s the destination, and a finer
herd of three-year-olds could not have been found in one brand within
the boundaries of the State. This completed our cattle on the trail,
and a breathing spell of a few weeks might now be indulged in, yet
there was little rest for a cowman. Not counting the contracts to the
Indian Bureau, sublet to others, and the northern wintered beeves,
we had, for the firm and individually, seventeen herds, numbering
fifty-four thousand five hundred cattle on the trail. In order to
carry on our growing business unhampered for want of funds, the firm
had borrowed on short time nearly a quarter-million dollars that
spring, pledging the credit of the three partners for its repayment.
We had been making money ever since the partnership was formed, and
we had husbanded our profits, yet our business seemed to outgrow our
means, compelling us to borrow every spring when buying trail herds.

In the mean time and while we were gathering the home cattle, my
foreman and two men from the Double Mountain ranch arrived on the
Clear Fork to receive the importation of bulls. The latter had not yet
arrived, so pressing the boys into work, we got the trail herd away
before the thoroughbreds put in an appearance. A wagon and three men
from the home ranch had gone after them before my return, and they
were simply loafing along, grazing five to ten miles a day, carrying
corn in the wagon to feed on the grass. Their arrival found the ranch
at leisure, and after resting a few days they proceeded on to their
destination at a leisurely gait. The importation had wintered
finely,--now all three-year-olds,--but hereafter they must subsist on
the range, as corn was out of the question, and the boys had brought
nothing but a pack horse from the western ranch. This was an
experiment with me, but I was ably seconded by my foreman, who had
personally selected every cow over a month before, and this was to
make up the beginning of the improved herd. I accompanied them beyond
my range and urged seven miles a day as the limit of travel. I then
started for home, and within a week reached Dodge City, Kansas.

Headquarters were again established at Dodge. Fortunately a new market
was being developed at Ogalalla on the Platte River in Nebraska, and
fully one third the trail herds passed on to the upper point. Before
my arrival Major Hunter had bought the deficiency of northern wintered
beeves, and early in June three herds started from our