Cattle movements of the early days were by trails, involving hard and tedious and often dangerous work for the frontier cattlemen of this area. Likewise, the hauling of freight in the early days was a difficult task, because there were no roads or bridges, and hardships were on every hand. It was a wild and untamed country even as late as the late seventies and early eighties, the first railroad entering the county at about the time the homesteaders began winning their war with the fence cutters, in the late eighties. Prior to that time freighters, the frontier truckers, hauled whatever the settlers needed, and were akin to the cattle drivers in many respects.
A colorful picture of the conditions here in the early seventies was related a few years ago by Bob Routh, who came here in 1872. He was a native Texan, born in Collin county in February, 1854, and many of his relatives now live here. In an interview written in 1930 he told of many of the trails and trail drivers of the early days:
”When I was eighteen years old I decided to move into a new section of the country, and made the journey from Collin county to Brownwood by ox wagon. It was slow going, and a tedious way of traveling.” he related, “but it was the mode in those days. There were few horses in Texas when I was growing up. Horses were scarce even in the cattle country. Brown wood was a log cabin town. “This section was cattle country. When I came here there were about twenty acres in cultivation in the whole county. Old Uncle Bill Anderson had a ten acre patch out at his place, and someone else had a farm near town. (Welcome W. Chandler raised the first regular crop in the county). Brownwood was better off in a lot of ways then because this country is naturally cattle land. It should never have been cut up into farms. There was little money, but none of us ever suffered.”
The Chisholm Trail never ran through this part of the state,” Mr. Routh continued. “It started on the Chisholm ranch in Wise county, and went up into the Indian Territory. It branched into two main routes: one to Kansas City and Dodge City, and the other one to Denver. Cattle were driven into Kansas and sold to the packing plants, and were driven to Denver and sold to the western cattlemen.
“There were a number of cattle trails in this section of the state but all of them, as far as I knew, were unnamed. There was one trail which started in southern Texas, came up through Brown County (it passed the old round mountain on Salt creek) and went on north through Callahan County. This trail may have merged later with the Chisholm Trail, but I do know that the Chisholm Trail was never south of Wise County. I have been on the Chisholm ranch many times and could find the old trail easily. “I joined the Rangers here in 1873. There were 75 men in our company, and they were detailed for Indian duty although I was never in an Indian fight. The government didn’t pay us much for our work. We furnished our own horses, clothes and blankets and the government furnished our guns and ammunition. When a company was disbanded the men returned their guns. The company here was disbanded about a year after I joined it. I then rode into Menard and joined the force down there.
”In 1876 I went into the freighting businesses with headquarters at Fort Griffin. I have hauled many a load of buffalo hides in my day. There were no troops at Brownwood when I first came here, and Camp Colorado, in Coleman County, about 25 miles away, had already been evacuated. Fort Griffin, Fort McKavett and Fort Concho were the nearest military posts, and Negro troops were stationed at Fort Griffin.”
Mr. Routh said the Indians who caused so much trouble in this area in the frontier period were not as bad as they were said to be. “The Indian was never bad at heart,” he thought. “The white men crowded the Indians into the Pacific Ocean, stole their lands, broke promises made to them and imposed upon them in every way.
“This was a rough and ready country in the seventies and early eighties,” the old pioneer continued. “Shooting scrapes were common here. Men considered killing the easiest and most effective way to settle their quarrels. As a rule they had nothing to fear from the law, because there were few convictions when trials were held.
“I can recall many killings of the early period of my residence here. There was one old man who killed once too often. He shot his brother-in-law and carved a second notch on his gun. A short time later he was heading for the penitentiary with a six-year sentence over his head. He served his full term and came home, and I saw him at the age of eighty-three, still able to load wagons with grain in the morning and go to a picnic in the afternoon. I knew a ranger here named Captain James. He was a first cousin of Jesse James, and looked as much like the famous bandit as his twin brother.”
There were many cattle raisers in the frontier period of Brown County’s history, as Mr. Routh recalled. There were open ranges and plenty of grass was available for the immense herds that roamed all over west Texas. In addition to the Coggins, Parks, Baughs and others already mentioned in this story, several cattlemen settled in the northern part of the county and established ranches, which are still being operated by their descendants. McInnis, Cox and Windham are names that have been prominently identified with the cattle business here throughout the history of the county. The families were all related to each other, and their operations were in the vicinity of what is now Lake Brownwood.
Dan Cox, father of Mitchell M. (Bud) Cox, was killed in the Dove Creek battle, and his widow married S. P. McInnis. The father of Marion M. Cox died and his mother, who was a sister of W. M. and L. P. Baugh, married Sam Windham, a son of Dr. J. D. Windham, one of the frontier physicians who came here in 1865, and who served the people of a large area for a number of years. The Cox and McInnis herds of registered Herefords are now among the best in the Southwest.
The Captain James, mentioned by Mr. Routh, told of many of his own exploits in a little book, ‘”Memorable Events,” published several years ago. He was Captain Jason W. James, and was assigned to service with a Ranger company here and in this vicinity in the early eighties. The story was given new interest in 1935 when an unusual souvenir of his work here was brought to light. It was the left forearm and hand of a desperado whom James had killed in a gun fight in June, 1884. The man was fatally shot, but his arm was amputated in an effort to save his life. R. G. Hallum, a veteran druggist here, dropped the arm into a container of alcohol, and sealed the lid. The arm remained in the container for fifty-one years, during which time all the alcohol evaporated and the arm became hard and dry as if almost petrified. Describing the fight, Captain James wrote that he had arrested a murderer about three miles from Brownwood, the man asked permission to step over to a wagon and get his coat, but came up with two guns blazing, one in each hand. James shot at him and dodged, and the men then exchanged several shots. James was wounded, but finally brought down his man. The other men who were with James, and who were not Rangers, did not participate in the fight but brought both wounded men to Brownwood, and the murderer died with eight or ten wounds in his body, after his arm had been amputated. James was ill for three months but finally recovered, and died peacefully many years later on a South Texas ranch.
Source: THE PROMISED LAND – A HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY, TEXAS by James C. White 1941
Photos: Brownwood Public Library – Genealogy and Local History Branch.
This and many other stories are available at the Brownwood Public Library – Genealogy & Local History Branch at 213 S. Broadway. Volunteers from the Pecan Valley Genealogical Society are there to assist you in your family or local history research.
Clay Riley is a local historian and retired Aerospace Engineer that has been involved in the Historical and Genealogical Community of Brown County for over 20 years.
Should you have a comment, or a question that he may be able to answer in future columns, he can be reached at; pvgsbwd@gmail.com.
