Remembering old Tascosa. (original) (raw)

A New Mexico cowman named Allison was visiting in Colorado when a tooth became abscessed. The only dentist around was a quack who bored a hole into an adjoining good tooth then broke it off while trying to pull. Mr. Allison was so enraged he slammed the dentist to the floor, seized the forceps and jerked out one of the dentist's good teeth. Only his screaming which brought help saved him from losing more teeth. It was a rough way of exacting revenge.

The Lee-Scott Cattle Company is paying $25 apiece for the scalps of panthers and Mexican lions killed on their ranch. It seems they have lost young calves to the predators. I wonder what the difference is between a panther and a Mexican lion?

A considerable quantity of drift wood came down the Canadian River on the recent rise. The boys with teams rustled the wood because with the absence of any forests near by, firewood is at a premium. Cedar wood is best for burning but since driftwood is free and easy to collect, we can't afford to waste it.

The LIT Ranch is enclosing their range with barbed wire fences. When finished, the enclosure will be twenty-two miles north and south and eighteen miles east and west. (If my figures are correct that is 396 section of land or 253,440 acres.)

The first camp meeting ever held in the Panhandle opened at McClellan Creek between Clarendon and Mobeetie lasting several days with various visiting preachers in attendance. ( I wonder how many "amens" were shouted during this meeting?)

The Cresswell Ranch in Roberts County reported the wolves have killed half their calf crop this year. The ranch is bringing in hounds to assist in solving the problem. (Was it really wolves or was it coyotes? Most of the lobo wolves disappeared with the buffalo herds eliminated a few years earlier.)

The LS Ranch boys found and butchered a lone buffalo a few days back and brought a piece of it into Ben Bance's Restaurant. It was sampled and found to be the most delicious steak yet. (Imagine finding a remnant of the vast prairie buffalo herds hiding somewhere in a remote canyon.)