Building a Nation After the Smoke Cleared Away: Memoir of a Colorado High Plains Childhood.

by S E Masters

Overview

Samuel Edward Masters (1890-1958) lived his early years on several homesteads in the area south of Brush, CO and northeast of Deer Trail, CO. Cowhand, auto mechanic, roughneck, welder. This memoir, written the last six months before he died, recounts his childhood on the high plains of eastern Colorado.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468500486
Publisher:	AuthorHouse
Publication date:	05/11/2012
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

Read an Excerpt

Building a Nation After the Smoke Cleared Away

Memoir of a Colorado High Plains Childhood.

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By S. E. Masters

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 S.E. Masters
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4685-0049-3

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Chapter One

Introduction

After the smoke and whine of bullets, the whiz of the arrow, and the battle cry of the Indian had silenced on the western plains, the long and hard task of building a nation had just begun. I dedicate this book to the noble and brave women who dared to venture in the grueling task of raising a family on these barren flats and hills of eastern Colorado.

It was near the turn of the century. The 160-acre homestead allotment [The Homestead Act of 1862] had lured many families to seek homes "where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play." This little hymn was sung by maidens at every social gathering and by every cowboy singing his herd to sleep as he stood his night guard. On this previous free range there were thousands of head of cattle that roamed the prairie as the buffalo had in the past. These cattle ranged from San Antonio, Texas to the Yellowstone Park in Wyoming. Most of these cattle were owned by 3 different packing companies. The one brand that dominated the range in the northern states was the + (cross) half circle. These cattle, like the buffalo, deer, and Indian had to vanish to make way for the farm families that again stilled the western plains of the yell and song, rattle of spurs, squeak of a new saddle, and the crack of the cowboy's rope and pistol. The dust had settled on the hard-beaten buffalo and cattle trails only to be stirred again by the plow and harrow.

This change did not take place suddenly or with a mild will of human gratitude. In those days a man's word was his bond, law and order, but little respect was shown by farmers who had their fences and crops destroyed by herds of cattle which were too great in number to be controlled by the few cowboys in charge of this vast western plain. It was very common for a cowboy to be invited to dinner at a settler's home and be served with a beef roast or steak. Much of this was overlooked, as the farmer, like the Indian with his buffalo, never killed more than he could eat. Although in those days like the present time of rockets, missiles, and Sputnik and Putnick, there was always a smartaleck in the bunch that spoils everything.

There was little towns [with] a post office, general store, saloon and hotel, livery stable and school. And the butcher, who had no cattle of his own, would sell deer, antelope, and a pig in small numbers. There was a great demand for beef of which was much more plentiful than deer or antelope and of which he would sell over his meat block. That was more than the cowboy could stand and when they caught a butcher with a + half circle yearling in his wagon, it meant only one thing, what was known those days as a Necktie Party. Being no trees on the plains, the criminal's head would be tied to his own wagon tongue and the neck yoke set under it to hold it up. The cowboys would skin the brand off the beef for evidence in court should any arise from their actions. There was no court heard of developing out of a Necktie Party, as those were the days of the Six-shooter Law.

The wild horses, which was lord and master of all the beasts of the range, were compelled to give way to the relentless western movement of civilization. All found themselves overpowered by man, of which physically, and some of them very unwillingly gave up their entire life to cruelty and bondage. This continued to exist until our Lord Jesus Christ took this matter in hand and appointed Henry Ford to make an automobile, truck, and tractor in the price range of all. This mechanical device broke the ties of bondage from the horse's neck and placed the yoke on man, of which he is very proud to display in a 1958 Ford.

This vast plain of which I write extends from the foothills of the Rockies, east to the Kansas line. The state of Kansas, at the close of the 19th century, was completely settled by farm families. This compelled the cattle companies to hire riders to ride an imaginary line from the Oklahoma line north to the Burlington Railroad which was fenced through to Denver. These riders were called line riders. Their duty was to see that the + half circle cattle did not drift into the farm settlement where they would be beefed, milked, ate, and sold in the local markets.

