Chapter 42

Crow Ridge Cattle Company Tulsa, Indian Territory Thanksgiving Day November 27,1884:

“Here come the Buffalo Soldiers, they’re crossing the river now!” Isaac yelled as he jumped off the back porch, headed toward the barn where the men, the girls, and the rest of the Bucks were gathered.

The women had run the men and younger ones from the house so they could finish cooking and get the dinner ready. This was to be the biggest feast and biggest celebration they’d had to date.

The men, the Bucks, and the girls, leading their Gramps, all walked out to stand in front of the barn, watching as the mule teams slowly pulled the fifteen wagons out into the river at the bottom of the long sloping ridge.

They could hear them start singing as they started across the Arkansas. Willis was on the lead wagon and when he saw the Crow family and their friends standing in front of the barn waving, he stood and waved with both arms in the air. The former Buffalo Soldiers were singing...

Swing Low Sweet Chariot.

They kept singing as they rode up the long sloping ridge toward the houses and barns. Their deep voices ringing out loud and clear in the cold November air. When the women came out on the front porch to see who was singing, they joined in as they stood on the porch with arms hooked together, swaying slowly as they too sang the words of the old Negro spiritual song.

Swing low, sweet chariot Coming for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home.

(Wallis Willis: circa 1862)

When they drove the wagons to the top of the ridge, they circled the barn and corrals, making three lines of five wagons each as they parked the wagons in back.

There were six young, white ex-cavalrymen with them. They had mustered out like the lieutenant said they could and rode over with the Buffalo Soldiers. They didn’t know what to think of the huge house, the barns, and all the men and young’uns of the Crow family gathered around to welcome them. They helped as the men took the mules loose and the harnesses off.

When the men first stepped off the wagons and began to unhitch the mules from the wagons with the white boys’ help, Isaac and Caleb opened the gate to the feedlot and when the men had the harnesses off, they turned the mules in to get hay and water.

They were still singing as they picked up the harnesses and carried them to the tack room inside the barn. Their voices became lower and lower as they lined up and stood at attention, in double columns in the barn. The six younger white boys were in line with them, all of them still dressed in blue.

“Company, Dismissed!” Sergeant Willis yelled. The men threw their hats up into the top of the big hay barn, yelling and laughing.

“Marshal Crow, here we are to report for work, and start a new life. It was my men who come up with the idea of singing that song when we crossed the Arkansas down there. I thought it was a good way to leave all them years in the cavalry behind and start over with a whole new life, just like we was crossing the River Jordan for real.”

“Welcome to Crow Ridge Cattle Company, Willis. You call us by our first names too,” Eli told them.

“You men stay right there and make a single line, you’re not in the cavalry anymore, but you’re here to start drilling for oil. Jon David has something for all of you. This is half of what you’ve got coming for helping with the pecan harvest. The other half we’ll put with our money and invest it for you. One day in the coming years, each of you will own land over there where we just came from. You’ll want to build houses on that land for you and your families to live in when you get too old to work for me in the oil drilling business.

“Jon David, pay these men so the Young Bucks can show them to their quarters. There’s two big stock tanks out behind the barracks, there’s a windmill there for your water. There’s three big fires burning already with wash pots of hot water boiling. Go get yourselves cleaned up and ready to eat the best Thanksgiving dinner you ever set a plate to,” Eli told them as he walked back and forth in front of them.

Jon David walked up to Willis first and gave him twenty five hundred dollars. The big man looked at the money, then at Jon David and reached out to shake his hand.

He turned to Eli and they stood looking at each other for a few seconds. Eli was smiling and Willis was trying to keep from crying.

With the Buffalo Soldiers, the men of the Crow family, and all the young’uns watching them, Eli and Willis reached out to shake hands. The two men wrapped their left arms over the others shoulder in a one arm hug as they clasped hands for close to a minute.

Without a word, Willis swiped his big fingers across his eyes and turned to his men. Each of them stood with money in their hands and looked at it like they didn’t even know what it was.

“Where’s all your clothes and belongings?” Eli asked.

“This is it, Eli. This is all we got to show for a whole lifetime on this earth. These boots and these old faded blues are what’s left after twenty years of riding a cavalry saddle.”

“We’ll get you fixed up with some better clothes to work in before we start drilling.

“Eli, show these men where they can wash up,” Eli spoke to Little Eli.

