The cattle drive from hell and back!!!

Hello sweet sisters,
This memory is when we lived on and ran the ranch. I was 16, Ruth was 14, and Beth 13.  We were the cutest cowgirls this side of Mt. Wilson( lol the only ones).  Jelene got married the first spring to her handsome tall man.  It took Kay two years to marry into her fun and wonderful family. So it left us 5 girls plus mother at the ranch. The brothers were either married or working full time.  They would come out periodically to see how we were managing their ranch.  We were taught to love them and our mother was always so happy to see them that it passed down to us.  We always had a good breakfast on the weekends. so us girls got up and milked two or three cows and brought it in for mother to strain through a cloth.  Then because our brother and his friend ( that we always made fun of ) was out there, I started making pancake dough and started cooking.  We would have jams for the toppings, anything from apple butter to chokecherry  or elderberry that our mother and us had made.  It was so much fun cooking pancakes on top of a wood stove.  They were delicious with that smoky smell on them.

At that time, our brothers would come and visit occasionally, but we were the cowgirls and could handle a big group of cows.  Well, it was a beautiful summer and the cows would not stay up into the hills.  They wanted the pasture grass and no matter where we would take them, they would be back the next day. We had about fifty by the house pasture and another fifty at the 320 pasture which was about 2 miles from the house.  So my dad had this brilliant idea that if we took them clear up on Mt. Wilson (the highest mountain 10,000 ft. elevation) and drop them down into the canyon that had a spring of water, that they would stay. It would be an all day ride and at least 15 miles out in the wildest country that we knew.

At the breakfast table we discussed the trail we would go and how to get them there. Lilly and Donna would stay home and help Mother for the day.  Lilly just did not like to go with father because it made her so nervous that she would get sick with diarrhea and Donna was still our little baby.   Roger was at the ranch with his friend Leroy Brisco and their job was to bring supper to us and sleeping bags because we where going to sleep up there with our horses.  By this time in our lives, we did not have a lot of faith in our brothers.  I remember telling Roger to not be late because it was going to get very dark on us.  Why we didn't take matches with us I don't know. We didn't have a trailer to haul the horses home so we were going to have to ride them.  We knew it was an all day ride and it would be dark by the time we got to the main road.  Ruth, Beth and I saddled our horses and packed a small lunch of water,dried fruit, apples and jerky. We were all a little sick with the excitement and the knowledge that we were going to be a long ways away from family and we only had each other to rely on. The meeting place was going to be on the road just before the summit pass.  


Ruth and Beth went down to the end of the field and started to drive the cows out to the road.  We have family standing on the mountain by the house and on both roads.  It all started out smooth and we were in the saddle once again.  We really loved it once we got going.  We would take the cows up to the 320 and gather all the rest of the cows and head up the mountain with 100 head of cows.  Father road ahead and started gathering the cows at the 320 so when we got the herd going all we had to do was meet at the bottom of the field and head the whole herd up the canyon.

Our father was not the greatest cow herder.  He liked to run the cows and get them all riled up so by the time we got our small herd up to his herd, the cows were all excited.  We were relieved to know that father would not stay with us but he did help us get the cows up the steep ravine to the clearing.  He said good-bye and off he went.  Now we could let the cows relax and just walk at a steady pace.  We knew it was about 15 miles that we had to go that day so we had to keep the herd moving. Up and down the mountains until finally we brought the cows down a pretty steep mountain and met the road to Mt. Wilson.  There was a spring where we were going to refill our water jugs, water the cows and let them rest a bit, but of course one stringing beastly heifer decided to start running up the wrong canyon.  Off we went on a fast run through bogs of water and brush, finally we got ahead of the main cow and turned the herd back around.  We decided that from now on we couldn't let them rest because they were tired and just wanted to get away from us.  Up the hill we went about 4 more hours herding the cows and pushing them.  Finally came to the top of the mountain where we needed to push them down into another steep canyon where the spring was. It was starting to get dusk and we knew that as soon as the sun left us we would get cold.   But we were told to do this job and we took to seriously.  It was about a fourth of a mile straight down to the spring.  We took them sideways for a while and then turned them for the rest of the way.  By then the sum had gone from us and we knew that we needed to get to the top and so Roger could find us.

The wind was blowing briskly and we were hungry and tired from the ride when we got to the summit.  Roger was no where to be found.  We found a grove of trees just off the road and down a bit so that the wind was not quite as cold and waited and waited.  The night was as black as it could be because there was no moon to light it up.  Just the wind to keep us company.  We were quite mad at Roger for being late, but of course he was a precious brother so we shouldn't say much.  We finally heard voices coming up the canyon and much to our relief it was Roger and Leroy (O just to let you know, he was my prospective husband). They had food, blankets and matches for a fire.  Our relief was met with panic and horror when Roger started the big tree on fire and also did not bring the hobbles for the horses. That meant that our horses were stomping around us all night and not happy. Well, needless to say, in a few hours we woke up because our horses were not stomping around and knew that they had taken off.  Beth and Ruth (the two brave souls) started walking down the road feeling their way into the black night. They walked right into the back end of Tex and Ginger.  Beth felt her way around and grabbed Tex's halter and then got Ginger and Meg. The other two horses followed them back.  This time We girls took control of the situation and stayed awake holding our horses. It seemed that the night and darkness would never end.

At the crack of dawn, we were on our horses and off we went without breakfast and did not even bother waking them up.   We rode our wonderful, faithful horses back to the stable and brushed and fed them before we went to get our breakfast.  We were so very happy to see our home and so were the horses.  We will never forget that night for as long as we live.  It feels good writing it down and finally putting words to the memories.
Thanks Ruth and Beth for going after the horses because it would have been a long walk home.
Love Helen