Six Years with the Texas Rangers, 1875 to 1881Gillett, James B.
History
Six Years with the Texas Rangers, 1875 to 1881
Gillett, James B.
Frontier and pioneer life -- Texas; Gillett, James B., 1856-1937; Texas -- History -- 1846-1950; Texas Rangers
When we had passed Pecan Springs on Devil's River there was not another
cattle, sheep or goat ranch until we reached Fort Stockton, two
hundred miles to the west. It was just one vast uninhabited country.
Today it is all fenced and thousands of as fine cattle, sheep and goats
as can be found in any country roam those hills. The Old Spanish Trail
traverses most of this section, and in traveling over it today one will
meet hundreds of people in high powered automobiles where forty years
ago it was dangerous for a small party of well armed men to journey.
While ascending Devil's River I learned that Lieutenant Baylor was not
only a good hunter, but a first class fisherman as well, for he kept
the entire camp well supplied with fine bass and perch, some of the
latter being as large as saucers.
Forty miles west of Beaver Lake we reached Howard's Well, situated in
Howard's Draw, a tributary of the Pecos River. Here we saw the burned
ruins of a wagon train that had been attacked by Indians a few months
before. All the mules had been captured, the teamsters killed and the
train of sixteen big wagons burned. Had the same Indians encountered
our little party of ten men, two women and two children we would all
have been massacred.
Finally we reached old Fort Lancaster, an abandoned government post,
situated on the east bank of Live Oak Creek, just above the point
where this beautiful stream empties into the Pecos. We camped here
and rested under the shade of those big old live oak trees for several
days. From this camp we turned north up the Pecos, one of the most
curious rivers in Texas. At that time and before its waters were much
used for irrigation in New Mexico, the Pecos ran bank full of muddy
water almost the year round. Not more than thirty or forty feet wide,
it was the most crooked stream in the world, and though only from
four to ten feet deep, was so swift and treacherous that it was most
difficult to ford. However, it had one real virtue; it was the best
stream in Texas for both blue and yellow catfish that ranged in weight
from five to forty pounds. We were some days traveling up this river to
the pontoon crossing and we feasted on fish.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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