“You white boys go with them, there’s plenty of rooms and beds over there for all of you. We’ll get you some work clothes too, before we start drilling,” Eli said. He saw two that he remembered, Carter and Otis. The others he didn’t know, but he’d get to know all of them soon enough.

“Jon David, give these boys a hundred apiece to tide them over until they can earn some wages. You men and you boys mind your manners around my girls and my women, or you’ll be cut-up fish bait,” Eli said as he looked at them.

Jon David held his hand up when the men started out of the barn. He turned and gave each of the six white boys a hundred dollars. They were like the men of the Buffalo Soldiers, they just stared at it.

He walked over to face all of them as he looked them over.

“You men put that money in your pockets. Now ... just so there won’t be any misunderstanding later, there won’t be any whiskey on this place, no time, EVER! All of you heard what Dad said about respecting the women of Crow Ridge, that goes for ALL the women and girls too that you’ll meet while you’re working for this outfit.

“This money is just a drop in the bucket of what you’ll make working for us, if you keep your nose clean and work hard. You slack off or lay up lazy and you’re gone. You work hard and pull your load, and you’ll all have land, money, and a family in a few years. You got my word on that and I’ll see to it personally, if you’ll just do this our way,” Jon David told them as he looked all of them over, white and black.

Eli looked at Duncan and Moses; they shared a slight grin. He looked at the Bucks and they were looking at Jon David like he had slapped one of the men.

When he stopped talking, they weren’t sure whether to leave or stay.

“Come go with me, I’ll show you to your quarters. There’s nothing in there but your beds, but they got plenty of covers. You’ll have to buy your own soap, razors and whatever else you’ll need. We’ll take you down to Perryman’s tomorrow and you can get all of that stuff,” Little Eli said as he walked out ahead of them.

“You men get on down there and get washed up; we’ll be having Thanksgiving dinner here in about an hour. Then all us men will come out here again and have a meeting with the oil men who’re gonna show us how to drill oil wells,” Eli told them.

When they had walked out of the barn and around the front of the house, Eli turned to Jon David.

“Jon David, I don’t reckon I ever told you just how proud you make me sometimes. I’m glad you took it on yourself to tell the men what was expected of them. I want you to take over all that kind of stuff. That’ll leave me more time to worry about everything else,” Eli told him.

“I sure didn’t mean to sound like I was taking over anything. I just wanted it to be clear what was expected of each of them when they came here to work. I feel like I may have already saved one or two lives, just by warning them ahead of time,” He told his dad and the other men laughed at his meaning.

“Here comes Smitty and the others, Eli,” Joe said as he looked out the door of the barn when he heard a wagon.

“Good, we’ll all be ready for some of that turkey and trimmings by the time the hired hands get back over here. I had to catch myself, I almost called ‘em Buffalo Soldiers again.”

“Smitty, where y’all been so early this morning?” Eli asked as the men rode up on the wagon.

“We went down to Perryman’s and bought some boiler overalls to wear when we start the drilling. It gets messy out there and it’ll be getting colder as winter moves in full force,” Smitty told him as they stepped off the wagon.

The Bucks gathered around and started unhitching the mules from the wagon as the men talked.

“The Buffalo Soldiers are here, they brought six white boys with them that have mustered out too. They’ve gone over to clean up and get ready for dinner.”

“Eli, are we still going to meet out here after dinner and go over things before we take them to the drilling rig tomorrow?” Albert asked.

“We plan to, Albert. If there’s anything you men need to tell them, just jump in. All Jon David and me had in mind was to get them and y’all acquainted and for us to tell all of you what him and me are planning.”

“Here they come now, Eli,” Duncan said as the Bucks and the hired hands came around the house.

Rose stepped out on the back porch and beat a big wooden spoon against the back of a dishpan about that time and all the men looked over toward the house.

“Come and get it, we have dinner ready,” she yelled and stepped back inside out of the cold wind.

“Let’s all go inside and eat, they’ve got enough places set for all the men to eat at one time. When we eat all we can put away, we’ll come back out here and make everyone acquainted with one another. After that, we’ll all just rest easy and get ready for tomorrow when these oil well men will have school for all of us hired hands,” Eli told them. The men laughed as he included himself in the hired hands.

Jon David led them through the back door and as the men hung back, not sure about going in the house, Eli and the others shooed them on in.

The women had the kitchen and dining room set up with tables and benches, with enough plates for all the men to eat at one time. There were four tables in the kitchen and four in the dining room. The tables were positioned in a long row, with the wide door opening between the kitchen and dining room the only break.

