The autocratic order removing the cattle from the Cheyenne and
Arapahoe reservation was born in iniquity and bore a harvest unequaled
in the annals of inhumanity. With the last harbor of refuge closed
against us, I hastened back and did all that was human to avert the
impending doom, every man and horse available being pressed into
service. Our one hope lay in a mild winter, and if that failed us the
affairs of the company would be closed by the merciless elements. Once
it was known that the original order had not been modified, and
in anticipation of a flood of Western cattle, the markets broke,
entailing a serious commercial loss. Every hoof of single and double
wintered beeves that had a value in the markets was shipped regardless
of price, while I besought friends in the Cherokee Strip for a refuge
for those unfit and our holding of through cattle. Fortunately the
depreciation in live stock and the heavy loss sustained the previous
winter had interfered with stocking the Outlet to its fall capacity,
and by money, prayers, and entreaty I prevailed on range owners and
secured pasturage for seventy-five thousand head. Long before the
shipping season ended I pressed every outfit belonging to the firm on
the Eagle Chief into service, and began moving out the through cattle
to their new range. Squaw winter and snow-squalls struck us on the
trail, but with a time-limit hanging over our heads, and rather than
see our cattle handled by nigger soldiers, we bore our burdens, if not
meekly, at least in a manner consistent with our occupation. I have
always deplored useless profanity, yet it was music to my ears to
hear the men arraign our enemies, high and low, for our present
predicament. When the last beeves were shipped, a final round-up was
made, and we started out with over fifty thousand cattle in charge of
twelve outfits. Storms struck us en route, but we weathered them, and
finally turned the herds loose in the face of a blizzard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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