The Schulenburg Sticker (Schulenburg, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 39, Ed. 1 Friday, June 4, 1926 Page: 6 of 16
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i
UP THE CHISHOLM TRAIL
With an
Old-Time Cowboy
By JOSEPH B. COWAN
IFTY years in the saddle gave to
J. P. Robbins, of Wallace Creek,
the title, "The Oldest Cowboy in
San Saba County."
Mr. Robbins was born on Wallace
creek, in San Saba county, 72 years ago,
and recalls days when he went up the
Chisholm Trail to market cattle in Kan-
sas and the Indian Territory.
_ On the first trip up the trail Mr. Rob-
bins was twenty years old and, at that
time, had been a cowboy for several
year£. Following the Chisholm Trail
along the route of Fort Griffin and
Doane's Store across the Brazos and
Red rivers into the Indian Territory
and into Kansas, lengthens that old cat-
tle trail to some 600 miles from its start-
ing point in San Saba county. During
this trip, which was made in 1874, from
sixteen to eighteen men drove more
than 2,000 head of cattle to Dodge City,
Kansas, where the yearlings were cut
out and taken to Colorado City, Colo-
rado. The beef cattle were taken down
to Caldwell, Kansas, and Caddo Springs,
Arkansas, where they were distributed
to the Indians at the rate of fifty head
per week, being paid for by the gov-
ernment, which was feeding the Indians
on the reservations.
In the round-up of the 2,000 head, cat-
tle were gathered from San Saba, Llano,
Mason, and McCulloch counties by the
Smith & Elliott Company under Fore-
man Carl Lehmberg, whom the cowboys
knew as "boss."
Trip Up the Trail.
Three to four months were spent in
taking the cattle up the trail; food and
bedding for tlje cowboys were carried in
the grub wagon, drawn by two yoke of
oxen. From daybreak until an hour
before sundown, each day, the herd
moved an average of ten miles.
Camp was pitched near sundown
and the cattle were left to graze for the
night. A regular camp cook drove the
grub wagon and cooked for the gang.
After supper Indians would often
come into camp and get something to
eat; very few hostile Indians were
found along the trail at this time. The
daily ration of the cowboys consisted of
bacon, beans, coffee, and flour bread, all
of which was loaded in the grub wagon
before beginning the trip.
"From daybreak until an hour before sundown, each day, the herd moved an average of ten miles."
Game was plentiful along the way
and prairie chicken, antelope, buffalo
and deer were killed for fresh meat. On
Pease river, in Texas, there was a
wild plum which was delicious and much
relished by the cowboys. Mr. Robins
says that this plum was as good as any
of the improved varieties of today.
After leaving Fort .Griffin, Tonkaway
Indians were encountered along the
trail. These Indians were being moved
from.Fort Griffin, Texas, to the In-
dian Territory, in Oklahoma. They were
traveling in groups of 300 to 400. .The
government was feeding the Indians,
but when provisions ran low and game
became scarce, the cowboys would share
food with the Indians. Injured cattle,
or cattle which broke a leg in a stam-
pede, would be given to the Indians for
food. One favorite food of the Indians
was the dry land terrapin, which the
Indians would catch alive, put in a
fire, and with sticks push them back as
they crawled out, until they were well
cooked. The Indians would delight in
this repast, Mr. Robbins said.
Early spring was the usual time to
begin trail trips, and after the cattle
were all sold, it would probably be the
middle of the next winter before the
cowboys returned home.
Treacherous Quicksands.
There were dangers and cattle losses
sustained during these trips, when riv-
ers imbedded in quicksand were crossed,
or cattle thieves raided, or a night stam-
pede took place which would sometimes
injure the cattle. Red and Canadian
rivers were from one-half to a mile wide
at the crossings and quicksand would
often catch the slower moving cattle.
Sometimes an animal would drown or
bog down in quicksand, but generally
the cowboys would lasso and pull out
the steer or cow that had fallen into a
sinkhole.
At night two men kept watch over
the herd to prevent stampedes and raids
by cattle thieves. Mr. Robbins recalls
one night when' cattle thieves raided
their herd and stole over 400 head of
cattle. When a stampede would start,
the entire gang of cowboys were called
on to corral the frightened animals and
stop the stampede. Each stampede
woqld result in losses through cripples.
Mr. Robbins is the only one of the
eighteen cowboys now living who took
this herd of cattle up the trail in 1874.
Two years later Mr. Robins made his
last trip up the Chisholm trail, but con-
ditions along the route had considerably
changed in this short time. Game was
more scarce and 'the Indians had all
been gathered into the Indian Territory.
