Chapter 94

Eli and Moses were up early, drinking coffee before the Bucks, the girls, and the other boys roused out of their bedrolls.

“Eli, I was thinking last night while laying in my bedroll, that if it’s alright with you, I’ll ride back over to Pecan Ridge and tell the folks to gather up, that we’re heading back to Tulsa,” Moses offered.

“Moses, if you don’t mind doing that, we could meet all of you down at the railroad trestle south of the valley in a few days. It’ll take you a little over a day to get there, and I know you, you’ll cut miles off by riding cross country and even ride tonight.”

“That’s what I was figuring too, Eli. Then it’ll take the family a day to get loaded and out on the trail. We could be back over here in three days, if I leave now.”

“You better shake Pike and Cecily out of their bedroll, they’ll be mad if you leave and not tell them.”

“I’ll be sure to check with them two before I leave. Suh and me also have a daughter now, Eli, instead of just a son,” Moses told him, then walked over to find Pike and Cecily’s bedrolls.

They were awake and about to get dressed when Moses walked up. He was embarrassed that he walked upon both his son and his girlfriend naked. Cecily saw him and stood quickly, pulling one of Pike’s buckskin shirts over her head.

“Sorry about that, Dad. I know you’re not used to seeing Pike with a naked girl, but we sleep better when we’re both naked,” Cecily said as she hugged Moses.

“Uh, no matter. I was just coming to tell both of you bye before I ride back to Pecan Ridge and round the others up to head toward Tulsa. That’ll give all of you another day or two here. We’ll meet you at the railroad south of here in about three days or so.”

“Thanks, Dad. You be careful and well see you in a few days,” Pike said as he hugged his dad.

Eli followed Moses out to the horses and they talked as he saddled up.

“Moses if you don’t meet the Kansas boys on the way over with the rest of the cattle, leave word for them to bring the herd here, then come to Tulsa. Just in case I don’t get to see them.”

“I will, Eli. They should leave Pecan Ridge before I get back. That is if Don and his men have made it back from Little Tree with the rest of the herd by the time the Kansas boys get back there.”

“You ride easy, my friend. We have lots of plans made and lots of trails yet to ride,” Eli told him and they shook hands.

“Eli, you know me well by now, after riding with you all these years. I don’t trust no man and I sleep with my eyes open,” Moses said and they shared a laugh as he mounted.

Early in the morning two days later, the Bucks and the rest of the younger group were riding with the vaqueros as they did early each day, combing the perimeter of the property, scouting the crests of the valley, looking for signs of any strays that may have wandered off during the night. They were pleased that only a few older cows had walked over the crest and not come back. They tracked them down in the brush and brought them back inside the rim of the valley.

“Look, here comes Mom, Dad and the others,” Belinda yelled as they looked to the south, down into the deep, wide valley from the west side.

The four Blasingame girls were excited to see their moms and dads coming. They wanted them to see the new land where they’d build their homes and make theirs lives and raised their families. This was the biggest thing to ever happen in their young lives and they were ready for it to start.

As they rode toward them at an angle down the slope of the valley they could see the Blasingames constantly pointing in different directions as they took in the size and beauty of this place that appeared to be totally different from the rest of Indian Territory. This had to be the best place on earth for their daughters to start a new life.

They looked to the west and up the long slope to see the twenty riders coming toward them. Their daughters were ahead of the others as they raced their horses to meet them.

They stopped by a stream that flowed from a rock outcropping on the western slope, letting their horses drink as they walked hurriedly out to meet them.

Though it had been less than two weeks since they’d seen them, they were happy to see their girls, and the girls were even more excited to see their parents come visit them at their future home place.

As the group rode slowly back toward the north to the main campsite, the girls told them about the Longhorns, how they got them and that this was only half of them. They showed them the fifty wagons loaded with building supplies, posts and corral fencing.

The Blasingames had heard about Analisa from the other women, and had met Rosa before leaving Pecan Ridge. They had been told of Analisa’s beauty and her very eloquent command of the English language by many of those back at Pecan ridge. But until they met her personally, they had no idea she was such a special person.

Today, Analisa wore her buckskin shirt and britches, with the breast corset Rose had given her, underneath. The Blasingames were amazed after meeting her.

As the Blasingames, Eli, Analisa, Martinez, and Stefani sat around the camp talking, Eli brought it up about the bulls he wanted them to try and find for him down in Texas.

Wade Blasingame told him they’d had some nice calves come from the cross with Brahman and Longhorns, “But in the past three to four years we’ve had the best results with crossing the Longhorn cows with some black Angus bulls our neighbor has.

“He’s from Scotland originally and he came over to Texas when his uncle died back close to ten years ago. Starting about six or seven years ago, he’s brought close to forty of those purebred Angus bulls over here from Scotland and sold some of them to his neighbors for a good price. He brought a few Angus cows over to keep the breed alive and pure on his ranch, and he’s still got a quite few young purebred Angus bulls he’s offered to sell us that he’s bred out of his stock,” Wade Blasingame said, then continued.

“Ward and I have talked with our wives and we’ll ship you all he’ll turn loose of, possibly a dozen to fifteen, of the purebred black Angus bulls and that many or more Angus cows too. We can ship them up to Little Tree by rail. We’ll also send you about a dozen of the pure Brahman bulls from down that way. We’ll do this for our part, since you and Moses and Duncan have done so much for your sons and daughters, and our daughters too.”

“Ward, Wade, I know they’ll all appreciate this. You can be sure I appreciate y’all doing this. They’re wanting to get into breeding cattle for prime beef, not just for the canneries. I’ve eaten some steaks from the Angus cattle up in Kansas City and they’re hard to beat when cooked right.

