XIX. THE CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHOE CATTLE COMPANY

by Andy Adams

　　THE CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHOE CATTLE COMPANYThe assassination of President Garfield temporarily checked our plansin forming the new cattle company. Kirkwood of the Interior Departmentwas disposed to be friendly to all Western enterprises, but ouradvices from Washington anticipated a reorganization of the cabinetunder Arthur. Senator Teller was slated to succeed Kirkwood, and asthere was no question about the former being fully in sympathy witheverything pertaining to the West, every one interested in the pendingproject lent his influence in supporting the Colorado man for theInterior portfolio. Several senators and any number of representativeswere subscribers to our company, and by early fall the outlook wasso encouraging that we concluded at least to open negotiations fora lease on the Cheyenne and Arapahoe reservation. A friendlyacquaintance was accordingly to be cultivated with the Indian agent ofthese tribes. George Edwards knew him personally, and, well in advanceof Major Hunter and myself, dropped down to the agency and made knownhis errand. There were already a number of cattle being held onthe reservation by squaw-men, sutlers, contractors, and other armyfollowers stationed at Fort Reno. The latter ignored all rights of thetribes, and even collected a rental from outside cattle for grazing onthe reservation, and were naturally antagonistic to any interferencewith their personal plans. There had been more or less frictionbetween the Indian agent and these usurpers of the grazing privileges,and a proposition to lease a million acres at an annual rental offifty thousand dollars at once met with the sanction of the agent.Major Hunter and I were notified of the outlook, and at the close ofthe beef-shipping season we took stage for the Cheyenne and ArapahoeAgency. Our segundo had thoroughly ridden over the country, the rangewas a desirable one, and we soon came to terms with the agent. He waslooked upon as a necessary adjunct to the success of our company,a small block of stock was set aside for his account, while hisusefulness in various ways would entitle his name to grace the salarylist. For the present the opposition of the army followers was tobe ignored, as no one gave them credit for being able to thwart ourplans.The Indian agent called the head men of the two tribes together. Thepowwow was held at the summer encampment of the Cheyennes, and theprincipal chiefs of the Arapahoes were present. A beef was barbecuedat our expense, and a great deal of good tobacco was smoked. Asidefrom the agent, we employed a number of interpreters; the councillasted two days, and on its conclusion we held a five years' lease,with the privilege of renewal, on a million acres of as fine grazingland as the West could boast. The agreement was signed by every chiefpresent, and it gave us the privilege to fence our range, buildshelter and stabling for our men and horses, and otherwise equipourselves for ranching. The rental was payable semiannually inadvance, to begin with the occupation of the country the followingspring, and both parties to the lease were satisfied with the termsand conditions. In the territory allotted to us grazed two smallstocks of cattle, one of which had comfortable winter shelters onQuartermaster Creek. Our next move was to buy both these brands andthus gain the good will of the only occupants of the range. Possessionwas given at once, and leaving Edwards and a few men to hold therange, the major and I returned to Kansas and reported our success toWashington.The organization was perfected, and The Cheyenne and Arapahoe CattleCompany began operations with all the rights and privileges of anindividual. One fourth of the capital stock was at once paid into thehands of the treasurer, the lease and cattle on hand were transferredto the new company, and the executive committee began operations forthe future. Barbed wire by the carload was purchased sufficient tobuild one hundred miles of four-strand fence, and arrangements weremade to have the same freighted one hundred and fifty miles inlandby wagon from the railway terminal to the new ranch on QuartermasterCreek. Contracts were let to different men for cutting the posts andbuilding the fence, and one of the old trail bosses came on from Texasand was installed as foreman of the new range. The first meeting ofstockholders--for permanent organization--was awaiting the convenienceof the Western contingent; and once Edwards was relieved, he andMajor Hunter took my proxy and went on to the national capital. Everyinterest had been advanced to the farthest possible degree: surveyorswould run the lines, the posts would be cut and hauled during thewinter, and by the first of June the fences would be up and the rangeready to receive the cattle.I returned to Texas to find everything in a prosperous condition. TheTexas and Pacific railway had built their line westward duringthe past summer, crossing the Colorado River sixty miles south ofheadquarters on the Double Mountain ranch and paralleling my ClearFork range about half that distance below. Previous to my return, theforeman on my Western ranch shipped out four trains of sixteen hundredbulls on consignment to our regular customer in Illinois, it beingthe largest single shipment made from Colorado City since the railwayreached that point. Thrifty little towns were springing up along therailroad, land was in demand as a result of the boom in cattle, and anair of prosperity pervaded both city and hamlet and was reflected in ageneral activity throughout the State. The improved herd was