More than 3,000 cattle made up the
herd. The roundup of. these cattle was
over a territory 200 miles in extent, the
cowboys going as far south as Hays
county. Many of the cattle* were three
and four years old before a brand or
rope had been placed on them. Cattle
were plentiful and ranged long dis-
tances.
'Farming the virgin prairie lands had
been undertaken now by some of the
early settlers. Fences had to be built
to keep the increasing number of cattle
off the crops. Indians would kill some
of the cows and often steal horses. If
an Indian would get in a tight for food,
he would as soon eat a horse as a cow,
Mr. Robbins said.
Two of San Saba's citizens were with
Mr. Robbins on this, his last trip up
the trail; they are J. D. Estep, who has
the oldest established business in San
Saba county, a hardware and harness
store at San Saba, and A. R. Hill, retired
postmaster and farmer-stockman.
Closer Markets Killed Trail Driving.
These 3,000 cattle were bought by
Smith & Elliott Company under Boss
Marg Bagley. Driving cattle over the
trail finally languished and was discon-
tinued when closer markets developed.
After this last trip Mr. Robbins set-
tled down to a quiet ranch life, at his
home on Wallace Creek, where he lives
today. His father, T. J. Robbins, fenced
the first farm in San Saba county. This
fence was an elm rail fence and the
farm was located in the forks of the
San Saba river and Wallace Creek. Dur-
ing Mr. Robbins' boyhood, the nearest
trading post was Austin, where there
were only two or three stores. E. M.
Scarbrough owned one of these stores,
and a store is still conducted in
Austin under his name. About 1862
Round Rock was established and trad-
ing was done from there. Mail was
seldom received in those days, and then
only when an annual trip was made to
the nearest trading post.
Supplies were purchased in large
quantities to last the entire year. Mr.
Robbins' father was a blacksmith, by
trade and would make many horseshoes
and horseshoe nails out of wrought iron
and trade these for household necessi-
ties. There was hardly any money to
speak of. The medium of exchange was
very simple, usually deer hides, buffalo
hides, and goose quills were traded for
food and clothing. Goose quills were al-
ways in demand, Mr. Robbins declared,
as they were used in place of pens when
writing with ink.
Trips for supplies of merchandise
were made to distant trading posts
until the first store was established in
San Saba by Tom Ward in4S66.
t Enter Mr. Farwer.
In the eighties farmirg had become
pretty general in San SJfccounty and
much of the cultivated j|Bfcvas fenced.
Cattle were still allowed to roam at
large on the range. Tha county brand
for San Saba county was the figure 29,
on the animal's neck, with the owner's"
brand on the hip. Companies of State
rangers were sent into SIn Saba and ad-
joining counties, to maintain peabe and
stop cattle stealing. Mr. Robbins said
the only legal execution ever per-
formed in this county jwas the hang-
ing of a negro who w charged with
the murder of his master. The exe-
cution was the result of a trial by jury
and the hanging was rone by a State
ranger. ,
Mr. Robbins recalls that before the
war between the State' nej£*o slaves in
San Saba county workel with the ranch-
men's cattle. Doctor ludson, the Com-
munity doctor, had tw or three negro
slaves who took care d his ranch.
In relating his school days, Mr. Rob-
bins said that the Omanche Indians
once tried to captue him and his
younger brother wh<n they were on
their way to school. Mr. Robbins was
twelve and his littfc brother about
seven years old. Beinf mounted on good
horses' saved the live of the two"boys,
as they escaped the Jidians by fast rid-
ing.
Each year many old-time cowboys
ride in the San Saba bounty Fair parade
with Mr. Robbins. The Oldest Cowboy
in San Saba County, is a title that still
clings to him. The owboys always ride
their favorite mount in the fair parade,
and Mr. Robbins utfally heads the pa-
rade.
A DIRT FARMER TALKS
On Present Day Onditions
Without Mincing Words
By JACK L. BA^ER
I
00 often most boys, farm boys es-
pecially, are compelled to listen
to a great deal of discouraging
talk about hard times, high taxes,
high cost of living, low prices for farm
products and a great deal of other talk
that is disquieting. During the last few
years this kind of talk has been com-
mon. It is due mostly to economic con-
ditions, which have adversely affected
the farming class, and if our boys ac-
cept as a truth all they hear they will
be led to believe that most professional
men are grafters, business men are
profiteers, public officials are a gang of
tax-spending thieves, and the farmer
himself feeds everybody, pays the bulk
of all taxes, and furnishes the means
for most everybody else to have an
abundance of wealth and prosperity.
Dear reader, no doubt your own boy
or girl has been listening to just this
sort of talk for some time. Perhaps you
have been telling it to him, if your
neighbor hasn't, or perhaps his teacher
has been telling it to him. Do you, Mr.
