Arizona's yesterday : $b Being the narrative of John H. Cady, pioneerCady, John H. (John Henry)
History
Arizona's yesterday : $b Being the narrative of John H. Cady, pioneer
Cady, John H. (John Henry)
Cady, John H. (John Henry), 1846-1927; Frontier and pioneer life -- Arizona; Pioneers -- Arizona -- Biography
In 1881 I closed out the old Sanford ranch stock and was informed by my
employer that he had foreclosed a mortgage on 13,000 head of sheep owned
by Tully, Ochoa and De Long of Tucson. This firm was the biggest at that
time in the Territory and the De Long of the company was one of the six
men who led the Papagos in the Camp Grant Massacre. He died in Tucson
recently and I am now the only white survivor of that occurrence. Tully,
Ochoa and De Long were forced out of business by the coming of the
railroad in 1880, which cheapened things so much that the large stock
held by the company was sold at prices below what it had cost,
necessitating bankruptcy.
I was not surprised to hear that Sanford intended to run sheep, though I
will admit that the information was scarcely welcome. Sheep, however, at
that time were much scarcer than cattle and fetched, consequently, much
higher prices. My employer, D. A. Sanford, who now lives in Washington,
D. C., was one of the shrewdest business men in the Territory, and was,
as well, one of the best-natured of men. His business acumen is
testified to by the fact that he is now sufficiently wealthy to count
his pile in the seven figures.
Mr. Sanford's wishes being my own in the matter, of course, I did as I
was told, closed out the cattle stock and set the sheep grazing on the
range. The cattlemen were angry and sent me an ultimatum to the effect
that if the sheep were not at once taken off the grass there would be
"trouble." I told them that Sanford was my boss, not them; that I would
take his orders and nobody else's, and that until he told me to take the
sheep off the range they'd stay precisely where they were.
My reply angered the cattlemen more and before long I became subject to
many annoyances. Sheep were found dead, stock was driven off, my ranch
hands were shot at, and several times I myself narrowly escaped death at
the hands of the enraged cattlemen. I determined not to give in until I
received orders to that effect from Mr. Sanford, but I will admit that
it was with a feeling of distinct relief that I hailed those orders when
they came three years later. For one thing, before the sheep business
came up, most of the cattlemen who were now my enemies had been my close
friends, and it hurt me to lose their esteem. I am glad to say, however,
that most of these cattlemen and cowboys, who, when I ran sheep, would
cheerfully have been responsible for my funeral, are my very good
friends at the present time; and I trust they will always remain so.
Most of them are good fellows and I have always admitted that their side
had the best argument.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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