The Land and Its People, 1876-1981: Deaf Smith County, Texas Page: 12
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neighbors.) Most of the food was cooked
outside but some built make-shift chimneys
of sod at one end of the room so as to cook
inside. The food was simple. One family said
meat was plentiful at their place. In addition
to beef they ate buffalo, antelope, and prairie
chicken. Sourdough biscuits cooked in a
Dutch oven over the coals, dried beans, and
dried fruit was regular fare. Also, much
canned food was used including milk as there
were no milk cows.
It was truly a man's world. He had companionship
with those he worked with. When
he could get to a trading post, on the shelves
were only men's clothes. The woman would
wear her dresses until threadbare. Some had
brought along a sewing machine. Wanting to
bring something along dear to their heart
some new brides brought along their satin
wedding dress stored away in the "trunk,"
only to be looked at occasionally when no one
else was around. Space was so limited in those
wagons that most treasures had to be left
behind. Next decade more household goods
could be shipped by rail.
Mrs. Vern Witherspoon (the former Myrtle
Bowe, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. F.E.
Bowe, a veterinarian) when interviewed in
1973 is quoted as saying, "It's fun now to
think back on those old days. We used wire
fence for a telephone line at LaPlata in the
early days, and I remember once we were in
the path of a prairie fire in 1906. We had
parties, and square dances with the oldtimers
playing the fiddle and guitar, and of course
we all went to church."
DOROTHY
CONKWRIGHT
EARLY COWBOYS
Legend has overlaid fact in stories of Texas
cowboy life until few people realize that it
consisted largely of hard work and discomfort
lightened by occasional excitement and fun.
Some reminiscences of early Deaf Smith
County cowboys are recorded in the Patterson
history.
G.B. Combs, who came to the county in
1898 and worked on the Combs-Worley O$O
Ranch and the XIT tells some of his experiences:
The cowboy's life was one of hard work,
riding all day and standing guard during a
two-hour shift at night. There was warm
comaraderie around the camp fire at nightbantering,
some singing, wrestling.
Combs was at home in the saddle, trail
drives, bronc riding, stopping a stampede. He
recalled that at times they had as high as
2,000 calves to be weaned. They drove them
about 10 miles and put them up in a wire
corral at night.
"You never heard such taking on at first,
but in a few days they were all right," he said.
Many times he helped drive cattle to Buffalo
Springs, across the Canadian River and up
the trail. They made 12 to 14 miles a day, then
camp for the night.
On one return trip, they found the Canadian
out of its banks. Three XIT divisions,
Yellow House, Spring Lake, and Escarbada,
had made separate drives but were returningtogether. Each group had its straw boss,
chuck wagon, remuda, and 10 or 12 cowboys.
One wagon crossed at a time, with three
cowboys on each side, their lariats secured to
the wagon then to the saddle horn. Each
remuda crossed separately so that the horseswould not mix. Finally the cowboys returned
for the bedding, which had been left off the
chuck wagon to lighten it.
One night while Combs was on guard with
another boy, it started thundering and lightning.
The frightened animals sniffed apprehensively
then stampeded. Combs yelled to
the other boy to follow up, and he set off with
his horses in a run to get in front of the herd.
The chase lasted for several miles, but the
cowboys had the herd just about settled down
by the time the other boys caught up with
them.
The boss told the weary cowboys they could
return to camp, but they "rambled around for
a long time" and finally realized they were
lost. Combs let Old Dodger, his mount, "have
the reins," and the faithful horse took them
safely to camp.
Sizzling steaks from fat calves killed every
other day and fragrant sour dough biscuits
cooked in a Dutch oven over a cow-chip fire
"sure tasted good" to the cowboy who seldom,
if ever, ate at the ranch headquarters. His
appetite was whetted by the smell of coffee
boiling in a big pot over an open fire. His
dining room was wherever the chuck wagon
stopped for the night. His bedroom was his
bedroll.
Somewhat beneath his dignity, but a part
of the routine if Combs and other boys
showed up around the chuck wagon before
cooking time was gathering cow chips.
