Tarrant County, Texas - Bios: William F. Dayton
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		TX BIOS:  William F. Dayton
		
   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   
   Folk stuff - Range lore   
   Gauthier. Sheldon F.   
   Rangelore.   
   Tarrant Co, Dist,. #7 [18?] Page #1 FC 240
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   William F. Dayton, 71, living at 1000 Ash Cresent St, Fort Worth,
   Texas, was born April 10, 1867 at Johnson Co, Mo. His father Nichols
   Dayton, migrated from Mo, with his family, to Williamson Co, Texas, in
   1872. Nichols Dayton located on a tract of land [and?] developed a
   farm, also raised cattle. The farmswas one of the first developed in
   the county.
   
   The cattle herds belonging to Dayton, Stubllefield and Sterling were
   united into one in 1877 and driven to Llano Co, where a cowcamp was
   located.
   
   William Dayton, then a boy of 10 years, was one of the workers that
   made this drive and remained on the Llano ranch. The herd consisted of
   2000 head of cattle and were sold at the end of two years, then
   William returned to his home where he remained for a year. His next
   range work was with the 'Cross S', located in Tom Green Co. Later he
   worked for the Sam Henderson ranch and the which used the '4-L' brand
   and ended his range career working for the O.R. Harold horse ranch.
   
   His story of [range?] life follows:
   
   "My place of birth was Johnson Co, Mo and the date was [April 10,
   1867?]. My father's name was Nichlos [Daytonnand?] he supported his
   family by farming. He sold his Mo, farm in 1872 and moved to
   Williamson Co, Texas. We traveled by train to Dennison Texas, and
   there father bought a team of hosses and a wagon with which we
   completed our trip to Williamson Co.
   
   "Father located on a piece of land and fenced in a small tract which
   he farmed. The farm was among the first to be started in that County.
   The land has been in the Dayton family ever since and is now occupird
   by my youngest brother, M.F. Dayton.
   
     NOTE: C.12 Tex
     
   "When my father lit in that territory it was a cattle country. Here
   and there a few [?] were being fenced off and planted to crops, but in
   addition all the folks run more or less cattle on the free and open
   range. My father started to build a herd soon as we lit there and in a
   few years was running around a 1000 head. Our neighbors Stublefield
   and Sterling threw their 00022herds in with my father's which made a
   herd of around 3000 head that we drove to Llano Co, where we
   established a camp.
   
   In the crew that took the critters to Llano Co, were Nick Brands, Jim
   and Clayton Stubefield, Bob Sterling, my brother and I. We were all
   young lads the oldest of the bunch was 18. Of course, we all had the
   cow work learned, because us boys had worked on our home ranch and in
   the spring roundups. During the spring roundup all the neighbors
   joined forces and worked the range as one outfit.
   
   "We lads drifted out with that heed of 3000 longhors for about a 100
   mile drag, felling more important [than?] the Ptesident of the United
   States, and we did a job of drifting [??] old rawhides would do. Out
   folks rigged us out properly with a chuck wagonand remuda. We boys
   were told that it was [up?] to us to make good.
   
   "We had no trouble on that drive and lit in Llano Co, without losing
   any critters. [ut?] camp was established between Castell and Valley
   Springs. Casrell was then a Dutch settlement and all the country
   around it was a cattle range.
   
   "The first thing we lads did was to fix living quarters.
   
   We dug a space into a bank and topped it with logs. FFor roofing we
   used polls covered with sod. That dugout was our home for nearly two
   years and our nearest neighbor was located 15 miles away. [We?] saw
   mighty few people, just once in a while some waddie would ride
   through. A few times a stranger called while we were out on the range
   and they helped themselves to a mess of chuck and went on their way.
   When we came in from the range, evidence 00033that some one had [been
   here?], cooked and lined their flue then [departed?]. On two accasions
   we lads came in [DEL: a :DEL] and found a meal waiting for us cooked
   by a stranger that had called. It was the custom for [strangers?] to
   help themselves, if no one was at a camp, and if it was near meal time
   to fix chuck enough for the crew.
   
   Of course, that happened to the small outfits. The big outfits had
   coocks which stayed at the camp at all times and always fed a stranger
   that dropped in. We had no regular cook and our chuck was fixed by the
   first one which arrived at the camp for flue linning. Our cooking was
   not extensive. We lived on meat, beans, bread and coffee. Once in a
   while we would get some canned vegetables into the camp.
   
