The frenzy swept all over
the northern and western half of the United States, extended into the
British possessions in western Canada, and in the receding wave the
Texan forgot the pit from which he was lifted and bowed down and
worshiped the living calf. During this brief period the great breeding
grounds of Texas were tested to their utmost capacity to supply the
demand, the canebrakes of Arkansas and Louisiana were called upon for
their knotty specimens of the bovine race, even Mexico responded, and
still the insatiable maw of the early West called for more cattle. The
whirlpool of speculation and investment in ranches and range stock
defied the deserts on the west, sweeping across into New Mexico and
Arizona, where it met a counter wave pushing inland from California
to possess the new and inviting pastures. Naturally the Texan was the
last to catch the enthusiasm, but when he found his herds depleted to
a remnant of their former numbers, he lost his head and plunged into
the vortex with the impetuosity of a gambler. Pasture lands that he
had scorned at ten cents an acre but a decade before were eagerly
sought at two and three dollars, and the cattle that he had bartered
away he bought back at double and triple their former prices.
How I ever weathered those years without becoming bankrupt is
unexplainable. No credit or foresight must be claimed, for the
opinions of men and babes were on a parity; yet I am inclined to think
it was my dread of debt, coupled with an innate love of land and
cattle, that saved me from the almost universal fate of my fellow
cowmen.
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