimarron river in southwestern
Kansas. Xerxes Farrar was out or
: the ranch in the days when they
hunted buffalo, and will remember that
: they planted grove, the first trees in
that country. That grove now has
cottonwood trees in il four feel
through and 30 or 60 feet high. i am
sure Xerxes would be interested ir
this letter. as we'll as you are.
The Addison Watson Letter
Santa Catalina, Mexico, April 3, 1885
Friend Farrar:
have had quite time here; none
: of the directors or managers of this
: place know anything about running q
ranch and it would make dog laugh
: to hear them talk about how things
ought to be done They all live in
: England, except Ross who is now or
the way there, and will stay for some
time. | have only one left here, ano
he leaves soon for home, then | will
have it all my own way; that is, none
of the board will be here. They dc
: not in the least interfere and / had
:. only reference to their talk in common
: conversation.
| have complete management Of ev-
erything, money and everything else.
Sam, ! want to tell you that it is not
small affair, two, million acres of land
100000 head of stock, 5000 MeXicans
all to look after is no fun. To give
you an idea of what ] have to do,
will tell you something of the material
used. | have 80 cowboys, 1870 sheep
herders and about the same number
of goat herders. We use 500 yoke of
oxen and | am having so yoke more
broken now. We have rs span of mules
and am having 80 span more braking
and will, as soon as they are broke,
have to break SO more span, and then
we will not have enough to do the
work. 1t is with us here like the
army. We have regular wagon mas
ters, and many things are done very
much like it was done during the war,
SO far as transportation of goods is
concerned. | will not attempt to give
you all tonight of the history of the
way things are done here. 1t would
take too long, and then | am afraid
you would not come down to see me,
which shall expect you to do as soon
as you can conveniently, and that
hope will be soon.
1t is worth all it costs to see place
like this. Say nothing of the rest Of
Mexico. The house we live in has,
they tell me, AZ rooms, some of them
as large as Bob Reads barn, in, Mad
ison county, and others not larger
than a good-sized store box, and is
said to be 80 years old, and I think
from the looks Of many things around
here that it is all of that DID, Iowa
3 MRS. A. Watson) has not come yet,
/ but will soon, and shall be glad to
have her for / am lonesome and about