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Show To 'X ) ' V ' t TTMoarcK of the Herd "Vv '.YVi i, -r tling news Loving was at Fort Sumner. Good- , v i ? fr S 4 " s night hastened there and learned that the day k VlJ- 1 N, Vi. ' Y " JsAvS ChaS alter wilson's departure for help the Indians i L B5S1 v .V 1 j i -?&-.-'i-T,;nV,. hl left Loving's Bend, as the place is now If , 1 a JSlfl OOOQTUCjmr called. Loving had, dragged himself five miles l " ; niZT, v' t0 a narrow I)!lss' where he remn five days, i i n. r- i --T-i X 'rf . ,1- ,c , and was eating a glove when some Mexicans ColCha&Goodnight Jy r V?: 1 found him. He gave the Mexicans 5150 to take jt $ 2 v v" , nim t,le miles in a cart to Fort Sumner. Al- By ELMO SCOTT WATSON. " M l L ! $ S though Loving was walking about, the wound , tt , , . , V, . in m's nrm was infected, and nine days after W 7 h h Gooclnlht itf; Goodnight's arrival Loving died. died, mJUZZ An7T U De: " C4 ' Goodnight went on up into Colorado and in Wf 12, 1929' at.thC ' I ' , January returned. Kxhuming the coffin, he V V . "'"ety-three years, it not only . , , J drove With it 600 miles to Weatherford, Texas, T ,6 PaSS'ng De ;f ' where he delivered it to Loving's family. A &mM Old West but it also seemed .7 T,. f ' 7 $40,000, gave his partner, Sheek, $20,000, and lke'y to spell the doom of the TZrrTrT 7Z Zi ra ffT with $20,000 as his own share, went his way largest herd of buffalo in the APartof the Goodnight tierd of Buffalo ninne tling news Loving was at Fort Sumner. Goodnight Good-night hastened there and learned that the day after Wilson's departure for help the Indians had left Loving's Bend, as the place is now called. Loving had, dragged himself five miles to a narrow pass, where he remained five days, and was eating a glove when some Mexicans found him. He gave the Mexicans 5150 to take him the 150 miles in a cart to Fort Sumner. Although Al-though Loving was walking about, the wound in his arm was infected, and nine days after Goodnight's arrival Loving died. Goodnight went on up into Colorado and in January returned. Kxhuming the coffin, he drove wMth it 600 miles to Weatherford, Texas, where he delivered it to Loving's family. A year later he turned over to the Loving estate $40,000, gave his partner, Sheek, $20,000, and with $20,000 as his own share, went his way alone. The second of the famous trails blazed by the colonel was that known as the New Goodnight Good-night trail, from Alamogordo, N. M., to Granada, Gra-nada, Colo. tolonel Goodnight found ten cents a head was being charged for all stock which passed through Katon Pass, the only knowD passage through the Katon mountains, in New Mexico, by the famous "Uncle Dick" Wooton, the "keeper "keep-er of the gate through the mountains." The colonel refused to pay. He struck another trail, 100 miles shorter, through the mountains and up to Cheyenne. Goodnight was married on July 2G, 1S70, to Miss Mary A. Dyer of Tennessee, and soon afterwards aft-erwards established a ranch in Colorado. But the panic of 1S73 ruined him financially and he had just 1.S0O head of cattle with which to make a new start. He turned his face as always al-ways toward the new country, and the Panhandle Pan-handle seemed to hold the greatest possibilities with the fewest inhabitants, in fact, none but Indian and buffalo. It held, though, that great Palo Duro canyon, with its rim of Cap liock. Its ragged depth of 1..100 feet, its marvelous valley 15 miles wide in places, a paradise for cattle. Palo Duro canyon proper begins in the western part of Iiandell county and extends approximately approxi-mately 75 miles. Colonel Goodnight took supplies for six months, erected a four-room log house and returned re-turned to Denver for .Mrs. Goodnight. At this time John George Adair of Wrath-da Wrath-da ir, Ireland, was consumed with the idea of a ranch in America. lie was breezing about in Denver, talking cattle and range and looking look-ing for a maij big enough to handle bis project. proj-ect. A few years previous John Adair had opened a brokerage office in New York city, had met and married an American girl in 1800. and they then divided their time between their estate in Ireland and the joys of the New world. Mrs. Adair was the daughter of Major General Wadsworth and the young widow of Montgomery Richie, attached to General Wads-worth's Wads-worth's staff. John Adair and Charles Goodnight met In Denver and made a contract which brought the first development to the Panhandle. II is there today, the .1. A. Knnch, with its l!(1.00(J acres and Its 10-room ranch house that was built around the log home of Charles Good- ' night. The ranch at one time comprised l..".(KI.-00(1 l..".(KI.