Show t old west recalled by cattle heibei head often driven on chisholm trail SPEARFISH S D indians road agents swollen streams and heat were among the wild west dangers that harassed early day cattle drivers as they moved thou sands of texas longhorns over ti e famous chisholm trail into the vast pasturage of the north country so recalls charles graham 81 year old spearfish pioneer wt wl 0 spent 16 years in that spectacular drama of populating the bound rg prairies of the dakotas montana wyoming kansas and nebraska with cattle graham s first trip over the h s tone chisholm trail was in 1872 when but a lad of 13 from then until 1888 he gained his livel hood by following the old indian road which led from texas through oc lahoma kansas and nebraska aid ar d branched off throughout the great northwest traveling in those days was plenty rough the old timer ed indians and road agents were always giving us trouble and I 1 must have been in 20 or more fights occasionally I 1 d get nicked by a bullet but I 1 never got hurt sen seri bously the indians always wanted pay for the use of their trail graham said the cattlemen saw no reason why they should be paying the na tives and didn dian t therefore an oc cas ional raid from the indians could be expected it usually took three and a half months to move a herd of a 0 d 3 longhorns from tex texis is to wyoming he said comet ies groups of different drivers wo id band together and move around 30 head on one trip the rivers always gave the cattle men trouble graham asserted the dangerous streams were the red river of the south the canadian the cimarron the arkansas the smoky hill the Pe republican publican ard the platte graham was the son of a texas ranger when he quit the cattle business in 1888 he opened a saloon in beulah wyo wye and later moved his business to spearfish with the advent of prohibition he retired born to mr and mrs airs vernon holman a daughter on march 16 to mr and mrs gerald billings a son on the A group of friends surprised mr air and mrs norman gardner wednes day evening the occasion being nor mans man s birthday A pot luck lunch was served to fourteen guests |