Hicks 6May 18, 2003Cattle Drive StoryOne day I was walking to the meat market to get some beef for thatnight’s dinner. When I was at the meat market, the butcher was talkingabout three cowboys and a cowgirl. Their names were Jose, a Mexican vaquerowhose ancestors once taught the Texans how to ranch, Maria, Jose’s wife,and Bill, the cook. The butcher said that they were looking for one morecowboy, and that they were going to travel on the Goodnight-Loving Trail tosell cattle in the Northeast to make a big profit. I said I would jointheir cattle drive.
The next day Jose, Maria, and Bill came to my house to discuss plans. On the day of July 25 we would start our drive. There were sixty cattlegoing on the drive. Jose said that the larger the number of cattle on thedrive the better to support supply and demand.
The demand for cattle wasin the North-East to support their growing population with beef. So Texascowboys supplied them with cattle drives. When July 25 finally arrived we all met at San Angelo to start ourjourney. All of the provisions for our journey were packed in our coveredwagon: food, guns, bullets, clothing, and last, but certainly not least,Bill our cook. The first few days went fine, but then without realizing itwe accidentally went off of the trail and rode into Indian Territory.
Wewere raided by a band of Apaches. They held us captive until we made adeal with them. For seven cattle the Apaches would let us go and tell usthe way back to the trail. The Apaches agreed, and told us the way back tothe trail and in exchange we paid our end of the bargain. Once back on the trail, everything went well until a rattlesnake bitBill and we had to rest for three days while he recovered. When we finallyarrived at the Kansas Pacific Railroad we loaded our cattle on the trainand rode on the railroad to Kansas City.
We sold our cattle and made 1,925dollars; we each received 481 dollars. I was very happy that I decided togo on the cattle drive, both for the money and for the wonderfulexperience. On the way back home, I drank some pond water that I thought was clean,but it was not. Because of this, I had a horrible case of stomach ailment. This slowed me down for five days, but I made it back to San Antonio. Oneyear later I went another cattle drive, I was now a cowboy.