the prideof the Double Mountain ranch, now increased by over seven hundredhalf-blood heifers, while the young males were annually claimedfor the improvement of the main ranch stock. For fear of in-and-inbreeding, three years was the limit of use of any bulls among theimproved cattle, the first importation going to the main stock, and asecond consignment supplanting them at the head of the herd.In the permanent organization of The Cheyenne and Arapahoe CattleCompany, the position of general manager fell to me. It was my wishthat this place should have gone to Edwards, as he was well qualifiedto fill it, while I was busy looking after the firm and individualinterests. Major Hunter likewise favored our segundo, but the Easternstockholders were insistent that the management of the new companyshould rest in the hands of a successful cowman. The salary contingentwith the position was no inducement to me, but, with the pressurebrought to bear and in the interests of harmony, I was finallyprevailed on to accept the management. The proposition was a simpleone,--the maturing and marketing of beeves; we had made a success ofthe firm's beef ranch in the Cherokee Outlet, and as far as humanforesight went, all things augured for a profitable future.There was no intention on the part of the old firm to retire from theenviable position that we occupied as trail drovers. Thus enlargingthe scope of our operations as cowmen simply meant that greaterresponsibility would rest on the shoulders of the active partners andour trusted men. Accepting the management of the new company meant, toa certain extent, a severance of my personal connection with the firm,yet my every interest was maintained in the trail and beef ranch. Oneof my first acts as manager of the new company was to serve a noticethrough our secretary-treasurer calling for the capital stock to bepaid in on or before February 1, 1882. It was my intention to lay thefoundation of the new company on a solid basis, and with ample capitalat my command I gave the practical experiences of my life to theventure. During the winter I bought five hundred head of choice saddlehorses, all bred in north Texas and the Pan-Handle, every one of whichI passed on personally before accepting.Thus outfitted, I awaited the annual cattle convention. Major Hunterand our segundo were present, and while we worked in harmony, I was aswide awake for a bargain in the interests of the new company as theywere in that of the old firm. I let contracts for five herds offifteen thousand Pan-Handle three-year-old steers for delivery on thenew range in the Indian Territory, and bought nine thousand twos to bedriven on company account. There was the usual whoop and hurrah at theconvention, and when it closed I lacked only six thousand head of mycomplement for the new ranch. I was confining myself strictly to northTexas and Pan-Handle cattle, for through Montana cowmen I learned thatthere was an advantage, at maturity, in the northern-bred animal.Major Hunter and our segundo bought and contracted in a dozen countiesfrom the Rio Grande to Red River during the convention, and atthe close we scattered to the four winds in the interests of ourrespective work. In order to give my time and attention to the neworganization, I assigned my individual cattle to the care of the firm,of which I was sending out ten thousand three-year-old steers and twoherds of aging and dry cows. They would take their chances in the openmarket, though I would have dearly loved to take over the young steersfor the new company rather than have bought their equivalent innumbers. I had a dislike to parting with an animal of my own breeding,and to have brought these to a ripe maturity under my own eye wouldhave been a pleasure and a satisfaction. But such an action might havecaused distrust of my management, and an honest name is a valuableasset in a cowman's capital.My ranch foremen made up the herds and started my individual cattle onthe trail. I had previously bought the two remaining herds in Archerand Clay counties, and in the five that were contracted for and wouldbe driven at company risk and account, every animal passed and wasreceived under my personal inspection. Three of the latter were routedby way of the Chisholm trail, and two by the Western, while the cattleunder contract for delivery at the company ranch went by any routethat their will and pleasure saw fit. I saw very little of my oldassociates during the spring months, for no sooner had I started theherds than I hastened to overtake the lead one so as to arrive withthe cattle at their new range. I had kept in touch with the buildingof fences, and on our arrival, near the middle of May, the western andsouthern strings were completed. It was not my intention to inclosethe entire range, only so far as to catch any possible drift of cattleto the south or west. A twenty-mile spur of fence on the east, withhalf that line and all the north one open, would be sufficient untilfurther encroachments were made on our range. We would have to ridethe fences daily, anyhow, and where there was no danger of drifting,an open line was as good as a fence.As fast as the cattle arrived they were placed under loose herd forthe first two weeks. Early in June the last of the contracted herdsarrived and were scattered over the range, the outfits returning toTexas. I reduced my help gradually, as the cattle quieted down andbecame located, until by the middle of summer we were running theranch with thirty men, which were later reduced to twenty for thewinter. Line camps were established on the north and east, comfortablequarters were built for fence-riders and their horses, and asidefrom headquarters