The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, July 1933 - April, 1934 Page: 316
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
fire, but even yet an occasional one does considerable damage.16
And when a long line of light colored smoke announces the ex-
istence of a prairie fire the present-day plainsman, be he cowman or
whatnot, loses no time in getting to the scene.
Another natural enemy even more destructive than fires, the
drouth and the accompanying cattle "die-out" caused many a
cowman to go "broke." Old timers recall an especially severe
period during the years 1893 and 1894. Water became scarce,
cattle died at the surface tanks by the thousands, many South
Plains ranchmen went out of business and others broke up their
large holdings into smaller ones. Others had to restock their
depleted ranges with cattle from Mexico, regardless of quality,
which was a severe blow to the improvement of breeds. 7
Another period of drouth and suffering occurred in 1904, during
which time cattle died by the thousands. In many portions of
the state fifty per cent of the range cattle died, and from news-
paper reports it seems that the same conditions prevailed over all
the ranges of the Great Plains. Practically no rain fell from
September, 1903, to September, 1904. The grass dried up in the
pastures, the surface tanks became empty, and many a cow left her
carcass around some watering place. In some places ranchmen
killed the newly born calves to save their mothers.8
Sometimes too much rain did damage, as well as too little. In
the fall of 1905 there was complaint from some cowmen that an
excess of rains had caused the grass to become filled with sap,
thus making it more liable to be killed by an early frost. They
regarded moderately dry falls as better for winter pastures than
extremely wet ones, for the dry season caused the grass to make
better hay.19
Cold weather also took its toll from the range, and sometimes a
heavy one. Especially was this true when the cattle were poor
or had not been fed through the winter. Many cattlemen dreaded
1The writer witnessed such a fire in 1922 on the T BAR ranch west of
Tahoka that burned for twenty-four hours.
1'D. Dorward, Gail, Texas, to J. A. Rickard. The MK ranch, on which
he worked, suffered such a fate.
"The Terry County Voice, July 17, 1904. The Borden Citizen, July 28
and September 8, 1904.
"The Dallas News. Quoted in the Big Springs Herald, December 1,
1905. Col. C. C. Slaughter was the complainant. He admitted, how-
ever, that conditions in West Texas at that time were flourishing.316
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Texas State Historical Association & Barker, Eugene C. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, July 1933 - April, 1934, periodical, 1934; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101094/m1/341/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.