   "Beef was our main chuck and sometimes a little wild meat, such as
   venison, phesant [and antelope??]. In the fall and winter when the
   pecans were plentiful, the [javilina?] would be fat as butter and then
   the young ones were good to eat. The meat tasted about as hog meat
   does and was tender when taken from a fat critter. The javilina were
   easily killed, because a person could walk up on the animal. The
   javilina had one peculair trate that I got heaps of fun out of. I
   never met up with one that I could kick in the rear end. I have tried
   it many times, but the critters would whirl and face me every time. I
   would start the swing of my boot and before I could land it the
   javilina would be facing me.
   
   "Some of us rode the line night and day at our Llano ranch to keep our
   heed together and watch for rustlers. When a strom was headed our way
   the whole crew would get out and ride to keep the crittees from
   drifting and to hold the heed in a bunch during the 00044the storm.
   During the whole two years we had no stampede which we coould not
   handle, so had no loss from stampedes. We didn't lose any critters to
   rustlees, that we [DEL: hnow :DEL] know of, it is possible a few may
   have been taken. Others in the section did, however, so I reckon we we
   were lucky.
   
   "The second year after we established the camp, the price of cattle
   went to a point that justified the owners to sell and they did sell
   the whole herd.
   
   "After sale of the herd was made, mybrother and I returned home.
   
   I then stayed on my father's farm for a couple years and then dragged
   out to Tom Green Co, in 1882. I joined the [??] Merchant's outfit
   which was known as the 'Cross S' [DEL: ronch :DEL] ranch.
   
   The outfit was called the 'Cross S' because the brand was made by
   crossing the Ss [??]. The 'Cross S' was located near Sherwood.
   
   Tom Green Co, has been divided since that [time?] and the town of
   Sherwood is now in that part of the original Tom Green Co, which is
   Iron Co.
   
   "The 'Cross S' outfit run hosses and cattle. The hoss range was fenced
   and consisted of 4000 acres in which around 1000 head were ranged. The
   cattle grazed on an open range and numbered about 5000.
   
   "W.S. Merchant did his [own?] top-screw work and the other waddies of
   the steady crew were, Bill Frost, Harry Clark, Gab Shout, Harvey Clark
   and I. There were always two or three drifting workers and at the
   roundups Merchant would take on four or five extra hands.
   
   "Harry Clark was our belly-cheeter and a good one too. The chuck that
   harry dished out to we waddies was a lot different than 00055what us
   lads fed ourselves at the Llano Co, camp. Us waddies on the 'Cross S'
   ate well cooked meat, bread and beans and black [coffee?] to our
   hearts content. If one of the waddies would go out after wild game,
   Clark would fix the meat to suit our taste.
   
   San Angelo, 30 miles to the N. was our trading town. To reach any
   other town, that had any size, we had to ride around 100 miles.
   
   There was not much to San Angelo. It was just getting a good start.
   The county seat was first located at the forks of the Concho River,
   where the U.S. Army Post was situated, Fort Chonco it was called. San
   Angelo took its name from an old Mexican named San Angelo, who lived
   where the town site is now. San Angelo made his living fixing tomales
   and chilly which he [sold?] to the soldiers located at the Fort.
   
   "When I lit in that section San Angelo was a port cowtown.
   
   There wase a supply store or two and the rest of the business places
   were saloons, gambling and sally joints.
   
   "Generally' when the crew had a pay day, and always after the
   roundups, a visit to San Angelo was in order. The boys would find
   accomadations for any of their wants, and at times they became a
   little rough. I recall one [visittus?] waddies made which stired up
   some [?] excitement.
   
   "There were, at the time, about 300 soldiers in Fort Concho and a good
   number of them would be in San Angelo each day. One night Clark, Forst
   and I went to town and called at a combination dance hall and saloon.
   The front part was used as the dance floor and the bar was in the
   rear. There were the usual bevy of [DEL: wueans :DEL] queans
   
   strutting around and a good number of soldiers, in blue uniforms,
   
   [?] and sauntering here and there. Us three waddies walked 00066up to
   the bar and the bartender [DEL: sais :DEL] said, 'have a shot of pizen
   on the house'. Following this each [DEL: waddie :DEL] waddy bought a
   round of drinks and Clark and Forst doubled back. Well, by that time
   our hats had been pushed to the back part of our heads and we were
   ready for some excitement.
   
