Cowboys, Longhorns, and Cattle Drives March 27, 2011

TEXAS…

Fellow Thunderbirders, take a brief moment to roll the word around on your tongue. Let your imagination take a stroll. Does the word alone bring to mind old western movies with images of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers riding the trails singing songs along with a soundtrack? Or John Wayne driving cattle along the Chisholm Trail? Or are you picturing gunslingers meeting their enemies at high noon for a shootout on the main street of town. In truth, the romanticism of the cowboy life portrayed in western movies is far from accurate. Of course, a real cowboy, similar to the cowboy portrayed in movies, had to be made of strong stuff, however, the life of a cowboy was a lonely one. Many were just teenagers that left home for work and adventure.

Cattle drives were brutal and the cattle were far from docile. The cattle were bred for endurance. Longhorns were a cross between wild feral cattle from Mexico, which had been imported from Spain during the fifteenth century and a few cattle brought by settlers from the east. The result was strong hardy cattle with horns that could span up to eight feet from tip to tip. These cattle were well suited for the rugged Texas terrain. This stock could withstand harsh winters and hot summers. They also were immune to disease that decimated other breeds. The wildness of this breed resulted in an animal that could turn on the cowboy with little or no provocation. Stampedes often led to the death of both cowboy and horse.

The Great Western Trail was a thoroughfare for Texas cattle sent to market up north to Dodge City, Kansas. This trail was the convergence of several trails from across lower Texas, blending in Kerrville to form the Western Trail. Up to 3,000 head of cattle would be driven along the western trail, which extended from Kerrville to Kansas City, Kansas.

Thunderbirders, as you drive across Texas and converge upon Kerrville like cowboys from the old west drove their cattle, think of the true heroes that shaped this glorious state.

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The Texas Rangers March 5, 2011

As a child sitting in front of my great-grandparent’s cable television on Saturday mornings, my older brother and I would watch re-runs of old television shows. Our favorite was The Lone Ranger. Tales of the Lone Ranger with Tonto as his sidekick enchanted my brother and I. When our shows were over, would reenact them often arguing over who would be Tonto. To my brother and me, Tonto was the epitome of coolness. We idolized both characters, however after losing every game of paper-rock-scissors, I would have to don the hero’s mask and ride my stick-horse with shouts of “Hi-yo Silver! Away!” How many of you dear readers enacted the same scene in your childhoods? How many of you sang William Tell’s Overture with the words, “To the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump….”?

Our fictional hero, The Lone Ranger, was a member of the Texas Rangers who was the only surviving member of six massacred Texas Rangers who survived a brutal attack then feigned his death to bring criminals to justice across the state of Texas.


In reality, Texas Rangers were and still are an organization created in the 1823 and then formally organized in 1835 by Stephen F. Austin to protect settlers from Mexican banditos and hostile Indians (wh

Famous Hanging Tree outside Goliad Courthouse

ose land was overtaken by Texas settlers). Throughout the years, this organization served many roles as law enforcers and protectors of the Texas way of life. The Texas Rangers was disbanded several times before the twentieth century but were repeatedly reorganized because there was a need to protect this frontier from lawlessness.

Many outlaws were captured by the Texas Rangers during the time our forefathers were attempting to settle this wild frontier. Maybe you’re familiar with a few of our most infamous outlaws. John Wesley Hardin, Sam Bass, Bonnie and Clyde, were only a few of our most famous murders, train robbers, and gunslingers captured or killed by our Texas Rangers.

The Texas Rangers Badge

Today, the Texas Rangers perform a serious duty here in the State of Texas. They are one of the most technologically and forensically advanced branches of law enforcement in the United States. It is an honor to be a Texas Ranger, recognized today by the Silver Star worn above the right pocket of their civilian clothes, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat.

Interested parties might enjoy the opportunity to do more research in the history of the Texas Rangers. The Texas Ranger Museum in San Antonio Texas hosts a wide range of historical accounts and memorabilia that a visitor find to have historical significance to this auspicious organization.