A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 18

Author: Paddock, B. B. (Buckley B.), 1844-1922; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing co.
Number of Pages: 968

USA > Texas > A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I > Part 18

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The home of Mr. and Mrs. Grayson has been blessed with eight children: Amanda, the wife

of George W. Hinton, a stock farmer with in- terests in Montague county and the Indian Ter- ritory ; Napoleon B., a stockman of the Terri- tory; Nancy, the wife of W. B. Lewis, a stock- man; Luverna, who married W. H. Wilson; Sarah, at home; Mattie, the wife of Joe Bounds, a stock farmer; James M., who died at the age of twenty-one years; and John V., who was a man of powerful physique and more than ordin- ary energy and enterprise. He went west and was killed in Mexico. The Grayson family is one of prominence in Montague county and no history would be complete without the record of James M. Grayson, whose mind bears the im- press of the early historic annals of Western Texas and who has been closely associated with the work of reclaiming this part of the state from the domain of the red man and turning it over to the uses of civilization.

CHAPTER III.

THE BUFFALO-ITS CLOSE CONNECTION WITH THE INDIAN-THE ERA OF EXTERMINATION-FORT GRIFFIN.

The best friend the Indian had was the buffalo. The two disappear from this history together. When the plains contained only the whitening skeletons of the herds that once roamed in un- countable numbers from the Rio Grande far north to the Dominion of Canada, the Indian had no incentive to draw him away from his reserva- tion and mark his hunting expedition with trouble and depredation for the whites. To base an apology and exculpatory argument for the ruth- less destruction of the buffalo, the white de- stroyers often set forth the necessity of killing the animals that for centuries furnished the red men with food and raiment. Indeed, barring the brief era of commercialism in buffalo products during the seventies, the buffalo was an active factor in this narrative of North and West Texas civilization only through the agency of the In- dian, who disputed the advance of the white man principally because that advance meant the occupation of the hunting grounds and the an- nihilation of the animal which he rightly re- garded as the mainstay of life itself. So long had the buffalo formed an integral part of the Indian economy, so long the principal food supply, so in- timately associated with the daily life and habits, that even at this day, it is said, the plains In- dians will not believe the buffalo has been prac- tically exterminated, but point to the vague north, where the herds are still supposed to wan- der over the happy hunting grounds that are the Elysium of Indian hope.

The glow of romance tints every phase of his- tory that at one time bulked large in the daily ex- istence, but has now passed away forever. Thus

it is that the tragedy of the buffalo grows more somber and pathetic as each year puts us farther from its enactment, and thousands of pages have been written to arouse our sympathy and sorrow for that now nearly extinct animal race. But while the process of extermination was going on it was regarded only in its practical, commer- cial aspects; to destroy the buffalo meant so much additional range for cattle and so much greater security from the Indian, and, looked at aside from its sentimental aspects, the question is resolved in that inevitable law, "the survival of the fittest." Had the long-horn Texas steer ever been other than a commercial animal, it is likely that its disappearance would also provoke similar regrets and the eulogies of its virtues would cause us to overlook its inferiority to the modern Hereford. Certainly it behooves the American people through their civil agencies to preserve sufficient numbers of the buffalo so that the liv- ing race may for a long time remind us of the past, but no one could wish that the mighty em- pire of industry and civilization which has spread out over West Texas should be blotted out to restore the wilderness and buffalo of fifty years ago.

At the date set for the beginning of this his- tory, buffalo were numerous all over the terri- tory included in Peters Colony, as well as to the west. All the old settlers had opportunities to increase their meat supply without going far from their homes. Even during the long period when the progress of westward settlement was stopped, buffalo and other big game were found in the Palo Pinto district. Every old cattleman

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who began operations thirty to twenty-five years ago can relate buffalo experiences and many will state with mathematical accuracy the huge num- bers they have counted in a single herd. Indeed, had the extermination of the buffalo been left to the cattleman and the Indian, its accomplishment would have been deferred many years and even yet the shaggy animals would be found in the re- mote districts. But, from being sought for the meat which its body would furnish, the buffalo suddenly became an object of commercial value for the hide it wore, and with the market for this product once established, the plains soon became covered with the decaying carcasses from which only the skins had been hurriedly torn, the rest being left to the coyotes and vultures.

