Life and adventures of "Billy" Dixon of Adobe Walls, Texas panhandle : $b A narrative in which is described many things relating to the early SouthwestDixon, Billy
History
Life and adventures of "Billy" Dixon of Adobe Walls, Texas panhandle : $b A narrative in which is described many things relating to the early Southwest
Dixon, Billy
Frontier and pioneer life -- Texas; Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Indians of North America -- Wars -- 1866-1895
In one of these camps were Fred Singer, who now lives in Dodge City,
and two Englishmen, Jim and Bob Gator, both of whom I had met at Hays
City, Kansas, in 1870, when they had just arrived from England, and
were still wearing knee breeches and buckles. Their togs attracted a
great deal of attention. The Gators became close friends of mine in
later years. Bob went to Oregon, and Jim settled on Palo Duro, in
Hansford county, where he now runs a cow ranch close to where he was
camped at the time of which I write. Bob Cator was the first
postmaster in Hansford County, and when the latter was organized he
was elected county judge, holding the office a number of years. Jim
and Bob Cator named Dixon Creek, in Hutchinson County, in remembrance
of the fact that I built a dugout and was the first man to camp on
this creek in 1874. After I went away, they occupied the dugout. This
creek still bears my name.
[Illustration: _James H. Cator, Zulu, Texas, Panhandle Pioneer._]
After the Cators had settled on Palo Duro, two brothers, a sister and
Jim Cator's sweetheart came out from England and joined them. They
could scarcely have gone to a more remote place, and the change
between England and the Panhandle country, as they found it at that
time, must have been startling. Jim married his sweetheart at Dodge
City. Having business at Granada, he took his bride along; the boys
teased him about his "wedding" trip. Both the young women were refined
and highly educated. Miss Gator was an accomplished horsewoman, one of
the best I ever saw. She taught school for several years and then
married Clate McCrea. She is still living in Hansford county.
Determined that we would keep moving until we found the best buffalo
country, we went south from Palo Duro and struck Moore's Creek at its
source, following this stream to the South Canadian River, where we
camped about two miles below the present town of Plemons.
Here we were disappointed at not finding the grass better; there was
hardly enough grass for our stock. I am convinced that a number of the
Panhandle streams are gradually changing. I easily recall the fact
that Moore's Creek then was a narrow, swift-running stream, and at
almost any point a man could jump across it. Since that day, Moore's
Creek has been frequented by great herds of cattle which trample its
sandy shores until wind and rain have flattened its once steep banks
and given the stream a width of several hundred yards. This is true of
a majority of the smaller streams that flow into the South Canadian in
the Panhandle country.
In this camp on the South Canadian we paid our respects to Fairchild.
All liked him, but he was so bent upon killing an Indian that we felt
something must be done, as we were not down in that country to hunt
Indians. Though severe, the dose had to be administered. Of course,
everybody save Fairchild knew what was going on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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