anch
had branded over eight thousand calves that fall, and as long as it
remained an open range I had room for my holdings of cattle. There was
no question but that the public domain was bountiful, and if it were
necessary I could go farther west and locate a new ranch. But it
secretly grieved me to realize that what I had so fondly hoped for had
come without warning and found me unprepared. I might as well have
held title to half a million acres of the Clear Fork Valley as a
paltry hundred and fifty sections.

Little time was given me to lament over spilt milk. On the return from
my first trip to the Clear Fork, reports from the War and Interior
departments were awaiting me. Two contracts to the army and four to
Indian agencies had been awarded us, all of which could be filled with
through cattle. The military allotments would require six thousand
heavy beeves for delivery on the upper Missouri River in Dakota,
while the nation's wards would require thirteen thousand cows at four
different agencies in the Indian Territory. My active partner was due
in Fort Worth within a week, while bonds for the faithful fulfillment
of our contracts would be executed by our silent partner at
Washington, D.C. These awards meant an active year to our firm, and
besides there was our established trade around The Grove, which we had
no intention of abandoning. The government was a sure market, and as
long as a healthy demand continued in Kansas for young cattle, the
firm of Hunter, Anthony & Co. would be found actively engaged in
supplying the same.

Major Hunter arrived under a high pressure of enthusiasm. By
appointment we met in Fort Worth, and after carefully reviewing the
situation we took train and continued on south to San Antonio. I had
seen a herd of beeves, a few years before, from the upper Nueces
River, and remembered them as good heavy cattle. There were two
dollars a head difference, even in ages among younger stock, between
the lower and upper counties in the State, and as it was pounds
quantity that we wanted for the army, it was our intention to look
over the cattle along the Nueces River before buying our supply of
beeves. We met a number of acquaintances in San Antonio, all of whom
recommended us to go west if in search of heavy cattle, and a few days
later we reached Uvalde County. This was the section from which the
beeves had come that impressed me so favorably; I even remembered
the ranch brands, and without any d