However, it is a mistaken belief that buffalo skins were not of commercial value before the great slaughter began in the seventies. Concern- ing this traffic, George Catlin, writing in 1832 from Dakota, says: "It seems hard and cruel that we civilized people should. be drawing from the backs of these useful animals the skins for our luxury, leaving their carcasses to be de- voured by the wolves; that we should draw from this country some one hundred and fifty, or two hundred thousands of their robes annually, the greater part of which are taken from animals that are killed expressly for the robe at a season when the meat is not cured and preserved, and for each of which skins the Indian has received a pint of whisky! Such is the fact, and that number, or near it, are annually destroyed, in addition to the number that is necessarily killed for the. subsistence of three hundred thousand Indians, who live chiefly upon them." It is thus evident that the slaughter went on for half a century before it ceased through extermination of its victims ..

. But during these earlier years of the destruc- tion, it seems that the buffalo was killed for the robe it would furnish. The preparation of the robe was generally left to the Indian squaws, and the process was without the systematic basis which would make possible the organization of a concentrated business. But along in the seven- ties some men went into the business on the prop- osition that there was money in the buffalo

hides, not for the robes alone, but in the "green" hides, to be worked up in manufacture by the tan- ners. In the biography of J. W. Mooar, of Colo- rado City, is found the following interesting ac- count of the first shipment of "flint" buffalo hides to New York City and how, after much difficulty, they were marketed to the tanners, thus establishing the market for buffalo hides which grew to such enormous proportions.

JOHN W. MOOAR, who was born in Pow- nal, Bennington county, Vermont, June 12, 1846, in 1861 went to New York City, and when he had been in New York for about ten years he received a letter from his brother, J. Wright Mooar, who was then at Fort Hays, Kansas, stating that he and a man named White had shipped to John W. Mooar some raw buffalo hides and for him to investigate the matter of finding a possible market for them. According- ly he started out on his mission, not knowing anything about such hides and probably doubt- ing if he could find any one who did. He made his way to the firm of J. J. Bate & Company, the oldest hide house in the country. The senior partner was an old man and had been in the hide business all his life, but when asked what buffalo hides were worth replied that he had never seen one and that such a thing as a flint buffalo hide had never before been on the market. Mooar explained the situation to Bate, who asked that the hides be brought to him and if found desirable he wanted the repu- tation of making the first sale of buffalo hides. Mooar informed him that the shipment would be stored at 91 Pine street and could there be seen. In the meantime the hides arrived in New York and were being hauled down Broad- way to Pine street, where they were to be stored. They attracted the attention of many people on the street, among whom was a tan- ner from Pennsylvania, who followed the wagon to its destination. Two hours later two gentlemen appeared at the place of storage to examine the hides, both being tanners from Pennsylvania, one of them the man who had followed the load as it passed down Broad- way. In the course of the conversation that

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

followed the tanners said there was no market price that could be put on them, but as they wanted the hides to experiment with offered to give Mr. Mooar three dollars and a half each or fourteen cents a pound for the entire lot. He accepted the former price and thus to him belongs the honor of having made the first sale of buffalo flint hides ever on record. The purchasers shipped the hides to their tanneries in Pennsylvania and after making practical ex- periments with them sent in an order for two thousand more. Mr. Mooar, foreseeing what all this meant and that it would prove the in- auguration of the greatest buffalo slaughter that the world has ever known, resigned his position with the Richards house and imme- diately joined his brother, J. Wright Mooar, at Dodge City, Kansas.

There the firm of Mooar Brothers was formed in 1870 for the purpose of starting on a great buffalo hunt. Others soon followed their ex- ample until in a comparatively short time many outfits, both large and small, were equipped for carrying on such a business. The average slaughter amounted to about five hundred thousand buffaloes a year after the time the value of the hides was proved until the buf- faloes were practically exterminated. The Mooars continued in the business for a period of twelve years. During the Indian outbreak of 1873 and 1874 the disturbances were so great and of such a serious nature on the north range in Kansas that the brothers decided to change their base of operation from Dodge City and conceived the idea of flanking the herd, driving them in a southerly direction and getting them into a country where they could find railroad transportation and where the Indians were not so numerous or hostile as to interfere with their operations. Accordingly they left Kansas in 1874, intending to make a straight course across the country. They reached the Cheyenne agency in the Indian Territory about the time of the Indian outbreak which occurred there. They then turned their course and by way of Fort Griffin, Texas, came to this state. Making the fort their base of operations they again started upon a buffalo hunt in Texas and did

the first extensive killing in this state at a point where the town of Haskell now stands.

