TX BIOS: Ed Rawlings, Burnett, Coke, Nolan Counties, Texas 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 [??] Range-lore Annie McAulay Maverick, Texas Page one RANGE-LORE Ed Rawlings was born in Burnett County, Texas, in 1864. He moved to Sweetwater in Nolan County in 1885. He did his first ranch work on the western range there; then moved with his family to Coke County in 1893. Mr. Rawlings says: "I started ridin' when I was just a lad of a boy. All kids learned to ride young then just as they learn to ride bicycles and drive cars young these days. "I got my first real ranch job on Dick Howell's ranch, and I learned a little about workin' cattle but mostly my job was herdin' horses. I worked for the Colorado Cattle Company in Burnett County for two years. Got to be a pretty fair rider. The range down there was pretty brushy and that some time made our cattle work a little mean, and made ridin' harder. 00022 "I helped to drive two trail herds to north Texas while there. One went to the XIT outfit, and the other to the XL ranch on the Canadian river. "On our first drive there was fifteen men in the outfit; and a herd of about 4,000 head. It was all open range then and we had to guard our herd very closely when we'd camp. As a rule two or three riders would stand guard while the balance slept, different ones guarding each night. We had two or three stampedes, mostly caused from thunder showers, and then we got into it proper. "When we got to the Canadian river it was on a big rise. We had to wait some time for it to run down a little and then we started swimming our herd a few at a time. But when we got 'em to the opposite side of the water, we found our trouble was just beginning. As they came out of the water they walked into quicksand. We had to work fast to keep 'em from boggin' down. We lost some in spite of all we could do. It was terrible to hear them bawlin' and almost screamin' for help as they went down. That was the saddest and most excitin' experience I've ever had with cattle. "I worked for the Arlington Cattle Company for several years. It was one of the biggest outfits in these parts at that time. They worked about a hundred men and used about a hundred and fifty during a round-up. During a summer or fall round-up all the neighboring outfits little or big would get together, each one bringing his boss, riders and wagon. Then 00033they'd elect a general boss over them all and the fun would begin. "He'd send a bunch of riders out in every direction. They'd drive in all the cattle they could find to a central place, then each outfit would cut his stuff and hold it 'til all had been rounded up. The calves were branded, too. It took maybe a month or six weeks to complete a big round-up where there was lots of range to cover. "I moved with my family to Coke County in 1893. There were two stores, a Post Office and a boarding house at Bronte, and not much more at Robert Lee. I was the first man that I know of to ride down Red Bluff Canyon in Coke County." ******* REFERENCE:- Mr. Ed. Rawlings, Bronte, Texas. Interviewed June 17, 1938. 00041Beliefs and customs - Occupational lore Mrs. Annie McAulay Maverick, Texas Runnels County Page 1. [dup?] COWBOY LORE Ed RAWLINGS was born in Burnett County, Texas , in 1864. He moved to Sweetwater in Nolan County in 1885. He did his first ranch work on the western range there [DEL: . He was married :DEL] ; then [DEL: to Miss Alice Laswell in 1890. He :DEL] moved with his family to Coke County in 1893. Mr. Rawlings says : "I started ridin' when I was just a lad of a boy. All kids learned to ride young then just as they learn to ride bicycles and drive cars young these days. "I got my first real ranch job on Dick Howell's ranch, and I learned a little about workin' cattle but mostly my job was herdin' horses. I worked for the Colorado Cattle Company in Burnett County for two years. Got to be a pretty fair rider. The range down there was pretty brushy and that sometime made our cattle work a little mean, and made ridin' harder. "I helped to drive two trail herds to / North Texas while there. One went to the XIT outfit, and the other to the XL ranch on the Canadian river. "On our first drive there was fifteen men in the outfit; and a herd of about 4,000 head. It was all open range then and we had to guard our herd very closely when we'd camp. NOTE: C12 - 2/11/41 - Texas 00052As a rule two or three riders would stand guard while the balance slept [DEL: . :DEL] , / Different ones guarding each night. We had two or three stampedes, mostly caused from [DEL: clouds( :DEL] thunder showers [DEL: ), and then we got into it proper. "When we got to the Canadian river it was on a big rise. [DEL: we :DEL] We had to wait some / time for it to run down a little and then we started swimming our herd a few at a time. But when we got 'em to the opposite side of the water, we found our trouble was just beginning. As they came out of the water they walked into quicksand. We had to work fast to keep 'em from boggin' down. We lost some in spite of all we could do. It was terrible to hear them bawlin' and almost screamin' for help as they went down. That was the saddest and most excitin' experience I've ever had with cattle. "I worked for the Arlington Cattle Company for several years. It was one of the biggest outfits in these parts at that time. They worked about a hundred men and used about a hundred and fifty during a round-up. During a / Summer or / Fall round-up all the neighboring outfits little or big would get together, each one bringing his boss , riders and wagon. Then they'd elect a general boss over them all and the fun would begin. "He'd send a bunch of riders out in every direction. They'd drive in all the cattle they could find to a central place, then each outfit would cut his stuff and hold it 'til all had been rounded up. The calves [DEL: was :DEL] were branded, too. 00063It took maybe a month or six weeks to complete a big round-up where there was lots of range to cover. "I moved with my family to Coke County in 1893. There were two stores, a Post Office and a boarding house at Bronte, and not much more at Robert Lee. I was the first man that I know of to ride down Red Bluff Canyon in Coke County. " [DEL: I have accumulated a ranch and stock. I still own and live on my ranch, although I don't do as much ridin' as I used to do." :DEL] 0007Bibliography Mr. Ed. Rawlings, Bronte Texas. Early Citizen and Cowman in Coke County. :DEL] ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ Thanks to the Library of Congress http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/txcat.html ***********************************************************************