Oliver Loving

Oliver Loving. [source]

Farmer to Rancher
Oliver Loving was born in Kentucky in 1912. He grew up there, married Susan Morgan, and worked his farm. In 1943, he picked the family up to move to the Republic of Texas. There he was granted three parcels of land totaling a little over 600 acres, which he began to farm. Loving and his wife eventually had nine children and Loving began hauling freight and running a store to help make ends meets. By 1857, Loving owned more than 1,000 acres of land, which he used to run cattle. With so many cattle ranches in Texas, it was more profitable to drive the cattle out of state and Loving sent his son, William, up the Shawnee trail in 1857, with Loving himself driving the cattle in subsequent years.

The Cattle Trails of the West. The Goodnight-Loving trail is highlighted in red.

New Trails
In 1860, Loving drove his cattle to Denver, Colorado, where an influx of miners had increased the need for beef. Loving stayed in Colorado for the winter, but the Civil War broke out and Union authorities prevented him from leaving for Confederate territory. However, Kit Carson spoke on his behalf and Loving was allowed to return to Texas. There, the Confederate army contracted with him to provide beef cattle for the troops and Loving spent the war years driving cattle across the Confederacy. After the war ended, cattle prices in Texas plummeted. On top of that, the Confederacy owed Loving over $100,000, which he couldn’t recoup. In an effort to make money from his diminished herd, Loving hit on the idea of taking his cattle to the Native Reservations in New Mexico. Loving joined his herd with that of Charles Goodnight and the two men and their ranch hands began the long drive in June of 1866. The trail followed the former path of the Butterfield Overland Mail coaches before turning north at the Pecos River. Others had followed this path, but it was Loving and Goodnight who made it famous and gave it its name: the Goodnight-Loving Trail. The two men were able to sell much of their cattle to the US Army at the Bosque Redondo Reservation, but Loving continued with the remainder of the herd to Colorado while Goodnight returned to Texas with the $12,000 dollars they’d earned to buy more cattle. The drive was so successful, Loving and Goodnight decided to take the same trail the next year. It would be Loving’s last drive.

A Legendary Death
In the summer of 1867, Loving and Goodnight set out for New Mexico once more. The weather on the route was terrible and Loving pushed ahead with Bill Wilson, a scout, to start the deal with the army. Despite knowing the dangers, Loving traveled during the day through the Comanchería. As they reached the Pecos River, the Comanche attacked and Loving was wounded. Loving sent Wilson back to Goodnight and the herd while he continued on. With the help of some Mexican traders, he managed to arrive at Fort Sumner, but quickly fell ill with gangrene. Goodnight arrived at the Fort before Loving died and promised him that he would bury Loving in Texas soil. Goodnight had to finish driving the cattle to Colorado, so Loving was temporarily buried at Fort Sumner. Goodnight retrieved his body on the way back and Loving was reinterred in Weatherford, Texas on March 4, 1868. Larry McMurtry would later borrow Loving’s death for his novel Lonesome Dove.

The 1867 Settlement and the Bell Family

https://www.coastmonthly.com/2017/01/keeping-story-alive/

Thomas Britton, working with a horse. Thomas was considered one of the best cowboys on the Butler Ranch. [source]

The 1867 Settlement
After the Civil War ended and Juneteenth brought the official end of slavery in Texas, many newly freed African Americans began founding their own communities. Near Houston, George Washington Butler had enslaved many men and women to work on his cattle ranch. During the war, they drove cattle throughout the Confederacy to feed the Confederate troops. After emancipation, many stayed on the ranch as paid employees, driving cattle on the Chisholm trail and taking part of their pay in cattle. In 1867, several families that had worked on the ranch established their own town in what is today Texas City. The Brittons, Bells, Caldwells, and Hobgoods used their wages from the ranch to purchase land that had been set aside by Judge William Jones for freedman who had local businessmen who could vouch for their character. The community was known variously throughout the years as the 1867 Settlement, Our Settlement, Campbellville (after the resident pastor), Highland City (after a nearby railroad station), Highland Station, and Highlands, though it is now mostly remembered simply as Settlement.