The first hides ever taken to a Texas market were hauled to Denison and were accompanied by John W. Mooar and W. H. Snyder, the lot amounting to about two thousand pounds. In making the trip to Denison the strange looking outfit created much excitement and curiosity, es- pecially at a point near Sherman, Texas, where the party went into camp for the night. A great many people came out from the town to take a look at the hides, including some of the local hide buyers who had never seen a buffalo hide or knew anything about one. After reach- ing Denison Mr. Mooar sold the cargo by telegraph to Lobenstein of Leavenworth, Kan- sas. This lot was the only one Mr. Mooar ever sold in Texas, as he soon afterward found a mar- ket in New York and shipped all of his hides to that city. The money that was received for the first hides was spent in Denison in laying in a supply of groceries, clothing, ammunition and other things that were needed. These were carried back to the camp in what is now Haskell county at the head of Miller creek. From this time the killing was continued and the Mooars were followed by many others who embarked in the same line of business and the new enter- prise was from that time carried on in a systematic manner until the buffaloes had been exterminated. The tanning of hides became also an extensive and important business in- dustry. At first the heavier hides were con- verted into sole leather and the lighter ones into harness leather. Afterward, however, the most of them were tanned and prepared for robes and this process became an important business en- terprise with two leading tanning concerns, one in Connecticut and the other in Michigan.

The discovery that the hides could be worked up into harness and sole leather marked the turning point of the buffalo's fate and set in mo- tion the army of destroyers that in less than five years swept the plains forever clear of the buf- falo. Hundreds of men become "skin hunters" and the killing of buffalo became a business, as systematically efficient as cattle raising.

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

"The killing was done in every possible man- ner-on horseback, afoot, by 'still hunting,' and by lying in wait day and night at the buffalos' drinking places. Cordons of camps were es- tablished along the running streams, and when the thirsty animals came to drink the volleys would drive the famishing sufferers away to try again, at some other equally deadly place ; and this was kept up till these bunches of fam- ished beasts were obliterated. The banks of the streams became littered with putrescent car- casses and with the skeletons of the victims. There was a camp within gunshot of every' wa- tering hole, and here, as along the streams, the tormented creatures were slain as they drew near. Long-range Sharps rifles were the favor- ite weapon, but those who went on horseback also were armed with big revolvers. These men, like the Indians, trained their horses for the hunts, and many of them soon had their mounts educated to the business in a degree of intelligence and skill that compared favorably to the best of the Indian 'buffalo ponies.'"

In many stories that have been fed to the credulous reading public, the buffalo, especially the bulls, figured as animals of great ferocity and fighting ability, and "combats" have been pictured between some huge bull and a lone horseman, in which the latter came off victo- rious only after a desperate struggle. The truth seems to be that the buffalo was only less timid in presence of human beings than the deer and would always get away from danger if his brute intelligence made it possible. But the buffalo hunters soon became skilled in buffalo psychol- ogy, and the "still hunters," by lying in con- cealment and first picking off the herd leader, were often able at one "stand" to kill forty or fifty of the helpless brutes while "milling" about in confusion.

Though the Indians had for years depended on the buffalo for fresh meat, and emigrants and prospectors and California "forty-niners" were likewise indebted to this animal, at the time when skin-hunting was at its height the only part of the buffalo that was taken for meat was the tongue, and even that delicacy became too common for profit.