   "Over the bar was a large chandelier oil lamp, with pretty colored
   glass ornaments, lit up and [DEL: [?] :DEL] scattered along the walls
   of the dance [hall?] were [wall lamps?].
   
   "Clark turned around, places his elbows on the bar and was leaning
   against it. He sized up the soldiers and queans [???] and then said,
   'I wonder what these soldiers are [doing in this joint?]?' He than
   drew his gun, quickly, [?] shot out the chandelier lamp. That act of
   Clark's gave the [rest?] of us an idea [we?] shot out the [wall
   lamps?].
   
   "It [was?] a bright moon lit night and we could see the soldiers
   diving through the door and windows. A couple of the soldiers were
   trying to get through one of the windows at the same time and were
   wedged. They were putting on a pretty scramble [tring?] to wiggle out.
   Frost stepped over to the window and shot over their heads and that
   shot helped the boys wonderfully and they made the riffle [pronto?].
   
   "We left the bar and all went under a tree and stood in the [?] shade.
   In that shade we could not be seen, but could see the folks that were
   moving in the moon's light. A small bunch of soldiers came by shortly
   and one of them was saying, 'I would like to see one of those cowboys
   right now'. Clark stepped out of the shade and said, 'here is a
   cowboy', At the same instant he 00077shot into the air [and?] we
   followed by shooting also. The three soldiers showed themselves to be
   good retreaters and were ahead of their shadows getting away from
   where they were to [s me?] where else.
   
   "Us waddies then mounted our hosses and hit for the camp, because we
   reckoned that the sheriff may want to have us stay with him for the
   night and that would spoil our plans, due to the roundup starting the
   next morning we wanted to be on hand.
   
   "The roundup started with the camp located at Leven Mountain with
   around 200 hands, which were the waddies working for the various
   outfits that had joined forces for the roundup. The second day Willis
   Johnson, Sheriff of the county, dropped in looking for three rawhides
   that had shot at U.S. soldiers. He had five deputies with him and the
   laws questioned the waddies, but could not find any one that saw, or
   knew anything about the shooting. One of the reasons the laws failed
   to meet up with any one that could give the desired information was
   that he did not question we three waddies. He was mighty careful to
   keep away from where we were. He [reported?] that the waddies that did
   the shooting must have dragged out of the country, so the matter was
   closed.
   
   "Roundups in the Tom Green country followed the same routine as we did
   in Williamson County, but had more hands and handled bigger herds.
   
   "I saw an unsual fight between two waddies during that roundup, [one?]
   of the few that I ever saw among waddies of the same working crews.
   However, these two men were working for different outfits and had a
   grudge that had been standing for a long spell of time. The grudge was
   fanned into white heat when the two boys met 00088at the roundup. They
   finally agreed on a method of settling their diference and the
   following deal took place: Each mounted a hoss and started to ride
   towards each other, from a distance, and began shooting as they
   started to ride. One was a stranger to me and I d don't recall his
   name, but one I knew and his name was "Frog Pond".
   
   Well, Forg made the first hit and the stranger dropped out of his
   saddle and died in a few minutes.
   
   "I worked on the 'Cross S' for two years and then joined the Sam
   Henderson outfit, who's brand was '4-L' and called the Four Cross L
   brand. It was located around 15 miles N. of the
   
   'Cross S' outfit and run about 8000 critters. I did not stay with the
   Four Cross L outfit long, because my hankering was for a job with a
   hoss outfit and I got a chance to join the 'O H' hoss ranch and took
   the job.
   
   "The 'O H' outfit run around 2000 head of hosses and my work wrangling
   hosses. Harvey Clark, Jim Williams, Will Carlton and two others were
   the crew at the time I was with the 'O H' ranch.
   
   "The wild critters were busted, rode five or six times and then sold
   for gentle saddle hosses. The average price received for a busted hoss
   was around $30.
   
   "I became a top wrangler. This statement may sound wiffy, but we never
   tackled a critter that we didn't succeed in busting.
   