The farmers that settled eastern Colorado, unlike the farmer of Kansas, had no wood or stone to build fences and homes. This could have been overcome by strong-hearted families if they could have found water on their homesteads. Though many unfortunate families dug many wells on their farms only to hit blue shale, many determined farmers made an extreme effort to dig through the layer of shale to an abundance of water below. Some wells in the country were dug as much as 100 feet by shovel and windless [a winding device] before they would give up their homestead right and go back from where they came. They could build sod houses and barns but [had] to haul water as much as 12 miles in barrels for their home use. Horses and milch cows [cows raised for milk] which they brought with them from their Eastern homes were more work than the average heart could stand.

However, there were some brave women who faced it all and stayed on the land the entire five years which was required in order to prove up(5) on their homestead, while the husband would either get a job as a cowboy for the cattle companies or public work miles away. This woman's work to whom I dedicate this book consisted of teaching her children to read and write, make their clothes (few of them had sewing machines, thus sewing by hand was the only method), knitting carpets, and using old clothes to make quilt blocks to make quilts to keep her children warm through the long, hard winters. Once a week the clothes had to be washed which was done with tub and wash board. How wonderful, how thankful the housewife should be today to our Lord who has brought her out of the land of drudgery into a land of electric power, automatic washers, gas stoves, [and] a telephone to the grocery. How the Ford has changed the time of a trip to the store from days to a matter of minutes!

These brave women would call this work their passtime work. Their real work consisted of walking several miles a day to catch their horses, harness them, hitch them to the wagon and haul water, and drive the milch cows in the lot. Quite often to add to this task, the cows would run off with a bunch of range cattle, and they would have to be hunted maybe for several days before they could be recovered. The milking and butter churning as well as the cooking of bread and a pie, other than the regular meals, was a daily task.

There was the winter's fuel to gather. Being no railroad, no coal mines, no trees for fuel, there was just one thing to burn. That was cow chips [manure droppings]. When dry, they made a very hot fire and lots of ashes. This was a task that the children could help [in]. They would drive the wagon to a place where the rain had filled a water hole. There the chips were plentiful, and there the cautious mother would give her children a lecture. This was her command, "Don't pick up a chip until you look first to see that there is no rattlesnake coiled by it, ready to strike." The work would then be done and in a few hours, the wagon would be full. Sacks full, piled on top, they would be going back singing "Home on the Range." This would continue until mother knew that there was enough chips to last through the long winter months ahead. Thanks again for our gas lines, butane, and electric heat of which our mechanical engineers invented and supplied us with so abundantly.

Chapter Two

Adventures of a Young Bullwhacker

In the days before Colorado was entered into statehood [1876], before the railroad reached the Rocky Mountain area, the only means of transportation was by ox teams which carried vast loads of supplies from Ft. Kearny, Nebraska to Denver. Their general route followed the Platte Rivers. The Indian, while few in numbers, had not yet give up the fight and would occasionally attack a wagon train.

These, in small bands, gave thrills and chills to a young bullwhacker named Oren Robert Masters who was then in his teens [approximately 1867 or 1868]. While average in size, he possessed great self-confidence and determination which carried him through many hard tasks and nerve shattering adventure. On his first trip to the Rockies, his wagon was loaded with 100 pound sacks of flour. When delivered to the gold mining camps, it was sold for a hundred dollars a sack. There were 60 wagons in the train of which he was a member. This train carried mining supplies of all kinds, including dynamite and caps. The average distance of a day's travel was 10 miles.

These wagon trains were guarded by scouts and cavalry. On Masters' first trip to the Rockies, William Cody was scout master. Being few Indians in the country at that time, Cody and his scouts were the only guard on duty. There were duties other than watching for Indians, which included furnishing buffalo meat for the bullwhackers. Th is was a part of the scout's work. Cody was fond [of buffalo] which won him the name of Buffalo Bill. Everything went well until they reached a point which is now Julesburg [Colorado] on the South Platte River.

It was mid-afternoon. The scouts were looking for trouble. They had both front and rear guard placed for action and suddenly, as they expected, only a small band of Indians swooped down out of a canyon. The front and rear wagons came together in a circle, forming a corral with oxen all on the inside. There were no shots fired. The Indians circled around the wagon train two times and rode back into the canyon. The scouts made a survey of the situation and gave the order to continue on the trail. All fell in line but one wagon loaded with grain which had no driver. They found the faint-hearted driver under two sacks of corn chops [cracked corn kernels] which he had pulled in on top of him.