-00(1 acres and more than 100.000 head of cattle. The first contract made was to run live years and specified that 12.0'ld acres should be bought the first year with additional Increase to 25.000 acres. Adair, however, so respected the judgment judg-ment of Charles Goodnight that he gave him personal authority to buy what he saw (it. and at the end of the first five years 02.020 acres were on record. Goodnight bought land at various prices as well as In various places, paying on an average of 25 cenls to 35 cents an acre. He admitted that he bought up every good water bole; every good range; every place a rancher was likely to go, and that It was the "very devil to survey." This original section was called the Old Crazy Quilt. John Adair bought the land, gave Goodnight a $2,500 yearly salary and at the end of the five years one-third of the land and cattle, but charged 10 per cent interest for the use of the money during that time. It might seem a little salary, and a big rate of Interest, but Charles Goodnight knew be would be rich in the end, and Incidentally the contract was renewed for anolher five years. From the J. A. ranch Colonel Goodnight next laid off a trail to Dodge City. Kan., traversing territory then Inhabited only by Indians and buffalo. It was 250 miles in length and known as the Palo Duro-Dodge City trail. This was the third of the great (rails he had blazed. Aflcr a partnership of ten years wilh Adair, Colonel Goodnight sold his third Interest In the properly lo bin partner anil logelher with a man named Moore from Kansas Cily bought (he QuitiHiie ranch. Later he sold this properly and In ISSS purchased whal was known as (he Condniirht ranch which be operated until reccnl years. Mrs. Goodnight died In PIL'd and a year lalcr Colonel Goodniglil's marriage to Miss Corinne Goodnight, a t only -six year old lelo-gr.'iph lelo-gr.'iph operalor and Conner nurse In Moiilinu, ntlnietcd nalion-wide alleiilion. Although healing heal-ing (ho same name, the ninety one year oh! plainsman anil bis young bride were nol related, Ibelr romance developing during a correspond dice started by (be slinllarily of their Tinmen. (Uil hy i'mI t'i ii Ni-vkjhlht I'nl'iti By ELMO SCOTT WATSON. Tiien Co1- Charles Goodnight f died in Tucson, Ariz., on De-Vi'f De-Vi'f cember 12, 1920, at the age of X ninety-three years, it not only i "jLj-nl tnarked the passing of one of S5;i $v,3 the most Interesting figures of ISf) the 01d West but u also seemed likely to spell the doom of the largest herd of buffalo in the S0A2 United States more than 200 in number but only a pitiful remnant of the millions which had once roamed the Great Plains. For the famous Goodnight herd of buffalo in Texas had passed into other hands and there were sensational rumors afloat that the new owners were planning a "big game hunt" where Eastern sportsmen (upon payment of a big fee) would be allowed to enjoy the thrills of an old-time buffalo chase. Immediately a storm of protest against the destruction de-struction of the Goodnight buffalo herd arose amoDg Texans and the legislature passed a bill authorizing the state game and fish commission to purchase the buffalo, provided a suitable place for keeping them could be obtained. But no appropriation ap-propriation was forthcoming for the project and it was not until a syndicate, headed by A. C. Nicholson of Dallas, was formed to take over the buffalo and a part of the Goodnight estate and to finance the project of maintaining the herd intact that its preservation was assured. No finer monument could be erected to the memory of Col. Charles Goodnight, "the Father of the Texas Panhandle," and his wife. v Mary Dyer Goodnight, than the preservation of this' rearguard of the "thundering herds" of long ago. In fact, the existence of' this particular herd is due largely to the efforts of "Aunt Mary" Goodnight, as she was lovingly known in the Texas Panhandle. Back in the late seventies this pioneer woman, witnessing the ruthless slaughter of the buffalo by hide hunters, realized real-ized that it was only a question of time until the great shaggy beasts, would be extinct. She began talking to "Uncle Charley" about capturing captur-ing a few of the calves and starting a herd of their own. So in June, 1S79, Colonel Goodnight roped two buffalo calves and gave them to his wife. She was much interested in the little brown fellows, fel-lows, was greatly delighted at the alacrity with which they learned to drink rnilk and was surprised sur-prised at their appetites which seemed to be Insatiable, one of her pets requiring as much as three gallons a day. Two years later a neighboring neigh-boring ranchman captured two full-grown buffalo buf-falo and presented them- to Mrs. Goodnight and three calves were also added to her little group, the present of her brother. From this beginning came the great herd of nearly 250 today. On the "game refuge" which the Goodnights established on their ranch were also started herds of elk, deer and antelope, but they never thrived as did the buffalo. It was on the Goodnight ranch also that a new animal was created the catalo. produced by crossing buffalo with Aberdeen Angus cattle. This hybrid, according to Colonel Goodnight, was hardier than range cattle, thrived on less food, was Immune from nil disease, did not stampede so easily nor drift with storms and had other advantages which made it a more, valuable type of beef animal for the plains. lie found an enthusiastic disciple In the work In the person of the late "Buffalo" Jones and at one time It seemed likely that their experiments experi-ments in producing the catalo might have a revolutionary effect upon the cattle Industry of this country. Although Texas claims Col. Charles Goodnight Good-night as one of her greatest men, he was a native of another state, Illinois. lie was horn there March 5. lST.fi, just three days after Texas declared her independence from Mexico, so his history paralleled her history. His parents moved to Texas In 1815. the year Texas entered the Union, and young Goodnight grew up as a pioneer of the Lone Star stale wilh Its hardships hard-ships as a part of bis every-day life. P.y the time he was nineteen tie