“I’d like to cut some of my Shorthorn cows out and breed to the Angus and Brahman to see what that cross would be like,” Eli told them.

“You have a good idea there, Eli. Down home, folks are trying the same thing and The Running W, King Ranch down in south Texas is big in selective breeding. They’ll be the first to come up with a new breed that’s bred just for fresh meat on the table,” Wade told him.

“When do y’all plan to leave out? I know you’ve been gone from home for quite a spell.”

“We’ll be leaving here tomorrow morning for the ride back to Pecan Ridge. From there we’ll head over to Little Tree. What’s that, three and a half good days from here?”

“Yep, if you push it. Better figure four so you don’t kill the wives,” Eli told him and looked at Donna and Deanne when they laughed.

“Eli, when will you let the Bucks come down to visit? I know the girls will all want to come back up here and work on their places when they can, but we’d like the boys to come down and spend a week with us before all that starts,” Deanne told him.

“They may want to come down when the girls go home this time after getting the fences strung. That way they can make sure they’re safe traveling on the train.”

“That would be great, Eli. We’ll tell them to be sure and send us a telegraph message to let us know when they’ll be coming.”

“You know it will take them at least four weeks to fence this place, don’t you?”

“Most definitely, we do. We’ve helped string fences ourselves. I’m sure you’ll have them some tincture and bandages when they start, there’s no way they can even be around barbed wire without getting scratched or cut,” Donna told him.

“I’ll have Doc fix them up a couple of medicine bags to keep with them, since they’ll have at least two fencing crews working.”

“Eli, when do you plan to leave here for Tulsa?” Ward asked.

“We decided yesterday that we’d all head back when you folks leave for Texas. We wanted to wait until your girls had a chance to show you this place and say their goodbyes. Moses left before morning yesterday for Pecan Ridge. He’ll have them loaded and ready to leave out by this morning, headed this way.”

“Then I suppose we’ll all be heading back to Pecan ridge from here, at the same time you leave for Tulsa.”

“Why don’t y’all just plan on riding to Tulsa with us? It’s not as far as Little Tree from right here. You could catch the Katy down to Texas and be home even quicker.”

“Eli, you talked me right into that. I’d like to see your place there at Tulsa anyway; we’ve heard so much about it,” Ward told him.

“What do you think Deanne?”

“I agree with you and I know Wade and Donna will want to see their place too. Won’t you, guys?”

“Sounds good to me and we’ll have a few days more with the girls too. I want to see that big oil and cattle loading terminal I’ve heard so much about,” Wade agreed.

“Then its settled. Wade, why don’t you and Ward ride with me up to the north end of this valley. It’s less than a half a days ride from here and we’ll be back way before dark. I’d like to show you the big lake that feeds this river.”

“Eli, just how far does this land stretch up the valley and how wide is it?” Wade asked.

“Jefferson and Howard told me it measured right at forty four miles up and down the valley and averages five miles on either side of the east and west rims of the valley.”

“My God! Forty four miles long by fifteen miles wide? That’s over four hundred and twenty thousand acres,” Ward said, grinning at Eli.

“Yep, we had a chance to buy it all and I told them to get it. We may not like the neighbors if we didn’t,” Eli told them and grinned when they laughed.

Analisa heard the men talking about taking a ride and walked out to Eli’s horse with him.

“Eli, I’ll stay here with Donna, Deanne, and Stefani, but I really don’t want to be away from you.”

“I’ll be back by dark. I’m sure there’ll be many more days when I’ll have to be gone. There’s always something I need to take care of.”

“Will you let me ride with you tonight?” she asked, looking at him and smiling.

“Tonight will be a good night for us to ride, Analisa.”

Crow Valley
Indian Territory
May 16, 1889

Two days later, after an early morning start, they were on their way south to where the Frisco Railroad lay at the southern end of Crow Valley.

“Dad, I see the wagon train in the distance,” Micah told his dad as he looked through his spotting scope. He and Belinda were the first ones to ride under the railroad trestle and he let her look through his spotting scope as he told the others about the wagon train headed toward them.

“Then we’re right on time to meet them. I should have known Moses would get them up and moving early each day. We’ll be in Tulsa in less than three days now,” Eli said, looking at the others.

“I see the rest of the Longhorns behind the wagon train and it looks like they’re bringing that herd of Paint mares you took to Mexico with you!” Pike yelled as he topped a rise and looked southwest.

Martinez and Stefani had ridden down to the railroad with them to meet his Papâ. The Delgado family was bringing the goats and sheep, and would be staying in the valley with the vaqueros to help with the cattle and help build the houses, barns, and corrals.

“Marshal Eli, the vaqueros wanted to be known as ‘Los Vaqueros del Valle de Cuervos’.

“I know the cowboys part with the vaqueros, but what does the rest of it mean?” Eli said as he, Martinez, and Stefani stopped to talk.

“They say, it is important for them to have the name of the brand they ride for. They want to be known as ‘The Cowboys From the Valley of The Crows’.”

“Say that again slow in Mexican, Martinez. I like the hell out of that!” Eli told him.

‘Los Vaqueros del Valle de Cuervos’

“Los Vaqueros del Valle de Cuervos“ Eli repeated, then, “The Cowboys From the Valley of the Crows. I really like that Martinez. I’ll talk to my Bucks and maybe we can have them some special shirts and britches made to wear when they ride the ranch.”

“Si, Marshal Eli. They will like that so much more. Make them like yours but color them black and even more fancy threads for them?”