"After crossing the Kansas line at a place known as South Forks, while making for the head of the Cimarron river on the twenty-seventh of June, we experienced one of the hardest rain and hail storms I had ever seen, in the western part of the country, the rain came down in torrents only to cease and give place to hail stones the size of walnuts . While the thunder and lightning was incessant. It was shortly after dark when the storm commenced. The twenty-five hundred head of cattle strung out along the trail became panic stricken and stampeded , and despite our utmost efforts , we were unable to keep them in line.
"Imagine, dear reader , riding your horse at top speed through torrents of rain and hail, and darkness so black, we could not see our horses heads, chasing an immense herd of maddened cattle which we could hear but could not see, except for the vivid flashes of lightning that furnished our only light. It was the worst night's ride I ever experienced. Late the next morning we had the herd rounded up thirty miles from where they started from the night before. On going back over the country to our camp the night before, we saw the great danger we had been in during our mad ride. There were holes, cliffs, gulleys and big rocks scattered all around, some of the cliffs going down a sheer fifty feet, or more..."
P.53-54, LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF NAT LOVE, BETTER KNOWN AS "DEADWOOD DICK " (1905)
Friday, March 31, 2017
CATTLE STAMPEDE
"After crossing the Kansas line at a place known as South Forks, while making for the head of the Cimarron river on the twenty-seventh of June, we experienced one of the hardest rain and hail storms I had ever seen, in the western part of the country, the rain came down in torrents only to cease and give place to hail stones the size of walnuts . While the thunder and lightning was incessant. It was shortly after dark when the storm commenced. The twenty-five hundred head of cattle strung out along the trail became panic stricken and stampeded , and despite our utmost efforts , we were unable to keep them in line.
"Imagine, dear reader , riding your horse at top speed through torrents of rain and hail, and darkness so black, we could not see our horses heads, chasing an immense herd of maddened cattle which we could hear but could not see, except for the vivid flashes of lightning that furnished our only light. It was the worst night's ride I ever experienced. Late the next morning we had the herd rounded up thirty miles from where they started from the night before. On going back over the country to our camp the night before, we saw the great danger we had been in during our mad ride. There were holes, cliffs, gulleys and big rocks scattered all around, some of the cliffs going down a sheer fifty feet, or more..."
P.53-54, LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF NAT LOVE, BETTER KNOWN AS "DEADWOOD DICK " (1905)