A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



The elder Swenson was a pioneer Texas country 

 merchant. He first located at Richmond, Tex., on 

 the Brazos River, about 40 miles above its mouth In 

 Fort Bend county, and by a strange coincidence his 

 sons, the owners of the S. M. S. Ranch, now manage 

 a sulphur syndicate at Freeport at the mouth of the 

 Brazos, acquired in the last ten years. This prop- 

 erty, with the Louisiana sulphur mines, furnished all 

 the sulphur for the Allies during the World War, the 

 Freeport company furnishing between 1,500 and 

 2,500 tons daily. The elder Swenson moved to 

 Austin, and before the war to New York, where he 

 started a bank, and also functioned as a sort of clear- 

 ing house for Texas products shipped by boat, such 

 as hides, tallow and barreled beef. The Swensons 

 were also agents for all the cotton ties used In Amer- 

 ica, and for years carried 90 per cent of the Texas 

 banks' eastern exchanges. It will be seen, therefore, 

 that Texas beef and by-products were being marketed 

 to some extent many years before the advent of the 

 Kansas City packing houses. 



I find records of venturesome spirits that took 

 trail herds into Louisiana and other Confederate 

 states during the war for use In the Confederate 

 Army, and sold them at profitable prices, but were 

 paid in Confederate money, most of which eventu- 

 ally was worthless, although it was current for the 

 purchase of general products for a time. 



J. N. Boyles In 1866 drove a herd from Texas to 



[153] 