When the buffaloes, by four years of unprece- dented slaughter, became extinct in West Texas, there remained just one more commercial phase of the business ; namely, to gather up the bleach- ing bones of the victims and ship them to market to be made into fertilizers and carbon. In many localities the skeletons and separated bones of the buffaloes were so thick upon the ground that it is said "they whitened the landscape." Steam- boats, wherever they could, competed with the railroads for a share of the "bone business," and even sea-going vessels sailing from Texas ports for those of the eastern states carried many tons of buffalo bones. Thousands of men engaged in the work, traversing the plains with their high- sided wagons. Of the magnitude of the business an idea may be gained from the fact that the A. T. & S. F. during three years hauled 5,400 tons of bones.

The center of the buffalo hunting business in West Texas was old Fort Griffin, and the prin- cipal chapter in the history of that famous post may now be told. It was there that the army of hunters rendezvoused, there they got their supplies of food and ammunition, thither they returned, when the hunt was over and the wag- ons were piled high with the bales of hides, to revel and carouse in what was probably the "wildest and wooliest" town of Texas. Cattle- men, soldiers and skin-hunters formed a rough and characteristic population of producers, up- on which the eager gambling and whiskey-sell- ing parasites preyed; altogether, a composite such as will never again be typed in the history of the world.

Griffin was for some years a junction point for two industries. As mentioned elsewhere, it was, during the seventies, a main station on the Fort Griffin cattle trail from south Texas ; while from the west it drew the buffalo trade. These two factors, combined with its military post, gave the town unrivaled importance in the territory west of Fort Worth. But this prestige was ephemeral, and Fort Griffin is another of those centers whose fame belongs to history to pre- serve; its population in 1900 was 63. Its story cannot be more graphically told than by quot- ing from the old Fort Worth Democrat some

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

paragraphs detailing the important phases of its career from 1876 to 1879.

The first is from an issue of . April, 1876: "Buffalo hides from the west and cattle from the south are coming in rapidly. Griffin is now almost the only market for buffalo hides; and as the bovines are being rapidly decimated, it will probably be the last market. The cattle trail to the north, via this point, Cantonment, and Dodge City, is now an assured fact. It is esti- mated that 125,000 head will be driven along this trail this season."

Four months later the correspondent says : "Companies F and G, Eleventh U. S. Infantry, start for Dakota today (troops being drawn to the north on account of the Custer massacre), leaving the fort garrisoned by Company A. Maj. Jones, of the Rangers, expects to disband his troops the last of this month unless the legisla- ture makes an appropriation. Apprehension is accordingly being felt on the frontier because of the withdrawal of the U. S. troops and the Rangers. The buffalo trade is somewhat de- pressed, although more hunters, are out than at any former period. The hides are being poi- soned on the range and but few will be brought in before October. (Poisoning of the hides was a process in preparing them for market.) It is thought that 100,000 hides will be shipped from this point next season. The buffalo are being hemmed up in that section of the state between Cantonment on the north, Concho river on the south, and this place on the east, and but a few years are sufficient to exterminate them. Such a result is to be desired by the people. With the disappearanec of the buffalo vanishes the independence of the Indian; while their destruc- tion will render available a superb range coun- try for the stockmen. The buffalo hunters are doing more for the settlement of the Indian question than Congress. Short-horns or long- horns are a source of greater wealth than all the buffaloes."

As an example of how fast the buffalo slaugh- ter was going on, we quote the following from another publication: "In the winter season of 1876-77 the Causey and West outfit operated around Yellow House canyon, about six miles

east of the present town of Lubbock; its hunt- ing ground, according to the 'record,' 'covered a scope of country about forty miles square.' There were eleven men in this outfit; a cook, a meat-tender, eight skinners, 'and the hunter- Causey himself.' The account of this outfit's op- erations during that winter season says that it killed and skinned 7,500 buffaloes, which, it is asserted, was 'the record for Texas.'"

