Bosque County & The Chisholm Trail

When people think of cattle ranching and cowboys in Texas, I suspect they think of huge spreads like the King Ranch in South Texas or the XIT Ranch and the JA Ranch in the Texas Panhandle. Once the largest range under fence in the world, the XIT was broken up and sold 100 years ago. The JA, founded by Charles Goodnight and John G. Adair, is still in operation, as is the King Ranch.

 

 

However, many smaller ranches dot the state, including Bosque County, where my adventurous Texas Druids put down roots in Darlin’ Druid and Dashing Druid.

 

Located in Central Texas, Bosque (pronounced Boss-kee) County lies about sixty miles south of Dallas-Fort Worth and forty miles northwest of Waco. Early Spanish explorers named the area “Bosque”, meaning “wooded.” As part of the Grand Prairie section of the state, the land is well watered and excellent for farming and animal grazing. That’s what attracted pioneers, even though they had to contend with raiding Comanche and Kiowa Indians, who claimed the territory as part of their ancestral hunting grounds.

 

Settlers began moving into the area in 1849. By 1854, enough permanent residents were making their home there for a county to be created. Many were Anglo-Americans pushing west with the frontier; others were Norwegian and German immigrants. Farms flourished, producing cotton, wheat and other crops.

 

Pioneers also introduced small herds of cattle into the Bosque region. Grass as tall as your head, so high only cowboys on horseback could be seen, provided nutritious pasturage. One woman reported hearing cattle herds being driven along a trail but not being able to see them.  However, as in the rest of the state, Bosque ranchers found it difficult to move their herds to eastern markets until after the Civil War, when cattle trails opened to the railheads in Kansas.

 

One major reason for the growth of the cattle industry in Bosque County was the Chisholm Trail. Actually a group of branching trails that came together from all over South Texas, the Chisholm Trail entered Bosque County east of the Bosque River. It traversed grassy prairies east of Clifton (the county seat) and Meridian, crossed Steele Creek where the town of Morgan now stands, and then crossed the Brazos River at Kimball Bend. At the height of the cattle drive era, the town of Kimball was a lively frontier cowtown. Now it’s a crumbling ruin and part of a state park.

Open range cattle ranching flourished along the Bosque River and its tributaries until the early 1880s. Barbed wire, brought into the area at that time, put an end to free ranging cattle by 1885. However, cattle holdings in Bosque County continued to increase. In 1880, the number of cattle listed in the county was 26,113; a decade later that number had grown to 49,327. Every farmer-stockman of the region owned some cattle, according to Bosque historian William C. Poole.

Today, according to an online article titled Beef Cattle Education in Bosque County, “Beef Cattle Production is the primary agricultural enterprise in Bosque County.”

Sources:   A History of Bosque County, Texas by William C. Pool

http://chambersarchitects.com/bosque-county-ranch.html http://odfiles.tamu.edu/odfiles/CountyAnnualReports_2010/D8/Bosqueannualreport.pdf

Excert from Darlin' Druid: David is bringing Jessie home to the River T Ranch in Bosque County. He has just revealed a painful truth about himself, alarming her.

 

       “Merciful God!” she blurted, stomach churning. “What have ye led me into, David Taylor?”
        He sighed heavily and stared ahead once more. “You’ll know soon enough. The homestead’s over the next rise.”
        Within moments, they crested the hill and David halted the wagon again. Jessie gasped at the view that opened up before them. A long valley spread out along a gently curving, tree-lined stream. Colored in dry shades of gold and green, accented by the darker green trees, the valley drifted into the blue-gray haze of distant hills. Here and there clusters of rangy, many-colored long-horned cattle grazed peacefully.
          In the foreground, on a gentle rise maybe thirty yards from the creek, sprawled the ranch house. The front portion was built of logs with a covered porch running across the length of it, but behind that a much larger stonework portion stretched out and back. Located a good distance from the house were a barn and a corral with a few horses dozing in the sun. At the moment, two men appeared to be repairing the rail fence that formed the enclosure. On the other side of the barn stood another log building – quarters for the hired help perhaps?
         “’Tis beautiful,” Jessie breathed in awe.
         “Yeah,” David said quietly. Then he started down the hill, holding the horses and whatever emotions he was feeling in careful check.
         The two men who’d been working on the corral fence now paused to watch the wagon approach. A third stepped out of the barn and stared hard for a few seconds. Then he let out a joyous whoop. David laughed and waved, and the other man broke into a stiff-legged trot toward the house, meeting them there as David pulled to a stop.
         “Sul, you old reprobate!” David exclaimed, jumping down from the wagon to greet the grinning, leathery-faced man, who was half a head shorter than him and at least twice his age.
        “Davey boy, if you ain’t a sight for sore eyes! I about gave up on you,” the older man declared.
        Jessie watched them embrace and laugh and slap each other on the back. The older man sent her a shy glance, and David finally remembered her presence. Turning to meet her peeved look, he grinned in amusement.
        “Jessie, I’d like you to meet Sul Smith, one of the best cowhands in Texas. Sul, this is my wife, Jessie.”
        “You don’t say!” A delighted smile crinkled the cowboy’s sun-baked features. “It’s a pure pleasure, ma’am,” he said, yanking off his broad-brimmed hat to reveal thinning gray hair and warm brown eyes.
        “I’m happy to meet ye, Mister Smith,” she replied, returning his smile.
        He stared at her in fascination for a moment, until he caught David’s grin. Shaking his head, he chuckled at himself. “I’ve got a hunch your pa’s gonna take a shine to this pretty little lady,” he said, giving her a wink.
        Jessie laughed and blushed at his compliment.

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