TX BIOS:  J. K. Millwee, Lubbock Co. TX
   Selected and converted.American Memory, Library of Congress.
   
   Washington, 1994.
   
   Preceding element provides place and date of transcription only.
   
   This transcription intended to be 99.95% accurate.
   
   For more information about this text and this American Memory
   collection, refer to accompanying matter.
   
   U.S. Work Projects Administration, Federal Writers' Project (Folklore
   Project, Life Histories, 1936-39); Manuscript Division, Library of
   Congress.Copyright status not determined.
   
   00011
   
   [Work?] * 1327 [?]
   
   Robertson, Mrs. Wyndham
   
   December 30th, 1936. [memoir - ??]
   
   Lubback County
   
   District 17
   
   240
   
   Pg. 1
   
   BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. K. Millwee, Cattleman. "THERE [?] [AND?] [?] A
   CATTLEMAN"
   
   Among the old timers she came to these glorious Plains during the
   "70's" [/s?] stands out a picturesque [charcter?], J. K. Millwee.
   
   I first met him while in search of some one really seasened in the
   intricacies of the cattle business of early and later days.
   
   We got to talking [about?] / cattle drives, Indians, Colonel
   Goodnight, Oliver Loving and John Chisum. When I [inquired?] Mr.
   Millwee's age, he cleared his throat and said" Say, I was born in
   [Pernbrack?]", and when I looked at him questioningly, he
   [continued?], " Well , now you would not know that place by that name
   now, it is called Paris nowadays,
   
   "Well, I was born there an the 15th day of January, 1851, and my
   father was a lawyer. I went to work at a young age, and my first job
   was driving 1600 head of cattle to [DEL: Ellswroth :DEL] Ellsworth
   Kansas, and Smoky River, and we went by way of Wichita, Kansas, which
   then only had one saloon and a blacksmith shop. The cattle were sold
   to private parties on nearby ranches and not shipped. " On this
   drive," Mr. Millwee went on, " I saw one of the biggest herds of
   [buffalo?] and the boys figured that they numbered about 5000 head in
   that one herd. They were so thick, they took up the entire
   [Panhandle?] it seemed like. We had to stop our cattle and let the
   buffalo have the right of way. We encountered some Indians too, but I
   never saw an Indian killed. The tribes we would usually encounter were
   Apaches, and they hankered after trouble. It was on account of the
   Indians and of course the advancing settlements, [DEL: which would
   drop :DEL] the cattle trails dropped more and more westward every
   year. " In 1868 I worked for the " [?] " outfit in Archer county and
   worked for them off and on for [DEL: [twenty?] :DEL] 20 years. Robert
   Strayhorn of Chicago, Ill., and [E?.] B. Harold of Ft. Worth, Texas,
   owned this ranch, which extended ever Archer,Wichita and Young
   counties, and they ran about 40,000 head of cattle. "00022Here Mr.
   Millwee took a deep pull at his cigar before he went on. Then: "Say, I
   want to tell you about John [Chisum?]. Nobody that has ever written
   anything about him, has ever told the truth. Say, John Chisum was an
   educated man , a big cowman and a good friend of my father's. Chisum
   was the first County Clerk of [Lamar?] county. W.H.Millwee, my father
   , and he were boys together. I went to work for him in 1869, in
   Coleman county. Helped him move a herd of cattle to his " [Besque?]
   Grande " ranch in New [Mexico?], somewhat northeast of where [ [DEL:
   [Rosswell?] :DEL] [Roswell?] is now located. " Well, as I started to
   say, we rounded up the cattle at Belivar on Clear Creek, in Denton
   county, and moved to a point on [Home?] Creek in Coleman county, from
   where we started on the trail drive to New Mexico, where Chisum had
   built himself a magnificent ranch house, about three miles northeast
   of Roswell, on the South Spring river. His cattle brand was the "Bar"
   or "[?]", placed on the left hindquarter, and the cattle were given a
   "jingle-bob" an each ear, which did not prove practical, however, as
   in cold weather the ends would freeze off. John Chisum used this brand
   between 1869 and 1892. He probably sold the first herd of cattle to
   the Matader people. His career became a rather sketchy and checkered
   one in later life. [Especially?] so [?] the " Lincoln county war "
   which was started by " Billy the Kid ". [DEL: however :DEL]
   However,let me say, that " Billy the Kid " was friendly toward Chisum
   and he had no trouble with him.
   