Farmer, want your neighbor or teacher
to continue the same old pessimistic
story? Do you want your boys and
girls to stay on the farm? Right here is
a question that has been discussed quite
a lot, heretofore, and will be discussed
a lot more, and which should bear most
serious thinking on the part of every
good father and mother. Why do boys
and girls leave the farm to seek employ-
ment in the city ? There is a reason, but
what is it ? Parents, did you ever try to
solve the problem of why children leave
the farm at an early age to go off to
the cities where they' usually meet fail-
ure and in many cases come to a bad
end? But more of this later.
Analyzing Conditions.
Now, suppose we stop and analyze
conditions and try to determine just
how much of this talk, to which your
children have been listening, is true.
First, suppose we reason about the criti-
cism aimed at professional and business
men.
Lawyers, perhaps, have been more
universally condemned than any other
class of professional men, and many
speak of them as being tricky, dishonest
and exorbitant fee collectors. However,
lawyers, as a class, deal honestly with
their clients and where only reasonable
demands are made on their time and
energy, charge fees that are generally-
reasonable.
Doctors do not charge exorbitant
fees. However, there are some special-
ists who charge more, perhaps, than we
might want to pay, but we can always
find some good physician who is willing
to take our case at a reasonable price.
Preachers and school teachers are not
grafters. Nay, I dare say, they are
underpaid. While some few may draw
higher wages than they are worth, they
do so for a short time only, for we can
turn the teacher off at the end of the
school term and hire a cheaper one. As
for the preacher, well, we can quietly
neglect to pay our church dues.
This wholesale talk about our mer-
chants, middlemen and other business
men being profiteers sounds ridiculous
if you.will just stop and think a min-
ute. Now let us ask a fair question. In
how many instances have you been "in-
tentionally" cheated? Perhaps some of
us might have been stung, so- to speak,
a few times; on the other hand, we
might have been too "cocksure" of our
own judgment and too independent to
listen to the advice of some one who
was in a position to know better than
we as to the merit of a business propo-
sition.
Wants Something for Nothing.
There are swindlers, the writer will
admit. They represent all classes and
all callings, including the so-called get-
rich-quick schemers, but as a general
rule, the fellow who bites at these
schemes is expecting too much for his
money—he wants something for noth-
ing. Am I right?
Now, if we will make a careful, un-
prejudiced analysis of the doings of pub-
lic officials, we will find, I think, that
about 98 per cent of the criticism
against them is due to three reasons—
either thoughtlessness, .ignorance, or
lowdown cussedness. Sometimes our
public officials use poor judgment—we
all do so at times—and sometimes a man
is elected to office who does not fit the
job, is inexperienced and incompetent,
but as a general rule, men in public
places have been, and are, men of an
unusually high type of citizenship, hon-
est and upright in their dealings with
their fellowmen, and are men whom we
delight to honor.
Since I was a little schoolboy I have
heard the same old song, "The farmer
feeds them all." I heard it today, per-
haps I will hear it tomorrow. However,
i that doesn't make it true. Some say
the farmer clothes them, too. Well,
may I ask, does he? Who makes the
farmers' plows, planters, tractors and
harvesters? Remember, there was a
time when we farmers dropped our corn
by hand and tended it with a one-horse
plow. Now, we plant our corn with a
two-row planter and tend it with a two-
row plow, frequently drawn by a trac-
tor. We don't need to arise before the
break of day to water and feed the
horses, slop the hogs and milk the cow.
Machines are doing most of this work
now
It used to be that about 90 per cent
of the people lived and worked on the
farm, while only about 30 per cent are
actually working on our farms today.
Doing Work Once Done by Farmer.
Now, let us see about the folks who
represent the difference between 30 and
90 per cent. Here is the difference,
exactly. They are working for the
farmers just as truly as the farmers
are working for them—only a different
kind of work, that's all. In other words,
they are doing a work which the farmer
JACK L. BAKER, Dirt Farmer,
Route 2, Cooper, Texas.
*
formerly had to take time off to do,
such as sharpening his plow tools, re-
pairing and making farm machinery,
weaving cloth, cutting and making gar-
ments out of the cloth, making shoes,
hats, caps, etc: Pioneer mothers used to
stay up late in the night carding, knit-
ting and spinning in order to clothe the
family. Pioneer fathers tanned hides
and made them into shoes, for the fam-
ily. When we farmers feel disposed to
complain about the weight we have to
carry and that everybody and his dog is
dependent on us, we should think long
enough to realize that we are dependent
upon some other Glass of folks, to a
great extent.
