F.M. Canton remembers when the first cow was stolen
      on the Texas frontier. He watched as the thieves grew
      more numerous and more daring. He was there when
      cattlemen met in Graham to form a group for their mutual
      protection, and he served many years as a TSCRA Inspector

I have had over 39 years continuous service as an officer on the western frontier, from the Yukon River in Alaska to the Rio Grande in Southwest Texas, along down the border, through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and the Indian Territory. In all those years I was associated in one way or another with members of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, and they were always my dearest friends.

I was with them when they organized the association and was with them before that. There are so many of our young members who do not realize the dangers and hardships the pioneers of this association have passed through, that I would like to explain briefly the condition of western Texas in the early days, and something about the organization of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. What I mean by early days was beginning in the latter part of the sixties [1860s].

I spent my childhood days on a farm in Denton County, Texas. In 1869 Fort Worth was a little frontier trading post, nothing there but a few stores, blacksmith shop and a saloon. It was hundreds of miles to the nearest railroad station.

The entire frontier of Texas at that time was an open range country with the finest grass that ever laid out of doors; you could spread a saddle blanket down on the curly mesquite grass and it was like lying down on a feather bed.

There were thousands of cattle out there even then, and they were almost as wild as the buffalo that they ranged with. Barbed wire was a thing unknown; you could ride from the Red River to the Rio Grande and never pass a house, although there were a good many scattering settlements of pioneer men and women all along that border.

The Indians were on the war path at that time; we had the Comanches and Kiowas from the Wichita Mountains, the Apaches from the west, and the Mexican bandit from the south to deal with, and they were dangerous enemies. The only protection the settlers had was the Texas Rangers and the cowmen on the frontier.

The law of the range

In those days every cowman had a range of his own. In the spring roundup for branding calves, it was not unusual to find from 150 to 200 mavericks in one roundup, and they were the genuine mavericks, from a full grown yearling up to a four-year-old bull that did not have a mark or brand on them, cows and calves and two-year-olds. All unbranded cattle found were always put in the mark and the brand of the owner on whose range they were found; that was the law of the range in those days.

The cowboys were absolutely loyal to their employers and would never shirk a duty or a responsibility, and it was mighty seldom that you really found one with a “yellow streak” in him. A man had to be a man to live in that country.

The cattle owners were the same class of men; their word was as good as their bond. They did not have any bonds, for they did not do any business on paper.  Many of them would not take a check. There were no banks in the country and they did not know anything about the banking business, but made their payments in cash and paid off in greenback, silver or gold.

They usually carried their money in a pair of leather saddlebags, or else had it put away, probably in some old rawhide trunk. There was a code of honor among these men that I have never found anywhere else in my life.

Origin of cattle stealing

At that time there was no cattle stealing on the frontier of Texas, nor never had been. It had not commenced yet, but it got awfully bad later on, and I will tell you how it started.

After the cowboys and Rangers had driven the Indians off the frontier, a different breed of men drifted in on the border. I do not know where they came from, but they sure did not belong in Texas; they called themselves “buffalo hunters.”

At that time the western plains were covered with buffalo, and it was no more trouble to kill them than it was to shoot wild cattle. These men were after them for their hides. They would kill the buffalo, take the hide and leave the carcass for the wolves. The cattlemen and all other frontiersmen have always had a contempt for a man who will wantonly kill game and waste it. They did not like this bunch of fellows, and there was some friction between them.

After the buffalo hunters had killed off all the buffalo, they went over to the Comanche Agency at Fort Sill and traded their rifles and ammunition to the Indians for ponies. Then they came back to Texas, laid around the government posts awhile and soon commenced to steal cattle; each of them carried a running iron on his saddle, and they were burning brands on the range. That was the first cattle stealing that we ever heard of on the frontier of Texas. It commenced on J.C. Lynch’s cattle range up near Fort Griffin and soon spread all over the country.

About this time, Kit Carter, for whom I was working at the time, Col. John M. Simpson, Dan Gardner, Jim Loving, Joe Graham, Burk Burnett, and other cattlemen whose names I have forgotten, held that famous meeting at Graham, Texas. I think Col. Simpson issued the call for the meeting.

That was the beginning of the organization of the present Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. They met there for mutual protection against cattle and horse thieves, and they signed an agreement to prosecute them to the full extent of the law.

TSCRA keeps its word

That was over 46 years ago. The records of the courts in the different counties of Texas will show how well this association has kept its word to prosecute stock thieves. Not only the records of Texas will show this, but in every state and territory where we have members, you will find a representative there of this association prosecuting stock thieves.

There is one thing that has always made this association strong—it always keeps within the law. It does not believe in persecution, but it does believe in prosecuting the thieves to the limit. It has always had good lawyers and knows how to take the hide off of a cattle thief.

This association has grown to be a wonderful organization. We now have members from Medicine Hat, Northwest Territory, to the Gulf of Mexico, and even over in Old Mexico. It is a popular organization and an honor and credit to any man to be a member of it.

The pioneer cattleman of Texas is passing away. There are only a few of that brave and loyal band left. They took their lives in their hands when the opened the rails for civilization; they made it possible for the white man to live in the Southwest and enjoy the fruits of their labor; they are made of the same material and are of the same blood as the heroes who died at Jan Jacinto and the Alamo. They have done their bit. May God bless them.