   "After leaving [Chisum?] in 1872". Mr. Millwee [DEL: resumed :DEL]
   resuming the conversation, said: " I went back home and attended
   school in Mansfield, Tarrant county, for three years. " There I also
   attained membership of the [Masonic?] [DEL: [?] :DEL] Order. " After
   that, in 1875, I joined " the [Bark?]" ranch in Archer county again,
   about 115 miles northwest of Ft. Worth, Texas. Also worked for the "
   Circled " outfit, 40-miles east [DEL: [?] :DEL] of Albuquarque,N.M.,
   at Antelope Springs, in 1880. Then I went with " Jess Hitson " and
   [DEL: [?] :DEL] drove trail for two years to " Deer Trail " Colorado,
   for him. " Some time after that I ranched in Crosby county, [?]about
   one to two miles south of Lerenzo. Here, I branded my cattle the
   "Flying M" , and ran about 1500 head. I used 00033this brand for [DEL:
   twenty :DEL] 20 years, even while I was managing the Cross [C?] " In
   the year 1885 I came to Lubbock / County and helped organize the I O A
   ranch. I had the first six wells dug in Lubbock county and also
   planted the first 100 acres of sorghum in this [DEL: [locallity?]
   :DEL] locality. The next year I purchased 8000 head of " Cross C "
   cattle for the " IOA " ranch, which were tally branded, by putting a
   "V" on the hind quarter, which indicated that they had been purchased.
   " By 1887 approximately 30,000 head of cattle were grazing on the open
   range which extended over a 65 to 75 mile area. At that time,the "T
   Ancher" was the only fenced range. " I went into Lynn county in 1896,
   where I acquired a part of 40 sections of land for which I paid
   $50,000. I ran around 2000 cattle and bought about 1000 hand from the,
   / Deuce of Hearts ", from J.L. Vaughn, in Hale county, but did not use
   his brand. I [DEL: discotioued :DEL] discontinued and wound up my
   business in 1935. "
   
   At this point Mr. Millwee paused, as if for reflection. Directly he
   turned to me and said: "Did you want to know about Indians? ", Say,I
   have had several experiences when I was a young boy ". It was when I
   was helping drive that herd of 1600 cattle from Coleman county / to
   Besque Grande for [?] Chisum. We were in the neighborhood of " Old
   Eddy ", which is now known as Carlsbad, [DEL: [?] :DEL] on the [DEL:
   [?] :DEL] Delware river, when some of the boys [DEL: [?] :DEL] wanted
   to stop to " shoot fish " (you shoot fish only in shallow water). One
   fellow was left at the head of the herd, He was Ed Burlingham. After a
   little while he rode up to where we were fishing and told the boys to
   take their time, that some Indians had driven off the cattle anyway.
   He said that the Indians just sweeped down upon the herd and that he
   alone could not give chase. Our "straw boss" decided to go after the
   [DEL: [?] :DEL] Indians and try to get the cattle back, but when the
   boys made the bend in the creek they counted at least fifty Indians.
   Feeling that they were outnumbered, [?] decided to let the Indians
   keep the cattle. Say, we never did get them cattle back. " Once while
   we had a herd bedded down an " Seven Rivers " in New Mexico, the [DEL:
   [?] :DEL] 00044Indians stampeded them. Five of us boys worked like
   everything and finally succeeded in calming and settling the animals
   down again. [DEL: [?] :DEL] A band of Indians had caused this stampede
   and Jim McDaniel and I were close upon their heels, for we had been
   nearest to them and given chase on an impulse. They shot Jim's horse
   from under his and as the horse fell it turned over and pinned Jim
   under its body. I was plenty scared and plenty mad too. In order to
   keep Jim from being killed by the Redskins, I kept on firing at them,
   We found we had killed three Indian ponies. Well, for some reason the
   red devils went off and Jim and I thought that maybe they were going
   after reinforcements, We decided to get away, and so we [DEL: [?]
   :DEL] [and hid in?] a clump of hackberry bushes, scared and expecting
   to be found and killed any time or to starve to death. Shortly we
   heard the clop clop of galloping horses, and now we were sure that it
   was the [DEL: redskins :DEL] Redskins back again. However, it turned
   out to be 20 of Chisum's boys. Seems that they had been rounding up
   some cattle and had heard shots and had also found my riderless horse,
   which made them think we had been killed. " Say, we sure were glad to
   see the boys that time. "

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