he valley of the Salt Fork, and we
still lacked three hundred sections of using up the scrip. The river,
along which they were surveying, made an abrupt turn to the north, and
offsetting by sections around the bend, we continued on up the valley
for twenty miles or until the brakes of the Plain made the land no
longer desirable. Returning to our commencement point with still one
hundred certificates left, we extended the survey five miles down both
rivers, using up the last acre of scrip. The new ranch was irregular
in form, but it controlled the waters of fully one million acres of
fine grazing land and was clothed with a carpet of nutritive grasses.
This was the range of the buffalo, and the instinct of that animal
could be relied on in choosing a range for its successor, the Texas
cow.

The surveying over, nothing remained but the recording of the
locations at the county seat to which for legal purposes this
unorganized country was attached. All of us accompanied the outfit
returning, and a gala week we spent, as no less than half a dozen
buffalo robes were secured before reaching Fort Griffin. Deer and
turkey were plentiful, and it was with difficulty that I restrained
the boys from killing wantonly, as they were young fellows whose very
blood yearned for the chase or any diverting excitement. We reached
the ranch on the Clear Fork during the second week in January, and
those of the outfit who had no regular homes were made welcome guests
until work opened in the spring. My calf crop that fall had exceeded
all expectations, nearly nine thousand having been branded, while
the cattle were wintering in splendid condition. There was little or
nothing to do, a few hunts with the hounds merely killing time until
we got reports from Washington. In spite of all competition we secured
eight contracts, five with the army and the remainder with the Indian
Bureau.

Then the work opened in earnest. My active partner was due the first
of February, and during the interim George Edwards and I rode a circle
of five counties in search of brands of cattle for sale. In the course
of our rounds a large number of whole stocks were offered us, but
at firmer prices, yet we closed no trades, though many brands were
bargains. It was my intention to stock the new ranch on the Double
Mountain Fork the coming summer, and if arrangements could be agreed
on with Major Hunter, I might be able to repeat my success of the
summer of '74. Emigratio