decided that he knew Texas pretty well and was about ready to move farther west to a newer country-California. country-California. With a young companion, and an ox team and a few horses, they started on the long trek west. I'.ut by the time I hey had gone R few hundred miles Into West Texas they decided de-cided that the slate was large enough for them. So Goodnight, went hack to Palo I'lrito county where he ranched and supporlod Ills widowed mother. During Hie Civil war he served with the Texas Hangers, fighting mostly Indians, Mexicans and catlle thieves. After the war, there was no catlle market. The plains swarmed wilh herds, and catlle could be bought on credit. Goodnight saw the iicces-iity of tin ling a western market. So did Koine ntrior-H, hut the young plainsman, then thirty, differed from I lie rent In that he determined de-termined to lind It. There was already one up at Abilene, Kan., where many of the callle- men took their herds to sell, but Goodnight saw a greater opportunity up in New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, where there were Indian agencies looking for beef and willing to pay well for it. The drawback in the scheme was that between the Panhandle and this promising territory lay a great expanse of desert and territory inhabited inhab-ited by Comanche Indians ready to pounce upon invaders and drive off the cattle. Without heavy protection, no herd could get through. Goodnight knew that as well as any of his neighbors, and he laid the plan before them. He knew the country, and mapped out a route by which he hoped to trail his animals up into Colorado. But the other cowmen h'ad troubles of their own to attend to when he sought their co-operation. They saw only the danger connected with the venture, and excused themselves. But young Goodicght found a partner. lie was Oliver Loving, lin became one of his closest companions. Loving was probably the most experienced cowman in Texas at the time. In -1S50, while the Con::-riches were quiet, he had taken a herd through to Colorado on a direct di-rect route. Young Goodnight had helped him out of the timber country as far as Red river. Loving also had trailed cattle into Illinois and to the New Orleans markets. He asked to go with Goodnight on bis trail-blazing venture. Goodnight had prepared a huge boi3 , d'arc wagon, requiring twenty oxen to pull,, which ,he believed the first chuck wagon ever seen in the cow country. Each man gathered up his own cattle, making a combined herd of some thousand head of mixed stuff. They started in June, with eighteen adventuresome cow hands and reached Fort Sumner two months later. On the whole trip not an Indian had been sighted. Through COO miles of totally uninhabited unin-habited country a new route for Texas cattle .had been blazed, immediately becoming known as the Goodnight trail, the first and greatest of the colonel's trail breaking achievements. Later it was extended through the Raton mountains, moun-tains, past Pueblo and Denver and into Cheyenne Chey-enne and Fort Laramie. Three hundred thousand thou-sand cattle passed over It In six years, while thousands perished on the way or fell into the hands of the Comanches. When Goodnight arrived at Fort Sumner he found the government had 9.(KK) Apaches "loose herded like cattle" there. Loving and Goodnight Good-night sold their cattle two years old and up on the hoof for eight cents a pound, an enormous price for the time. Loving took the stock cattle cat-tle cut back by the government into Colorado and Goodnight took a part of the hands and $0,000 In gold and silver, and returned to Palo Pinto county. There be purchased extensively of bis neighbors and trailed hack over (lie route he had marked out. It was in the spring of 1807 that Loving lost his life. The partners started with two herds, the two men going ahead with the first one. The second herd, made up of weaker cattle, lost 1,000 head to the Comanches before it had reached the Pecos. Another band of Indians attacked Goodnight and Loving on the Clear fork of the Brazos. Joe Iiving. who was no relation to Oliver Loving, was shot in the neck, the herd stampeded and 100 head of cattle ran out. Goodnight' pulled an arrow out of Loving's neck wilh a pijlr of nippers and Joe got well. After the herd had been driven about 10J miles up thi' Pecos from Horseshoe Crossing, Oliver Loving decided to take me man and go ahead to Fort Sumner. One-Armed till Wilson, the "coolest head in the out IK," according to Colonel Goodnight's description, was selected as escort. What happened on the trip Is still an epic of the cow camps. The second day out, In (he southern part of New Mexico, the two men were attacked by some 500 Comanche warriors. The only shelter shel-ter was the Pecos, four miles away. They headed head-ed for it on a long run. Dismounting, (hey bid in the cane brakes. An Indian, creeping through the cane, shot Loving In the anil and .side. Not wishing to die and his folks not know of. bis end, Loving persuaded Wilson to go. for help. Wilson swain Hie river anil, barefooted, walked Ihree days down the Goodnight trail, (liroiigii cactus, mosquito and oilier phmls conl n Ini rig horns Ulilil he came lo (hip Goodnight herd. Colonel Coodnlglil look all available hamls and set out for the scene of (hip llglil, sixty miles away. Late Hie next day Hie parly arrived, ar-rived, but there was no trace of Loving. Two weeks lalcr a Texan lob! Goodnight the star- |