   Harvey Clark was the best hoss wrangler I have ever seen straddling a
   hoss. Harvey was a rall fellow. In fact, he seemed to be all arms and
   legs. Saddle or no saddle, he could ride 'em as well one way as the
   other. I have seen him grab a hand full of mane and swing himself
   a-straddle of a critter' then put on as pretty piece of 00099riding
   one could hope to see. He would stick his long legs forward and put
   his toes under the animals front legs, next to its chest, and with
   that hold he could stay with any of the snake bloods.
   
   As a rule 30 minutes would be ample time to put one of those critters
   in the mood to give up the fight, but at times we would get an extra
   stubborn critter and perhaps an hour's time would be required to force
   it to give in.
   
   "The trick in busting a hoss lays in [knowingits?] action. Some
   pitches just elevate and jump forward with each jump. Such critters
   are a cinch, sort of a rocking chair. Some jump to one side with their
   elevations, some first to one side then the other, those we called the
   fence-rowers. The fence-rowers were the hardest of the pitches to stay
   with, because of the short time one had in which to calculate the
   coming move. All that a wrangler has to go by is the muscle movement
   that starts just before the critters make the [jump?].
   
   By keeping one's eye on the shoulders one could catch the next move.
   
   "The wire fence made its appearence about 1880 and then it was not
   long till the [ranges?] were fenced. When that took place in the San
   Angelo country it started a lot of trouble caused by fence cutting.
   
   "The cutting was done by the rustlers and the small ranchers, called
   the grease-pots. The rustlees cut gaps to allow the critters an
   opening to stray out of and the grease-pots did it to provide an
   opening so they could have a way in and out of their camps.
   
   "The owners of large tracts of land would [?] in fence building and
   [?] fence in the grease-pot. For instance, a 001010fence builded
   North, East, South and thence West and each distance of 15 miles or
   more would fence in all on the inside of this square.
   
   Or a fence running East and West built as a drift fence, would block
   off folks going to any point at the opposite side. Well, them which
   were effected by the fence would cut their way out. They not only cut
   the fence, but cut the wire so it was useless for fencing again.
   
   "[A?] lot of the fencing was done for the purpose of squeezing out the
   grease-pots, but most of the little fellows would not take the
   squeeze. The fight got real hot for a time and in some cases the
   legitimate fence was cut on general principles. Finally the Texas
   Rangers took a hand in the matter and the arguement was settled by
   force of the change taking place in farming displacing the ranges.
   
   "The rustlees cut fences to make gaps for critters to drift through.
   The rustlers would watch the line riders and when the rider had passed
   a certain section the cutting would be done.
   
   The stealing would not be discovered till the rider passed the section
   on his next ride.
   
   "When a steal was discovered, a party of waddies would try to trail
   the rustlees. Some times the cattle would be caught up with and taken
   without the rustlees being seen, and at times the rustlees also were
   caught. The rustlers, as a rule, were [hanged to?] a limb, if one was
   handy, in the absence of a handy limb the boys were branded for the
   eternal range. However, the rustlees made their escape more time, by
   far, than caught in the steal. 001111"It was quite common to see
   fellows [hanging?] at the end of a few feet of hemp, or laying in some
   draw with the eternal brand marks. Who did the hanging or shooting was
   never told. Fact is, it was reckoned impolite to ask questions about
   such doings. There was not any question asked about any kind of a
   shooting farcas. It was the usual way of settling [disputessand?] the
   fellow that won the arguement was the one that could shot true and
   drwa quick.
   
   The matter of shooting causes me to recall Al Good, a waddy who worked
   for the Merchants outfit. He was fast and true with the gun. That
   waddy could lay his gun on his shoulder, pointing back, and by using a
   mirror, into which he looked, to see behind, he could hit a marble
   laying on the ground and make it jump into the air, and then hit it
   again before it returned to the ground. The kind of shooting he could
   do in the usual was, you may guess. He realy was a master of the
   six-gun.
   
   "Our wages those days were around $30 per month and I reckon [?] of it
   was spent for shooting material and a greater part of the $5 was spent
   for amunition used in target practice.
   
   "Besides riding my top act was roping. I could put the rope on either
   limb of a running critter. There were others that were able to do the
   same trick. To be a top hand a waddy had to be a good [hand?] riding
   and roping.
   
   "After I left the 'O H' hoss ranch I returned to the Merchant outfit
   for a short spell. I went [home?] to spend the Christmas of 1886, with
   the intention of returning, but didn't do it. I then ended my career
   as a range hand and went to farming. In the later years I quit farming
   and took up mechanical work.
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