s with the Interior and War departments,
gathering all the details in contracting beef with the government for
its Indian agencies and army posts in the West. Up to date this had
been a lucrative field which only a few Texas drovers had ventured
into, most of the contractors being Northern and Eastern men, and
usually buying the cattle with which to fill the contracts near the
point of delivery. I was impatient to get into this trade, as the
Indian deliveries generally took cows, and the army heavy beef, two
grades of cattle that at present our firm had no certain demand for.
Also the market was gradually moving west from Wichita, and it was
only a question of a few years until the settlements of eastern Kansas
would cut us off from our established trade around The Grove. I
had seen Abilene pass away as a market, Wichita was doomed by the
encroachments of agriculture, and it behooved us to be alert for a new
outlet.

I made up my mind to buy more land scrip. Not that there had been
any perceptible improvement in wild lands, but the general outlook
justified its purchase. My agent at Austin reported scrip to be had
in ordinary quantities at former prices, and suggested that I supply
myself fully, as the new administration was an economical one, and
once the great flood of certificates issued by the last Reconstruction
regime were absorbed, an advance in land scrip was anticipated. I
accordingly bought three hundred sections more, hardly knowing what
to do with it, yet I knew there was an empire of fine grazing country
between my present home and the Pecos River. If ever the Comanches
were brought under subjection there would be ranches and room for all;
and our babies were principally boys.

Major Hunter came down earlier than usual. He reported a clear, cold
winter on the Medicine and no serious drift of cattle, and expressed
the belief that we would come through with a loss not exceeding one
per cent. This was encouraging, as it meant fat cattle next fall, fit
for any market in the country. It was yet too early to make any move
towards putting up herds for the trail, and we took train and went
down the country as far as Austin. There was always a difference in
cattle prices, running from one to two dollars a head, between the
northern and southern parts of the State. Both of us were anxious
to acquaint ourselves with the different grades, and made stops in
several intervening counties, looking at cattle on the range