A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



are at the head of Texas banks or owners of goodly herds of 

 well-bred cattle, while some are the result of the human 

 average and ending their days in humble circumstances. 



The Old Trail Drivers' Association now has its 

 annual meeting at the same time and place as the 

 Cattle Raisers' Association of Texas. It is a joy to 

 see them together, and if one can get into the sacred 

 circle where a knot of them is living stirring events 

 over again in reminiscent exchanges, it beats all the 

 fiction of the day. 



To Saunders' comment about the overstocking of 

 the range without the trail industry should be added 

 a line on the American buffalo, which wintered 

 largely in Texas. Chas. A. Siringo in his book A 

 Lone Star Cowboy writes of having visited Amarillo 

 in 19 1 2, when a buffalo bull bought from Capt. Chas. 

 Goodnight was hung up to sell at $1 per pound on 

 New Year's eve. The author reflects that in 1877 

 he saw near Amarillo a herd that was estimated to 

 comprise 1,000,000 buffaloes in one black mass. 



At this point I must digress for a moment. Saun- 

 ders comments that at the close of the Civil War the 

 soldiers came back home "broke." Old men, boys 

 and Negroes had taken care of the cattle, many of 

 which were unbranded; the range was overstocked, 

 but there was no market. I find, however, in other 

 records that two cattle-killing plants were located at 

 Lockhart, Tex., in 1861, and it may be of some inter- 

 est to interpolate some personal Swenson history. 



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