To quote again from the Democrat, issue of January 14, 1877: "We drove into this town (Griffin)-the very border of civilization-last evening, and halted at the Bison Hotel, pre- sided over by our former townsman (Fort Worth), Uncle Charley Sebastian. After hav- ing royally feasted on buffalo, venison, antelope, etc., and rested over night, we arose early in the morning and took a view of Griffin. There is nothing very attractive to gaze on. Nothing save a few dobie and picket houses, corrals, and immense stacks of buffalo hides. The Post, on the hill a quarter of a mile south, is almost de- populated, one company of negro soldiers keep- ing garrison. F. E. Conrad's store rooms near the Post are the most extensive establishments in the place. There hunters procure supplies and deliver most of their hides. To give an idea of the immensity of his business, imagine a huge, rambling house, of several different rooms, crowded with merchandise; with forty or fifty wagons to be loaded, and perhaps one hun- dred hunters purchasing supplies. We were told that yesterday's sales amounted to nearly $4,000, about $2,500 of which was spent for guns and ammunition. T. E. Jackson and Co., and S. T. Steirson are also heavy traders. Since the evacuation of the Post, the business of Grif- fin depends almost exclusively on the buffalo trade. There are said to be fifteen hunters on the range, most of them supplied from here." The writer (who signs himself "Bill Akers") then goes on to describe the methods of hunt- ing, and also describes his visit to the Tonkawa village east of town, where, as already men- tioned, the Indians of that tribe had collected and been permitted to remain for some time.

A Griffin visitor in September, 1877, writes: "The military post was located here about

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HISTORY OF NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.

ten years ago. This is a frontier town, with all the usual characteristics, but is orderly. The Post is situated on a plateau, and below lies the town, on the west bank of Clear Fork. The picket houses are giving away to rock and shin- gle-roofed frame buildings, the lumber being hauled from Fort Worth. The buffalo hide in- dustry has reached large proportions, 200,000 having been received here last season. Near the town coal deposits have been discovered, and are being worked to supply the local de- mand. The business firms are as follows: 'Mc- Camy and Wilson, general merchants and hides ; the Wichita Hotel, G. O. Mathis, proprietor ; G. S. Jones, drugs; C. Meyer, general mer- chant, successor of B. Marks and Co .; James Murphy, barber ; Cupp Bros., grocers ; C. Wabel, butcher ; Baker and O'Brien, music and dance hall; A. A. Prince, saddles and harness; Will- iam Wilson, inn; Carl Wickey, mechanic and carpenter ; E. Frankle, store; Stribling and Kirkland, land and law; Dr. W. T. Baird, M. D .; J. A. Roach, stockman; F. E. Conrad, post trader." These are his observations by day.

"Griffin by moonlight," describing other phases, "is a gay and festive place; night is turned into day, the dance and flowing bowl are indulged in freely, while hilarity and glee reign supreme from eve till morning hour's. Lager beer is twenty-five cents a glass." Summing up, the writer states that "two things are needed here, a bank and a printing office. One sees people carrying on business without currency, the me- dium being checks on Fort Worth banks and business firms." This need finds satisfaction, for according to an item in the spring of 1878, "York and Co. are building a bank and jobbing house."

The denouement of the town is simply told in the words of a writer in September, 1879, who says "Griffin is not the live, bustling place we first knew it, in the palmy days of the buffalo." Although he argues that business was on a more substantial basis and that the way of the future was one of permanent prosperity, later events prove that when the single company of troops left the barracks, and with the "end of the reign of the six-shooter," the glory that had been was fading not to return during this generation.

CHAPTER IV.

NORTH TEXAS FROM 1855 TO 1870-THE PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT-ECO- NOMIC, INDUSTRIAL AND CIVIC CONDITIONS DURING AND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR.

By 1855 we find the eastern portion of the Peters Colony territory permanently occupied, and by the process of continually overlapping waves of settlement those who ten years before had suffered the brunt of frontier hardships were now well within the pale of civilization and able to pursue their various employments in perfect security.

One evidence of the country's growth is shown in the number of postoffices which a re- port of December 1, 1856, gives. In the eastern line of counties there were many of these post villages. In Tarrant county are mentioned Bird- ville as the county seat, Fort Worth and Johnson's Station. In Denton were Clear Creek and sev- eral others; Gainesville in Cooke county ; New- burg Mills, Rutherford and Weatherford, in Parker county ; Odessa and Taylorsville, in Wise county ; and far out on the frontier Fort Belknap was a mail office.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of north and west Texas, Volume I, Part 18

Author: Paddock, B. B. (Buckley B.), 1844-1922; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing co. Number of Pages: 968

Author: Paddock, B. B. (Buckley B.), 1844-1922; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing co.
Number of Pages: 968