The Cattleman's Pages of History
We have now started the 104th year of publication of The Cattleman magazine. We thought we would take a few minutes each month to look back in history to find the interests of cattle raisers at the time. We have reprinted the text of these items as they appeared in the issue. Any comments from the editor appear in brackets.
October 1917
The Cattleman cover depicted Ardmore, Grand Champion Hereford Bull at the American Royal Live Stock Show, Kansas City, the Panhandle State Fair, Amarillo, Texas, and a number of other 1917 State Fairs. Owned by Walter L. Yost, Kansas City, Mo.
➤ C.H. Lupton, of Hereford, Texas, is the owner of a 15-year-old registered Hereford cow, which we think is entitled to the grand prize. In eleven months and nine days she dropped four calves, two sets of twins—bull and heifer each time. The first two calves Mr. Lupton sold at eight months old for $575.00, and he has refused the same price for the second twins.
➤ In a farewell talk with Callahan County’s third army draft contingent, October 8th, Lee D. Kingston, cattleman of Toyahvale, Texas, offered 100 yearling heifers to the Texas soldier who will capture Kaiser William, dead or alive, and $250.00 in Liberty Bonds to any Texan who will get Von Hindenberg.
➤ W.T. Jones, the well-known Jeff Davis County ranchman, while on a hunting trip in the Davis Mountains during the past month killed a bear weighing 400 pounds. Jones loaded bruin in his car and took him to Marfa and treated his friends to bear steaks.
October 1967
“A Texas cowboy resting a moment on his horse is pictured on this month’s cover of The Cattleman by a painter whose western scenes are becoming well known around Texas. Oddly enough, Artist Fried Pal was born in Budapest, Hungary, studied extensively throughout Europe and now resides in Paris. Yet the time he spent in the American West was a productive one. Texas’ Governor John Connally and King Ranch are among numerous owners of his work. This particular scene is owned by Night Hawk Restaurants in San Antonio, whose president, Harry Akin, is the new mayor of Austin.”
➤ “Cattlemen were especially attentive to two reports made by scientists at the Agricultural Chemicals Conference at The University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz. recently. One report showed that beef animals nearly doubled their weight gains per acre when fertilizer was put on the range. The other told how Johnsongrass was clobbered.”
➤ It was noted that “the United States, with roughly six percent of the world’s land area and six percent of the world’s population, is producing and consuming from 25-30 percent of the world’s supply of beef, pork, lamb, and veal.”
➤ One of the many legends that abound in Texas regards the origin of the Tejas Indians from whom the state takes its name. An oft-repeated story is that 200 years before Columbus discovered America, a feud arose among the Aztecs and that, as a result, the Nasonites [sic] were driven forth and forbidden ever to return to the Halls of the Montezumas. The exiles wandered far to the northward and finally reached the beautiful summits of the hills near San Marcos. They gazed with rapture upon the clear streams, the emerald valleys, the herds of buffalo and deer, and the droves of wild turkeys. Believing that they had reached the “Beautiful Hunting Ground,” they cried out in delight, “Texas!” or, as the Anglo-American says, “Paradise.” ❚
The “Pages of History” is excerpted each month from The Cattleman magazine.