A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



greater, both were needed. Trail drives were through 

 regions infested with hostile Indians, who many times car- 

 ried off the scalps of cowboys. 



I find that the great preponderance of trail driv- 

 ers, particularly the owners — trail bosses and straw- 

 bosses — originated in south Texas. This was quite 

 natural, however, because it is the oldest part of the 

 state, from a cattle industry standpoint. The great 

 bulk of the drivers seem to have made their homes at 

 Lockhart, in Caldwell Co., Tex., about 70 miles 

 northeast of San Antonio. It is estimated by Saun- 

 ders that in twenty-eight years, beginning with 1866, 

 an average of 350,000 cattle per year went up the 

 trail from Texas or 9,800,000 all told, at an aver- 

 age of $10 per head at home; and 1,000,000 horses 

 at an average of $10 per head at home, or, in money, 

 $1,008,000,000 in twenty-eight years. Had these old 

 trail drivers not sought out the northern market, cat- 

 tle must have died at home, and the range been so 

 overstocked as to cause much of it to become worth- 

 less. Too generous a tribute therefore cannot be paid 

 to the few fearless men who took up the trail vigor- 

 ously in 1867. Saunders concludes his thought by 

 showing the influence on its followers in reaching high 

 places by adding : 



The ranks of the old-time trail drivers are getting thin- 

 ner. They are scattered from Texas to the Canadian 

 border, and from California to New York. Some are rated 

 in Dun's and Bradstreet's in the seven-figure column; many 



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