Thus enlarging
the scope of our operations as cowmen simply meant that greater
responsibility would rest on the shoulders of the active partners and
our trusted men. Accepting the management of the new company meant, to
a certain extent, a severance of my personal connection with the firm,
yet my every interest was maintained in the trail and beef ranch. One
of my first acts as manager of the new company was to serve a notice
through our secretary-treasurer calling for the capital stock to be
paid in on or before February 1, 1882. It was my intention to lay the
foundation of the new company on a solid basis, and with ample capital
at my command I gave the practical experiences of my life to the
venture. During the winter I bought five hundred head of choice saddle
horses, all bred in north Texas and the Pan-Handle, every one of which
I passed on personally before accepting.
Thus outfitted, I awaited the annual cattle convention. Major Hunter
and our segundo were present, and while we worked in harmony, I was as
wide awake for a bargain in the interests of the new company as they
were in that of the old firm. I let contracts for five herds of
fifteen thousand Pan-Handle three-year-old steers for delivery on the
new range in the Indian Territory, and bought nine thousand twos to be
driven on company account. There was the usual whoop and hurrah at the
convention, and when it closed I lacked only six thousand head of my
complement for the new ranch.
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