Around 1900, when he was 12, young Vern
Witherspoon went to work for the XIT
Ranch. He was dubbed "The Kid" by fellowcowboys
on the Escarbada division.
Witherspoon often mused that the cowboy
of the XIT bore faint resemblance to the TV
and movie version. Each part of his traditional
gear was functional. "We wore it for
comfort and protection, not for looks. We
rarely saw a soul other than the cowboys and
the cows
and who cares what a cow
thinks of your looks?"
The bandana was worn to shield the rider's
face from the stifling dust kicked up by as
many as 5,000 cattle on the trail. While the
Stetson hat does look good in the movies,
"The Kid" explained that it filled a real need
for the cowboy. Being large it afforded protection
from the blistering sun, and being
sturdy it could take the daily drenchings
which were the lot of a cowboy's hat during
rainy periods.
Leather gauntlets were worn to protect the
lower arm from rope burns. Plains cowboys
wore tough, high boots, rather than chaps,
which cowboys in brush country wore to
protect their legs from scratches. The boots
fitted closely around the calf of the leg and
reached almost to the knee. The cowboy
folded his trouser leg firmly and pulled the
boot over it. The boot's high heel kept his foot
from slipping through the stirrup.
Leron B. Gough followed in the footsteps of
his father, L. Gough, becoming a cowboy
while in his teens. In 1905, when he was about
15, the youth set up a bootblack stand at the
town barber shop in Hereford. During thesummer he shined the cowboys' boots "when
they came in from the range to get cleaned up
and make 'Whoopee'."
At the casual invitation of C.R. Smith,
then wagon boss at the Escarbada Division of
XIT, young Leron Gough mounted his favorite
horse one day and headed for division
headquarters, 60 miles away. He spent the
first night at line camp and greeted the
surprised Smith at headquarters the next day.
"C.R. made a cowboy out of me in short
order," Gough reminisced. "We were
accumulating cattle at a central point about
30 miles from Hereford, where we would
brand the calves and ship the steers to Kansas
City".
"I had a mount of eight horses and would
ride four or five each day. Every one of those
XIT cowponies was trained to buck, so C.R.
tied my stirrups under the horse's belly for the
first week. After that he said I was on my own,
and as a consequence, I 'hit the dirt' on several
occasions."
"After we had rounded up some 5,000
head, word was sent to Hereford that we were
going to have a Frontier Day. The townspeople
came from miles around in their covered
wagons, bringing their families."
The young cowboy felt keen pride as C.R.
let him cut out the calves from the main herd
for branding. He was especially proud, since
one of the visitors was his best girl.
Gough was riding Dynamite, and C.R. was
riding Leatherlip, two of the best cutting
horses in the country. The wagon boss
decided to give the spectators a thrill by
taking the bridles off the horses. All went well
until Dynamite changed his mind some 100
yards short of the calf herd, wheeled, and
started back. Young Gough kept going.
"I landed about a hundred feet from the
wagon where my girl was sitting. If that isn't
enough to give me a vivid memory of the
West, what is?" he concluded.
PATTERSON
HISTORY
Rules drawn up by the big cattlemen to
stop the practice of cowboys running small
herds of their own cattle or horses within the
boundary of the ranch where they were
employed, brought on the famous cowboy
strike of 1883 in the Panhandle.
Cowboys from several ranches met in a
dugout above the mouth of Frio Creek southeast
of Hereford, to organize for the strike.
Jim Harris was elected chairman. They wanted
more pay than the customary $30 a month
and keep, but especially they wanted their
former privileges because they knew the
ranchers were operating on public lands and
the employee had as much right to use the
land as did his employer.
The strike lasted a month. The cowboys
lost their leadership by Harris' sudden death,
and the ranchers' refused to rehire them at
roundup time. The strike left the cowboys
bitter toward the ranchers, and this was
blamed for an increase in cattle rustling and
brand changing with the big ranches as the
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Deaf Smith County Historical Society. The Land and Its People, 1876-1981: Deaf Smith County, Texas, book, 1982; Deaf Smith County, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth16010/m1/16/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Deaf Smith County Library.