camp, half a dozen outposts were maintained. Haycontracts were let for sufficient forage to winter forty horses, thecattle located nicely within a month, and time rolled by without acloud on the horizon of the new cattle company. I paid a flying visitto Dodge and Ogalalla, but, finding the season drawing to a close andthe firm's cattle all sold, I contentedly returned to my acceptedtask. I had been buried for several months in the heart of the IndianTerritory, and to get out where one could read the daily papers wasa treat. During my banishment, Senator Teller had been confirmed asSecretary of the Interior, an appointment that augured well for thefuture of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Cattle Company. Advices fromWashington were encouraging, and while the new secretary lackedauthority to sanction our lease, his tacit approval was assured.The firm of Hunter, Anthony & Co. made a barrel of money in trailingcattle and from their beef ranch during the summer of 1882. I actuallyfelt grieved over my portion of the season's work for while I hadestablished a promising ranch, I had little to show, the improvementaccount being heavy, owing to our isolation. It was doubtful ifwe could have sold the ranch and cattle at a profit, yet I wascomplimented on my management, and given to understand that thestockholders were anxious to double the capitalization should Iconsent. Range was becoming valuable, and at a meeting of thedirectors that fall a resolution was passed, authorizing me to securea lease adjoining our present one. Accordingly, when paying the secondinstallment of rent money, I took the Indian agent of the two tribeswith me. The leading chiefs were pleased with my punctuality inmeeting the rental, and a proposition to double their income of"grass" money met with hearty grunts of approval. I made the councila little speech,--my maiden endeavor,--and when it was interpretedto the squatting circle I had won the confidence of these simpleaborigines. A duplicate of our former lease in acreage and terms wasdrawn up and signed; and during the existence of our company the bestteepee in the winter or summer encampments, of either the Cheyennes orArapahoes, was none too good for Reed Anthony when he came with therent money or on other business.Our capital stock was increased to two million dollars, in the latterhalf of which, one hundred thousand was asked for and allotted to me.I stayed on the range until the first of December, freighting in athousand bushels of corn for the horses and otherwise seeing that thecamps were fully provisioned before returning to my home in Texas.The winter proved dry and cold, the cattle coming through in finecondition, not one per cent of loss being sustained, which is a goodrecord for through stock. Spring came and found me on the trail, withfive herds on company account and eight herds under contract,--a totalof forty thousand cattle intended for the enlarged range. All thesehad been bought north of the quarantine line in Texas, and were turnedloose with the wintered ones, fever having been unknown among ourholdings of the year before. In the mean time the eastern spur offence had been taken down and the southern line extended forty mileseastward and north the same distance. The northern line of our rangewas left open, the fences being merely intended to catch any possibledrift from summer storms or wintry blizzards. Yet in spite of thisprecaution, two round-up outfits were kept in the field through theearly summer, one crossing into the Chickasaw Nation and the othergoing as far south as Red River, gathering any possible strays fromthe new range.I was giving my best services to the new company. Save for the factthat I had capable foremen on my individual ranches in Texas,my absence was felt in directing the interests of the firm andpersonally. Major Hunter had promoted an old foreman to a trusted man,and the firm kept up the volume of business on the trail and ranch,though I was summoned once to Dodge and twice to Ogalalla during thesummer of 1883. Issues had arisen making my presence necessary, butafter the last trail herd was sold I returned to my post. The boom wasstill on in cattle at the trail markets, and Texas was straining everyenergy to supply the demand, yet the cry swept down from the North formore cattle. I was branding twenty thousand calves a year on my tworanches, holding the increase down to that number by sending she stuffup the country on sale, and from half a dozen sources of income Iwas coining money beyond human need or necessity. I was then in thephysical prime of my life and was master of a profitable business,while vistas of a brilliant future opened before me on every hand.When the round-up outfits came in for the summer, the beef shippingbegan. In the first two contingents of cattle purchased in securingthe good will of the original range, we now had five thousand doublewintered beeves. It was my intention to ship out the best of thesingle wintered ones, and five separate outfits were ordered intothe saddle for that purpose. With the exception of line and fenceriders,--for two hundred and forty miles were ridden daily, rain orshine, summer or winter,--every man on the ranch took up his abodewith the wagons. Caldwell and Hunnewell, on the Kansas state linewere the nearest shipping points, requiring fifteen days' travel withbeeves, and if there was no delay in cars, an outfit could easilygather the cattle and make a round trip in less than a month. Threeor four trainloads, numbering from one thousand and fifty to fourteenhundred head, were cut out at a time and handled by a single outfit.I covered the country between the ranch and shipping