Texas Almanac, 1939-1940 Page: 209
This book is part of the collection entitled: Texas Almanac and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
CATTLE BRANDS. 209
Texas Cattle Brands.
BY GUS L. FORD.Cattle and cattle brands continue to be
symbolic of Texas even though cotton and oil,
not to mention scores of other products, have
made their places.
A brand in simple terms-be it on horse,
cow, or some other object-is a burned scar
and has been used since time immemorial to
denote ownership. The first cattle brands in
Texas were made by the rancheros during the
Spanish occupation and were originally horse
brands. Horses were the Spaniards' prized
auxiliaries; cattle on the bushy range were
an accepted item of food to be taken at will
when skill permitted regardless of brand or
lack of it. The longhorn cattle brought to the
Gulf Coast in the Sixteenth Century had re-
turned to a wild state through Spanish neg-
lect of the area in the century that followed
and it was only gradually they were brought
to a semidomestic state in the early part of
the Eighteenth Century. It was then that
cattle brands in Texas began.
Early Spanish Brands.
It is impossible to give an exact date to
this beginning. A manuscript in the Bexar
archives, University of Texas Library, re-
cords the granting of a brand by Don Pedro
de Barrios Junco, Captain General of the New
Kingdom of Leon, to Don Nicolas Saez, Al-
ferez in the militia, and resident of Real de
las Sabinas. This brand was given at Real
del Santiago de las Sabinas which was not
Texas territory but Don Pedro de Barrios
Junco, grantor of the brand, served as Gov-
ernor of Texas a few years later (1748-1750).
Because of that this brand was given first
place in the historical exhibit of Texas cattle
brands assembled in 1936 for the Texas Cen-
tennial Exposition. (See Drawing No. 1, p.
211.)
The Spaniards did not think of brands by
descriptive names as did the Anglo-Saxons
who later excelled in devising peculiar terms
to designate them. The Spaniards, as do the
Mexicans of today, thought of a brand as
"my brand" and his contemporaries knew the
brand by the family name of the owner.
Members of the same family might use the
same brand with slight modifications-an at-
tached bar, curve, or circle to suggest indi-
vidual ownership. Children and grandchil-
dren and even later descendants held to the
original brand with some slight differentia-
tion.
Jose Antonio Navarro, a signer of the Texas
Declaration of Independence, had previously
recorded his brand, Nov. 7, 1833. (See draw-
ing No. 2.) The circle was added by him to
the family brand to represent the huge iron
ring in the prison floor in Mexico City to
which he was chained for three and one half
years. The gradual building of this brand
can not be traced but it could easily be the
result of six generations of ownership. (See
drawings opposite No. 3, p. 211.)
Styles in Branding.
With the Anglo-Saxon occupation of Texas
beginning in early Nineteenth Century when
it was still Spanish territory there came
brands which had been associated with cer-
tain American families for generations. The
oxen at the yoke and the accompanying herds
of milch cows and young stuff wore the brand.
In most cases these brands had been made
br a "stamp" iron and the iron itself was in-
cluded in the family belongings thought to
be essential for the new beginning in Texas.
Some brands whose beginnings in Texas dateback to the Colonial and Republic periods are
still being run. Notable among them is the
"Crossed W." (See drawing No. 4.) This
brand was brought to Liberty and Chambers
Counties in the 1820's. Fifth generation de-
scendants of James Taylor White I, the orig-
inal owner, still run it with additions. Other
instances of long continuous use of certain
family brands are common knowledge.
Brands are usually made the first time with
a "running" iron. Any hot iron with a
pointed end or a rounded surface may be
used to burn a brand on the side of a cow.
The design of the brands usually becomes
fixed later in a "stamp" iron but many cow-
men scoff at the use of stamp irons. Brands
made with running irons will vary in size and
exactness of design regardless of the boastful
claims of many cowhands. In general early
Texas brands had achieved stamp Iron dignity
before being brought to Texas. But with
great open spaces and free range it became
desirable to have again large brands-brands
that could be read at a distance. Hence the
return in many instances to running irons.
Brands for the Range.
A running iron made it possible to spread
a brand over the entire side of the animal
and the elaborateness with which this was
done was similar to that which characterizes
the modern billboard. An iron ring two or
three inches in diameter was sometimes used
for branding irons. Every cowboy had a
ring of this nature attached to his saddle.
Such a ring could be quickly heated in a fire
made from cow chips. After the animal had
been "roped and tied" its prostrate form of-
fered a splendid surface on which to "run"
a brand. The hot iron ring was caught with
tongs made with two wooden sticks cut from
a mesquite bush and the brand was soon
made. (See Drawing No. 4-A.)
The most commonly used running iron, how-
ever, was a rod from the endgate of a wagon.
Dozens of extra rods accompanied every
chuck wagon on roundup occasions and hun-
dreds of cattle were branded with irons of
this type. (See Drawing No. 4-B ) Note the
curved end; this added to the iron's effi-
ciency.) Upon these occasions a central wood
fire was used for heating the irons. In some
instances the owner's name was lettered on
the animal's side. (See drawings Nos. 5 to
14.)
Cattle Kings' Brands.
Many brands first sketched with an unas-
suming running iron later became known
throughout the land and in some cases round
the world. These were the brands of men
who became "kings" in the cattle industry.
These "cattle kings" typify an era of Texas
history thought by some students to be the
state's most colorful period. They arose dur-
ing the period from 1865 to 1900 and in many
instances exercised sway over an area far
larger than some of the Eastern states. The
brands used by these "kings" soon became
fixed in a stamp iron and some of these irons
are today the prized possessions of their
grandchildren and great-grandchildren. (See
drawings Nos. 15 to 79.)
A branding iron after long use becomes
"burned out." It will no longer hold heat
enough to justify its use. It is then dis-
carded. In recent years may burned-out irons
have been collected in Texas museums. The
largest collection assembled is that collected
as an incidental part of the Texas Centennial
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This book can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Book.
Texas Almanac, 1939-1940, book, 1939; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117163/m1/211/: accessed April 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.