Calvin and Katie Bell. [source]

The Bells
Some of the earliest residents of the Settlement were Calvin and Katie Bell. Katie, whose birth name was Eunistine Johnston, was a German immigrant who had worked at the Butler Ranch, where she met and married Calvin Bell. The couple moved to the Settlement in 1874 where they continued to ranch. Calvin registered his own cattle brand in 1878, a U, an example of which is now in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Katie was the Settlement’s first school teacher, a post that led to an incredible 88% literacy rate in the community. In 1893, a court case was brought against the Bells that their marriage was unlawful, since Calvin was African American and Katie was white. Calvin was acquitted on the grounds that he may not have realized that Katie was white, while Katie was sentenced to 2 years in prison. The couple lived together for a little while after Katie was released from prison, but fear of reprisal led Calvin to move to another house nearby, though there is evidence that he did not entirely abandon Katie. The Bells had 7 children, many of whom stayed in the community and worked to improve it.

The Frank Bell, Sr. and Flavilla Bell Home. [source]

Growth, Decline, and Revival
The Settlement saw a lot of property damage from the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, but continued to grow as African Americans displaced by the hurricane moved further inland. Employment shifted from farming and ranching to the oil industry and factory work growing out of nearby Houston, though rodeos continued to be part of the community’s way of life. Frank Bell, Jr. donated land for a community park in 1948, by which time the community had begun to sprawl into nearby La Marque. In the 1950s and 60s, the community began to shrink. Surrounding towns had grown up to the boundaries of the Settlement and Texas City annexed the community in 1953. The area schools were desegregated in the 1960s and the Settlement’s all-black school was closed, leading many young people to leave the Settlement. Over the years, almost all of the original buildings have been torn down. The only one left is the Bell house, built by Calvin and Katie’s son Frank Bell, Sr. The community has begun to rally around the house and the history it represents. In 2010, the 1867 Settlement was listed on the National Register of Historic Districts and markers have been placed throughout the community. Efforts are still underway, but the hope is to turn the Bell house into a community museum, telling the story of the early black cowboys and their families who carved a place for themselves. 

Gene Autry

The Singing Cowboy

1960 Publicity photo of Gene Autry [source]

Gene Autry was born in Tioga, Texas and grew up helping out with his family’s cattle ranch. He sang in the church choir and his mother gave him his first lessons on guitar when he was twelve. While working as a telegraph operator in the 1920s, Autry would sing and play during his shift. His manager overheard and suggested he move to New York and try to make a career in radio. It would take a few years, but Autry eventually signed a record deal. His first hit, “This Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine,” sold more than 500,000 copies. He transitioned into the movies in the 1930s, earning the nickname “The Singing Cowboy,” then into television in the late 1940s. Perhaps his most famous song was recorded in 1949: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” which sold 1.75 million copies that first Christmas and more than 12.5 million copies since then. Later in life, Autry began to help preserve some of the old cowboy culture, creating what is today the Autry Museum of the American West.

Bill Pickett

Bill Pickett, c. 1902. North Fort Worth Historical Society. [source]

The Bulldogger
Bill Pickett was born in Williamson, Co. Texas in 1870, to Thomas Jefferson and Mary Pickett, who had been emancipated just five years earlier at the end of the Civil War. Bill Pickett was the second of thirteen children. He finished 5th grade, but then left school to work as a ranch hand. During his time as a cowboy, he observed that the herding dogs would bite the lips of the cattle to gain control of them. Pickett decided to copy them. He would jump from his horse, grab a steer by the horns and wrestle it to the ground, biting its lip to help him gain control. The technique was nicknamed “bulldogging” and became Pickett’s signature move.

Making a Name
In 1888, Pickett showed off his skills at the Taylor Fair and began performing throughout the Southwest. He started a business with four of his brothers, The Pickett Brothers Bronco Busters and Rough Riders Association. In 1890, he married Maggie Turner and the two would eventually have nine children together. Because he was African American, Pickett wasn’t allowed to compete against the white cowboys, though he would often claim to be of Native American or Mexican heritage to compete in the bigger rodeos. Pickett soon became well known on the rodeo circuit.

