LBIOWD, ftobbtt TOOMiS. IMTIRVIgi 9886

Transcription

1 LBIOWD, ftobbtt TOOMiS. IMTIRVIgi 9886

2 Form A-(S-149) BIOGRAPHY FORM vtl\l ISTft ATI Indian-Pioneer Historj Project for Oklahoma, ROBERT THOMAS. INTKJRVIEW. Field Worker 1 "; name This rjport made on (date) 11 1, " Name " 2, poet 0:1'ice Address 3, Residence addresc (or location) R-fl Lone Wolf» Kloira County, Oklahoma. I 4, DATS OF BIRTH: Month March- j 14 Year 10C2. 5, Place of birth :. Indiana. m '. 6, Name of Father Other -infonnat ion about father _ 7, Name of Mother Lizzie Lemond. Place of birth Indima, Unlott Soldier of plyll War. Place of birth Indiana. Other inf onnat ion about'mother Pioneer, mother. Knew little of her people. ;Kotes or complete narrative by the field worker d^:altnl ;r lfit?rir!t0- Iif3 ^r'd i-story of the ;ercon int^rviev/od, Ro^er to Manual for sarrested subjects [and questions. Continue or blank shet-tn if necessary and attach firmly to [this form* Number of sheets attic he'd 5,

3 INTERVIEK. 211 Ethel B. Tackitt, Invest! gator, NOT. 11, An Interview With Robert Lemond, Memories of Oklahoma from 1878 to Frien* of.comanohe Indian Chief, Quaneh Parker* b.orn in Indiana March 16, This was dicing * > the Civil War and my-father, Bill Lemond, who was a native of Indiana? was a soldier serving the Union Array. iyy mother was al30 a native of Indiana. In 1870, they moved our family by wagon to Texas and we settled in Jack County. Csttle raising was the business followed by most everybody in the country at that time and we made our living by working with cattle and fanning a little. My first regular cowboy woric was on the (E A) Ranch which vas a big cow outfit, -owned by George Atkison in West Texas. All oattlo on this a&d other ranches in that section were~ i driven in what was known as trail herds through the Indian Territory to Dodge City, Kansas 3 where th^y were shipped by railroad to the northern market. In June,1878, I was sixteen years old and was permitted to go with the beef herd, which was Fade up of twenty«five hundred fat steers ranging in. age from three to' six years

4 Z.EMOND, ROHEHT THOMAS. IOTEB7IEW George Atkison boased the outfit himself and Sea Wetkins was the chuck-wagon cook, We began gathering these cattle with the spring roundup, and when they were ready to leuve the range in June, we started north, with twenty cowboys in the outfit to tak~e the herd through. We crossed JRed River at Poen^s Crossing and L the first night in the Indian Territory, the-indiens frightened the herd and a granjd stampede took place, but the cowboys were expecting the Iadlen*s to do this, aa it was their usual way of getting a quantity of beef left on the range, eo that they could have plenty of beef to eat without the trouble of hunting for'it Only~about two hundred steers got sway and we ^got them all back next day before we went on. George Atkiaon ordered the boys not to do anything at all to the Indlms, but to cut out of the herd and give to them the number of fat beef which they felt was right for pay for the grass and water which the herd we.! uaingr. The Indians came and got the beef and re had no more trouble with th«nu Quench Parker?was Chief of the Comanch'ea and I aa well as the" other boy* in the outfit, were w«ll acquainted with

5 INTERVII^ his mother's people in Texas. Her brother, and Quaaah Parker's uncle was Silas M. Parker; he end his family lived in our part of Texas since qn early day and we thought a lot of him. We followed the bid trail which passes through the valley where the town of Altus is now located and North to the trail or Perry Crossing on the north fork of Red River, Here the Xiowas demanded beef and - e gnve it to them but they did not stampede our herd* We passed north through the valley in which the town of Lone Wolf, Kiowe County, is now located. Even at this time I can see the marks of the old trail in many places that heve not been plowed up and I think of those days fifty-nine years ago this sunder when itirst passed over the trail. We gave the Indians beet~~at"every-mg-rlter crossing and delivered our herd at Dodge City, Kansas, in September, having spent three months on the trail rr.aking the trip. I made many trail herd trips after that but never had difficulty with the Indians on any trip in my life. In 1888 I moved to the Chickasaw Nation and settled at Pauls Valley; there were very few white settlers in the

6 INTERVIEW, -4- country and the Indians lived rather hard as they were not good farmers and many of them dl d not know how to roan age to make a living. I leased land from a Ch'tckosew Indian named Sul James. I farmed this land eight years,raising mostly corn which I fed to cattle and horses and sold the stock as corn sold tit only 15 cents per bushel delivered, when it could be sold at oil. A white man, Noah Leal, owned a big ranch between, Pauls Vdley an4 fcynnewood. His brand was XXI (Three X) and as I was a good cowhand, he kept me working for him all the time when I was not. ffarming. The Kashita Fiver overflowed often in those deys and the stock would be caught in the botton lands, and if not driven out, would collect on some little knoll end stand drown them by the hundreds. We would get word of the rise coming down the river end begin riding "the lowlands driving out the stock, but often the rise vould.catch some stock tvxd we would ride into the frightened group and be forced to beat them with wet ropes to force them into the water and make tut. go %p higher ground. After the country settled up and the cow buaineds pasted away, I sold out and went on the toill trading horses and

7 LENDHD, ROBERT THOMAS. INTERVIEW, 928*. I trareled orer all the Indian Territory which Is now Oklahoma, to Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraakra to say nothing of Arkansas and Kansas, After the riomi Country was opened in 1901, I settled near Lone Wolf where I am yet liring.