The days passed on without incident, and Masters had learned to throw a bull whip so efficient he could pluck the buttons off a man's coat and never touch the garment. They unloaded their cargo at a miner's distributing station at the mouth of Cherry Creek. This camp consisted of a bunch of tents and a log cabin. That was all there was to mark the beginning of the city of Denver. The trip back to Kearny, Nebraska was a downhill pull, and empty wagons proved no burden on the hardened oxen, and they made the trip without incident.

At Fort Kearny the big wagon train pulled into the freighter's headquarters. Oxen were well taken care of. Most bullwhackers, like most men those days, spent their idle time in saloon and gambling houses. However, this did not interest Masters. He would get a half pint and sleep in the wagon yard. This quiet nature drew the attention of the wagon bosses, and Masters was recognized as a dependable, sober, and efficient bullwhacker and was picked by the owners of the outfi t to make the next trip to Denver. It was in early fall. The wagons were

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Building a Nation After the Smoke Cleared Away by S. E. Masters Copyright © 2012 by S.E. Masters. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Dedicated....................v
Acknowledgments....................vii
Prologue....................xiii
1. Introduction....................1
2. Adventures of a Young Bullwhacker....................6
3. From Bullwhacker to Stage Driver, Livery Owner, Dirt Foreman, then Homesteader....................12
4. Railroad Work to Rancher....................15
5. "Make Hay While the Sun Shines" and Other Preparations for Winter....................17
6. Plans for the Future and a Surprise for the Children....................20
7. Going to Town, Loaning a Plow, and Steps Toward a Dream....................23
8. A New Baby and An Answer to a Widow's Prayer....................26
9. An Unexpected Adventure for Pop....................31
10. Tricking the Trickster....................34
11. Blizzard Hits the Big Beaver....................37
12. From the Saloon to the Gopher House....................43
13. The Last Cattle Roundup....................46
14. Life on the Ranch....................49
15. A Dance and a Sow....................53
16. A Wood-built House, Another Dance, and an Important Decision....................56
17. A Cowboy's Return....................61
18. Digging a Well....................64
19. The "Whole Country" Turns Out....................66
20. A Lie for a Pie....................70
21. Antique Songs....................72
22. Business Agenda: Horses and School....................79
23. "No Rest for the Weary"....................81
24. The Frog Caper Exposed....................84
25. Building a Corral and Moving a Saloon....................86
26. A Blood Bay Named Winty....................89
27. Corralling Wild Horses....................92
28. Breaking a Wild Stallion....................96
29. Branding Begins....................100
30. Preparing for Winter....................103
31. A Horse Named Blue Dog....................107
32. Recycling ... Pioneer Style....................111
33. Rawhide Ropes and Overstaying Your Welcome....................114
34. Arrival of the School Mom....................117
35. School on the Prairie....................124
36. "When the Cat's Away ..."....................127
37. Prairie Reality Check ... Lessons Learned....................130
38. A New Wild Colt to Break....................134
39. Dance at the Hashknife Ranch....................139
40. Off Season Activity....................141
41. Eddie's First Horse....................145
42. Joy in the Midst of Work....................147
43. Roundup for Government Horses and Losing a Friend....................150
44. Many Changes Ahead....................153
45. Cattle Drive from Denver and a New Start....................157
46. New Home, New Hazards....................162
47. New Home, Familiar Challenges....................167
48. Riding Bog....................171
49. Fall Roundup....................175
50. Saving Cattle and Trapping Coyote....................182
51. The Chappen....................186
52. Harvesting a Calf Crop....................189
53. The Accident....................197
54. A New School....................201
55. Preparing for the Roundup....................204
56. The Last Roundup....................207
57. Riding Circle....................212
58. Then Came Disaster ....................219
59. A Family Tragedy....................224
Endnotes....................227
Additional Photographs....................244
Epilogue ... the Story Continues....................253
Endnotes to Epilogue....................264
Limited Masters Family Tree....................265
Related Reading and Resources....................266
Request for Contact....................273