The Bull-Dogger Movie Poster, By Norman Films, Public Domain

The 101 Ranch Wild West Show
In 1905, Pickett joined a traveling wild west show with the 101 Ranch, and moved his family to Oklahoma. During his time with the show, he performed alongside some of the greats, like Buffalo Bill Cody and Will Rogers. Pickett performed under the name “The Dusky Demon” throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Europe. Pickett appeared in some early motion pictures, such as The Crimson Skull, and The Bull-Dogger, named after his signature move.

Death and Legacy
Pickett eventually retired from the Wild West Show, but continued to work as a ranch hand. In 1932, he was kicked in the head by a horse. After several days in a coma, he died. Will Rogers announced his death on his radio show, saying, “Bill Pickett never had an enemy, even the steers wouldn’t hurt old Bill.” Pickett was inducted into the National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1971, the first African American so honored, then the ProRodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1989. He has been featured on a USPS postage stamp, and the town of Taylor, Texas named one of the streets leading to their rodeo after Pickett.

The Fence Cutters’ War

Texas is famous as the home of the Cattle Drive, but it wouldn’t be too long after the first drives that it became home to another activity: Fence Cutting.

Ranchers vs. Farmers
When Texas became a state, it retained control of its public lands. The people of Texas considered these lands to belong to all residents and they were used by ranchers to graze their cattle. It was largely through this public land that cattle drives took place. As more land was sold into private hands and more farmers began to worry about cattle destroying their crops, fences became more common. Previously, fences had been made of natural materials, such as wooden split-rail or zigzag fences, or through landscape features, such as Osage Orange trees (also called Hedge apple from this use). However, these fences were time consuming to build and maintain, materials weren’t always readily available, and they didn’t always deter cattle from crossing them. Landowners soon came up with a solution: Barbed Wire.

Patent Drawing for Joseph F. Glidden’s Improvement to Barbed Wire, [source]

Closing the Open Range
The first barbed wire fence in Texas is credited to John Grinninger in 1857, but widespread barbed wire use wouldn’t happen until it began to be produced commercially in the 1870s. Though many landless ranchers objected, fences began to pop up across Texas rangelands. But Texas landholders weren’t always the most careful about what they fenced in. They would often put fences around sections of public lands, across public roads, and even around small farms and ranches not their own. Outraged cattlemen quickly struck back by cutting holes in the fence. Often called “nippers,” they began by cutting fences that blocked access to public land, but were soon cutting any fence that stood in their way.

Fence-Cutting
In 1883, a severe drought exacerbated the problem. Landless ranchers needed the open range to get their cattle to water and fence-cutting was soon carried out by organized groups of cowboys. In response, land owners mobilized forces to combat them. By the middle of the year, Texas Rangers had to be called out to try to handle to conflict, typically referred to as the Fence Cutters War. Though there were only a few deaths attributed to the conflict, by the fall of 1883 it had caused more than $20 million in damage and had pushed property values into a decline.

“Settlers taking the law in their own hands–cutting fence on old Brighton Ranch.” Solomon Butcher, Nebraska State Historical Society, [nbhips 12299] [source]
This photograph is a reenactment of fence cutting staged by Solomon Butcher as part of a series of photos done on the history of the West.

The Politicians Do Something
At the government level, politicians were torn. Ranchers were a powerful section of the state, but it was generally believed that farmers were needed to develop and settle the state. Mabel Doss Day, a rancher and settlement promoter whose fences had been cut, went to Austin to lobby for legislation to make fence cutting illegal. In response to mounting pressure from her and other landowners, Governor John Ireland called a special session of the state legislature to deal with the issue. They met in January of 1884 and passed legislation that made fence cutting a felony, receiving 1 to 5 years in prison. They also made fencing-in public land a misdemeanor and ordered fences on land not owned by the fence builder to be taken down in the next six months. If the fence crossed a public road, the builder had to build and maintain gates at three mile intervals.

The legislation largely ended the conflict, though nipping would flare up in drought years. This legislation signaled the end of the open range in Texas.

For more information on how barbed wire changed the West, here’s a few links.

• How the West Was Wired, by Susanne Bentley
• 99% Invisible Podcast, Devil’s Rope