After all the men had seated and the girls and Bucks stood aside with the women, Jon David stood in the wide door opening between the two rooms. All the men turned to look at him, knowing he was about to speak once more.

“Let us give thanks,” he said and they all bowed their heads.

“Lord, we have come together today to give thanks for all good things you have sent our way. We ask you to look down on us as we each begin a new part of our lives. We ask your blessings upon our family and friends gathered here today, as we start drilling oil wells and planning for our future. Bless this big country, Lord, as we try to tame it and make it a safe place for all to live. Bless each of us, O Lord, and keep us safe. Bless this food you have provided, bless the womenfolk who have prepared it. Thank You, Lord, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

“AMEN“ was echoed throughout the two rooms.

“You men dig in, there’s plenty for all of you and more than enough for later too if you get hungry,” Rose said as she and the others began pouring hot coffee in the tin cups beside each plate.

They had big platters of sliced turkey and deep pans of cornbread dressing on each table. They had mashed potatoes and candied yams, they had green beans and cornbread and all the trimmings as the men passed the platters, bowls, and pans around, heaping their plates with food.

The girls and Bucks all fixed their plates and went to the living room to sit and eat their Thanksgiving dinner. They wanted to eat when the men did, so they wouldn’t miss anything when the men went back to the barn after dinner. The women would wait until the men had eaten and left the table before they ate.

... They had closed the back door on the west end of the barn earlier to stop the cold wind from blowing through. Kit and Ruby led their Gramps out to the barn with them. They had told him about how good the Young Bucks were getting with their handguns. He couldn’t see them, but he wanted to be there when they showed off for the others.

When all the men had made their way out to the barn, they either sat on the floor or sat on the top rails of the different stalls as they waited for Eli and Jon David to start their talks. Albert, Leon and James were going to speak to the new men and to the men of the Crow family.

Eli was the first to speak as he stepped out into the middle of the hallway in the big barn.

“I don’t have a lot to say to all of you, that I haven’t said already. I want to ask all of you in the Crow family and the oil well men to make friends with each of the new men who’ve come here to work and help us try to make a big oil strike out here. From what our four friends over here have told us, we’re sitting on a gold mine. If they’re right, all of you will have a stake in this. This is not just about me or the Crow family ... there’ll be enough to go around when we start pumping oil from under this land. I got a good feeling about what we’re about to do. I want all of you to work hard and make plans for a whole new way of living out here in Indian Territory. We have a long way to go, but we WILL get there.

“Jon David has a few things he wants to say to you, then we’ll let the oil well experts talk and you can ask them questions. Tomorrow morning early, we’ll all meet here at the barn and go over to the drilling rig they have set up and they’ll show us all about drilling oil,” Eli said, then walked over to sit down.

“I think Dad said most of what we wanted to say today. I want to welcome all of you new men here and tell you again how much we’re depending on you to make this work.

“This is new to all of us and when you see and understand what we’re about to do, you’ll be like we were when we first started planning this. We’ve gone into this not only with hope, we have gone into this with big plans for the future. We’ll be starting in the coal mining and shipping business before long too, as we buy more mineral rights and explore for coal.

“Just as Dad told you, this country is about to change and we’re going to help make the changes. We’re going to make jobs so we’ll have new people move here to live and work. We’re going to build houses for people to live in and we’re going to have schools to teach our children.

You men of the former cavalry unit, we’ll be hearing from eligible young women soon, my wife and I will help each of you pick yourselves a wife.

“I’m going to tell you one more thing and I want you to remember this as long as you live.

“Don’t be afraid to dream big, your future is waiting on you right outside that barn door. Dreams don’t come true without hard work though. There’s nothing free in this world and there’s no hand-outs on Crow Ridge. The Crow family and Crow Ridge Oil Company are going to make millions. Each of you can be a part of that if you work for it and do your share.”

Jon David walked over and leaned up against a wall beside his dad and Eli put his arm around his son’s shoulder.

Albert Pohlson, with Leon and James Petersen, and Smitty walked out to the middle of the barn and each of them told the men about different parts of drilling for oil and how they would pipe it to the railhead next to the loading pens.

After the men had met and talked about the drilling business and other concerns that were looming in the near future, Eli stepped back to the middle of the barn and looked the new men over. He grinned over at his Young Bucks where they sat with their sisters.