points, ridingnight and day ahead in ordering cars, and dropping back to the ranchto superintend the cutting out of the next consignment of cattle. Eachoutfit made three trips, shipping out fifteen thousand beeves thatfall, leaving sixty thousand cattle to winter on the range.Several times that fall, when shipping beeves from Caldwell, we met upwith the firm's outfits from the Eagle Chief in the Cherokee Outlet.Naturally the different shipping crews looked over each other'scattle, and an intense rivalry sprang up between the different foremenand men. The cattle of the new company outshone those of the old firm,and were outselling them in the markets, while the former's remudaswere in a class by themselves, all of which was salt to open woundsand magnified the jealousy between our own outfits. The rivalryamused me, and until petty personalities were freely indulged in, Iencouraged and widened the breach between the rival crews. The outfitsunder my direction had accumulated a large supply of saddle andsleeping blankets procured from the Indians, gaudy in color,manufactured in sizes for papoose, squaw, and buck. These goods wereof the finest quality, but during the annual festivals of the tribeLo's hunger for gambling induced him to part, for a mere song, withthe blanket that the paternal government intended should shelter himduring the storms of winter. Every man in my outfits owned from sixto ten blankets, and the Eagle Chief lads rechristened the others,including myself, with the most odious of Indian names. In return,we refused to visit or eat at their wagons, claiming that they livedslovenly and were lousy. The latter had an educated Scotchman withthem, McDougle by name, the ranch bookkeeper, who always went intotown in advance to order cars. McDougle had a weakness for the cup,and on one occasion he fell into the hands of my men, who humoredhis failing, marching him through the streets, saloons, and hotelsshouting at the top of his voice, "Hunter, Anthony & Company are goingto ship!" The expression became a byword among the citizens of thetown, and every reappearance of McDougle was accepted as a herald thatour outfits from the Eagle Chief were coming in with cattle.A special meeting of the stockholders was called at Washington thatfall, which all the Western members attended. Reports were submittedby the secretary-treasurer and myself, the executive committeemade several suggestions, the proposition, to pay a dividend wasoverwhelmingly voted down, and a further increase of the capital stockwas urged by the Eastern contingent. I sounded a note of warning,called attention to the single cloud on the horizon, which was theenmity that we had engendered in a clique of army followers inand around Fort Reno. These men had in the past, were even then,collecting toll from every other holder of cattle on the Cheyenne andArapahoe reservation. That this coterie of usurpers hated the newcompany and me personally was a well-known fact, while its influencewas proving much stronger than at first anticipated, and I cheerfullyadmitted the same to the stockholders assembled. The Eastern mind,living under established conditions, could hardly realize the chaoticstate of affairs in the West, with its vicious morals, and any attemptto levy tribute in the form of blackmail was repudiated by thestockholders in assembly. Major Hunter understood my position anddelicately suggested coming to terms with the company's avowed enemiesas the only feasible solution of the impending trouble. To furtherenlarge our holdings of cattle and leased range, he urged, would bethrowing down the gauntlet in defiance of the clique of army attaches.Evidently no one took us seriously, and instead, ringing resolutionspassed, enlarging the capital stock by another million, withinstructions to increase our leases accordingly.The Western contingent returned home with some misgivings as to thefuture. Nothing was to be feared from the tribes from whom we wereleasing, nor the Comanche and his allies on the southwest, thoughthere were renegades in both; but the danger lay in the flotsam of thesuperior race which infested the frontier. I felt no concern for mypersonal welfare, riding in and out from Fort Reno at my will andpleasure, though I well knew that my presence on the reservation was athorn in the flesh of my enemies. There was little to fear, however,as the latter class of men never met an adversary in the open, but bysecret methods sought to accomplish their objects. The breach betweenthe Indian agent and these parasites of the army was constantlywidening, and an effort had been made to have the former removed, butour friends at the national capital took a hand, and the movement wasthwarted. Fuel was being constantly added to the fire, and on ourtaking a third lease on a million acres, the smoke gave way to flames.Our usual pacific measures were pursued, buying out any cattle inconflict, but fencing our entire range. The last addition to ourpasture embraced a strip of country twenty miles wide, lying north ofand parallel to the two former leases, and gave us a range on which noanimal need ever feel the restriction of a fence. Ten to fifteen acreswere sufficient to graze a steer the year round, but owing to the factthat we depended entirely on running water, much of the range wouldbe valueless during the dry summer months. I readily understood theadvantages of a half-stocked range, and expected in the future toallow twenty-five acres in the summer and thirty in the winter to thepasture's holdings. Everything being snug for the winter, orderswere left to ride certain fences twice a day,--lines where we fearedfence-cutting,--and I took my departure for home.