Perhaps you, like I, have often heard
the old proverb, "The farmer is the
most independent of any man in the
world." It is very doubtful whether
that statement is true today. In fact,
no class of people can be independent
nowadays, and rapidly changing condi-
tions, over which we have no control,
are making us more completely depen-
dent upon one another every day in the
year.
If there ever has been a time since
the dawn of history when taxes were
not considered too high, it is not on rec-
ord. Most of the present-day farmers
think we are bearing the tax burden of
the country, because that theory has
been handed down from 'former genera-
tions, and we have never been in a po-
sition to understand much about the tax
problems of other peoples. Take those
j living in the cities, for example. Dallas'
tax rate is $2.47 per $100 of valuation;
Fort Worth's tax rate is $2.54; Hous-
ton's $1.87Vo; San Antonio's $2.95.
Real Dirt Farmer and Proud of It.
Now, some of -my readers may think,
"Oh, well, this guy is some high-flung
fellow who doesn't know beans, about
farming and, therefore, isn't interested
in farming."
I am a real dirt farmer and proud
of it. Never was anything else to
amount to anything. I once left
the farm and after twelve years of
traveling around the country, like
a rolling stone that gathers no moss,
I discovered my mistake and return-
ed to the farm, no richer than when
I left the farm, but much wiser and glad
to get bac^c, for I had learned my lesson.
So you see, I speak from experience. I
know that the tax question in the coun-
try is very simple compared with what
it is in the cities. In the country we
have no police department, no fire de-
partment, no sewerage systems, no
street paving; then road and school
taxes are not nearly so high as in the
cities.
Now, let us get back to our children
again. Just what do you want your boy
or girl to do? What do they want to do?
According to what the children hear,
boys especially, if they enter a profes-
sion and are successful financially they
will be called grafters. If they are busi-
ness men, they will be known as profi-
teers, and if farmers, they will be known
as "goats." Our young people are
hearing too much of this false teach-
ing, and most of them are forming
wrong conceptions.
Losing Respect for Government.
Therefore, many are losing respect
for and confidence in the schools,
the church and the government.
Let us quit knocking and do some
boosting. We are all neighbors, so
why not tell the young folks the
truth, and explain the importance of
taxation and show them how all public
improvements must depend upon an ef-
ficient taxing system, and show them
that our tax dollars usually bring great-
er returns than any other equal num-
ber of dollars we spend. Of course, if a
man is elected to office who does not
spend our tax money wisely, whose
fault is it? The stime thing happens in
our own lives. Mkny times you and I
spend money unwisely. President Cool-
idge said recently, in a speech, that only
50 per cent of the population of the
United States voted in elections. So, if
you stayed home and didn't vote, don't
cuss the fellow who was elected and
spent your money unwisely.
One successful farmer, when asked
how he managed to keep his boys on the
farm, remarked: "I always tell my
boys the truth about everything, and
give them a partnership in the farming
business as soon as they reach a certain
age; this they look forward to. My
boys know more about what needs to
be done on mv farm than all the hired
help in the United States, because they
are interested, and know that the hard-
er they work the more they make?"
BRITISHER IMPRESSED BY TEXAS
POMSH BEDS.
Potash beds Biderlylng a great part
of West Texas^nd Southeastern New
Mexico probably eventually will rival or
surpass those of Germany, which at
present supply the world's trade, said
M. T. I. Pagte of London, engineer rep-
resenting Dutch and English interests,
who visited the Texas potash fields re-
cently.
In discussing the recent government
appropriation for a survey of the South-
western potash beds, Mr. Page express-
ed surprise that the government had not
taken this step sooner. The German pot-
ash beds long have had the support of
their government, he said. The possi-
bilities of the West Texas and South-
east New Mexico field may be as great
as the oil business tn this section, in his
opinion.
SERUM TO FIGHT RATTLESNAKE
BITE SENT TO TEXAS.
Two tubes of rattlesnake serum pre*
pared especially for treatment of the
deadly diamond-back rattlesnake, have
been shipped to Fort Bliss, Fort Brown
and Fort Sam Houston.
The serum was shipped from the New ,
York Zoological Society offices on *
May 8.
Tentative arrangements for estab-
lishment in Texas of a plant for manu-
facture of anti-rattlesnake serum are
being made, according to announcement
by Leo Callan, chairman of the Live-
stock Sanitary Commission, from San
Antonio. The plant would be operated
by the commission and the serum would
be used on human beings and livestock.
The" serum would be made from the
blood of horses that had built up resis-
tance to rattlesnake poison from repeat-
ed injections.
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The Schulenburg Sticker (Schulenburg, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 39, Ed. 1 Friday, June 4, 1926, newspaper, June 4, 1926; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth189963/m1/6/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Schulenburg Public Library.