“I got something I want all of you to see. Some of us watched this on our way home from Pecan Ridge, but we never spoke of it, not even to the men. We’re all gonna step out through this back door and show you something you’d never believe if I just told you about it. It’s cold out there, so we won’t keep you long.

“You Young Bucks and you girls get ready so we can get this show over with, its cold and these men will want to eat some more and get warm,” Eli said as he waved for them to start their show.

The girls walked by the wagons and loaded their pockets with pecans, before walking through the side door the Bucks had opened. When they walked out, the Bucks were facing toward the slope that runs down to the river, with the wind at their backs.

Kit and Ruby led their Gramps over to the side of the barn where he leaned back to watch the show with his ears. They girls had already told him how they did it and helped the Bucks show off their gun skills.

When they lined up as before, boy, girl, boy, girl ... Eli stood in front of the others. Howard and Jefferson, with the Robertson brothers and the Franklin brothers knew what was about to happen.

Duncan, Moses, Doc, Joe, and the Barkley brothers knew nothing of this and just looked at one another. Willis and all the ex-cavalrymen had no idea what was about to take place as they looked at the young boys and girls.

Eli saw the Bucks thumb the loops off their hammers and turned back to the crowd of men who were watching for whatever was about to happen.

“The wind is blowing kind of hard, so this may not be a good showing for these Young Bucks, but they’ll show you enough to know just how good they are.

“Show ‘em, Bucks,” Eli said and the girls looked at each other with their arms low and swung back ready to throw pecans.

“GO!” Lee Yu yelled and each girl let go a pecan as it sailed off high in the wind. As soon as the pecans were in the air, the Bucks drew their Colts, and as the pecans flew toward the river, they shot all six of them from the sky.

“Would you just look at them Young Bucks?” Duncan said proudly as he looked at Eli, then the others.

“That’s not all. Watch this and remember we have a high wind so this may not show you as good as they really are,” Eli said and nodded to the girls as they all watched for his nod.

“GO!” Lee Yu yelled once more, as each girl flung three pecans into the air at once.

In the blink of an eye, the six Young Bucks drew and fanned their Colts, blasting three pecans apiece from the sky, leaving none to fly off in the gusty north wind.

“LORDY, LORDY, I have never even seen Eli shoot that good, “ Duncan said as he grinned at Isaac when he cut his eyes back toward his dad and smiled.

“Can you Bucks do that again? Can you do it anytime you want?” Moses asked.

“Show ‘em,” Eli said as the Bucks dropped their spent cartridges and reloaded.

Once again, the sisters threw three pecans each on their signal and the six Young Bucks blasted all of them from the sky to the amazement of all the men.

“I just thought I was gettin’ good with my pistol. I see I’ve got a long ways to go yet,” Joe said, shaking his head and grinning.

“Eli, you have trained these Young Bucks to be as good as any grown man with handguns,” Doc said as he smiled at the boys and girls.

“We have one more we want them to show you, this may be difficult, since the wind is blowing so hard, but you already know how good they are and we want them to show off some more,” Lilly Beth said as she looked at Little Eli and smiled.

The girls had three pecans in each hand as they lined up once more with their hands ready.

“GO!” Lee Yu yelled and each of them threw six pecans into the air at once. Pecans were flying all over in the wind as the Bucks drew their Colts and fanned their hammers six times. When they ran out of bullets, there was one pecan flying off into the stiff wind toward the river.

The Bucks all looked at one another.

“Who missed?” Isaac asked as they looked at one another with looks of disbelief.

They were still looking at one another, trying to figure who had missed a shot when Ruby started laughing.

...”I threw seven pecans, I just wanted these men to see how good you Bucks really are,” she said and turned to hug Isaac as the Bucks and sisters laughed at what she’d done.

“I was glad it just one got away in all this wind. Now I’m as amazed as all the rest of us here,” Eli said.

“Marshal, I never seen a grown man shoot like that. Them boys are gonna be some fearless Marshals when they get old enough. I sure wouldn’t even want just one of them chasing after me,” Willis said and his men laughed.

“Let’s get inside and get warm again, I just wanted to show off our Young Bucks, as we call them now. We have plenty more to eat in the house, all you men go get another plate full and drink plenty of coffee to get warm,” Eli told them as they hurried toward the open door of the barn.

The hired hands went back through the kitchen and heaped their plates with more food, pecan pie and coffee before going to the barracks to sleep it off.

The men and friends of the Crow family ate another big plate of food and a big slice of pecan pie with their last cup of coffee.