Cattle Drive #2
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Preface: The author of the following narrative for "Cattle Drive #2" is believed to be Jack Lohman. M.L. Holcombe, Clarence Lohman, and Ralph Barney practiced law together in Pawhuska in the 1920's and 1930's. M.L. Holcombe, who passed away in 1935 was the father of Thad Holcombe (passed away in 1984). Thad and Sally Holcombe were the parents of M. Lee Holcombe (born 1935) and Thad Holcombe, Jr. (born 1940). Steven L. Holcombe (that's me) is a son of M. Lee Holcombe. Clarence Lohman had a brother, August, who is believed to be the father of Jack. The Lohman Ranch was located over by Foraker, Oklahoma. The Holcombe Ranch was actually not located south of Bowring until the mid-1940's when the Corp of Engineers purchased or condemned the land around what was to be Hulah Lake, a few miles northeast of Bowring. That's when Thad and Sally Holcombe (along with a young Lee and Thad, Jr.) moved their headquarters to south or southeast of Bowring (where the Ball Ranch is currently headquartered). So, the search for a candy bar in Bowring was on the way to the then location of the Holcombe Ranch a few miles to the northeast of Bowring. The female stock in Cattle Drive #2 helped to start a cow/calf herd which was managed by the Holcombe Ranch until the mid-1990's. The grammar and spellings of the original narrative are retained. General map information is inserted in [brackets] where appropriate. Thanks to M. Lee Holcombe and Pawhuska's Joe Allen for helping to piece this preface together. SLH, 5 July 2017.
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CATTLE DRIVE #2
The Lohmann Ranch seldom dealt in female stock but Dad apparently made a special effort to help Thad and Sally Holcombe. Thad’s father was Uncle Clarence’s law pardner in the firm of Holcombe, Lohman and Barney in Pawhuska and Dad had put together a small herd of Herford heifers to stock Thad and Sally’s ranch. Their ranch was in the ‘Black Jack’ country south of Bowring [about 20 miles northeast of Pawhuska] and the small herd was to be driven from our ranch [near Foraker, about 20 miles northwest of Pawhuska] across country to their place. Drovers were Edmund Hall, more familiarly known as “Ed” who ran his father’s ranch near Pershing [near Pershing about 8 miles southeast of Pawhuska] and “Red Carter” whom I did not know. It would be an over night stop at the Friends Ranch and the traveling would be slow. It was 1932 and I was twelve years old Participating in a cross country cattle drive had nearly become a thing of the past and Dad had designated me to be the Rep for the Lohmann Ranch. I was as proud as a puppy with his first bone.
I was mounted on my black and white pinto I had named Rio Mio. I had only recently begun riding Rio so we were not as familiar with each other as a cowboy and his horse should be. We counted the young cows through a gate in the east boundary of Buck Creek on the ranch at about sunrise and the drive began. Whatever else he was Rio was a cowhorse. He kept a close watch on the heifers that wanted to turn back and nipped the buts of the laggards. Once we got strung out we made good time. The lay of the land was open and we didn't have any trouble crossing creeks or taking down fences. The scenery changed as we left the tall grass and moved into the blackjack country where the trees were beautiful in early bloom. We'd had no lunch but we made it to the Friends ranch in time for an early supper.
The Friends ranch had a trap close to the house where we could leave the young cows without making the night herd. After a big breakfast in the morning we went out to catch our horses and I soon discovered Rio’s problem. He was hard to catch. I tried hemming him up in a corner several times and thought I had him. Just about the time I’d get my hands on him he'd make a break. Finally Uncle Billy hollered at his son “Mike catch that boy’s horse or we're going to be here all day.” It was very embarrassing for me as we just didn’t rope gentle horses on the Lohmann ranch.
We finally got mounted, counted out a herd and headed in the right direction the cattle were very easy to handle. Old time Cowboys would have referred to them as being “trail broke”. I don't remember how many miles we traviled but we reach the little town of Bowring about noon. My companions Carter and Hall griped a while because they were hungry and they finally talked me into going to the little grocery store in town and get some candy bars. “Candy bars are too much trouble” the store owner complained. “Gotta keep ‘em cold in the summer and warm in winter so they don't freeze I ain’t got any”. I returned dejected to my hungry companions.
We reached the Holcombe Ranch about two o'clock that afternoon and to everyone’s delight Sally was waiting for us with a delicious spread.
Pawhuska has over 100 buildings on the National Registry of Historic Places (but whose counting, right?)
The following places in Pawhuska have previously been designated on the National Register of Historic Places. The respective dates of designation are included in parentheses.
Blacksmith's House, Pawhuska (May 7, 1979) https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/79002014
Immaculate Conception Church, Pawhuska (May 21, 1979) https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/79002015
Osage Agency Building, Department of Interior, Pawhuska (May 17, 1974) https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/74001666
Osage County Courthouse, Pawhuska (August 23, 1984) https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/84003395
Pawhuska Armory (May 20, 1994) https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/94000485
Pawhuska City Hall (January 1, 1976) https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/76001574
Pawhuska Downtown Historic District (November 26, 1986) https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/86002355
The Pawhuska Historic Downtown District in 1986 consisted of 101 buildings and structures constructed from 1906 to 1930. While a few of these buildings may have gone the way of fire or deterioration, the district remains composed primarily of two and three story brick and stone masonry buildings with several four and five story buildings also included. The types and uses of the buildings in 1986 within the Pawhuska Downtown Historic district covered a wide range of retail, service, and banking institutions as well as residential and business rental space. The Blacksmith House (now housing the Pawhuska Chamber of Commerce), Osage County Courthouse, Osage Agency Building, and Pawhuska City Hall are all located within the Pawhuska Downtown Historic District, or are within walking distance.
Other Sources:
Did you know that an early U.S. Indian Agent to the Osages served as a "Rough Rider" with Colonel Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt?
Frank Frantz, one of the early Indian Agents of the Osage Agency at Pawhuska, was a "Rough Rider" who fought in the 1898 Spanish American War. His battlefield heroism in Cuba at San Juan Hill and Santiago caught the eye of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt who also befriended him. Roosevelt demonstrated his friendship with Frank Frantz by appointing him as the Superintendent for the Osage Agency after Roosevelt became President of the United States in 1901. Later, Roosevelt elevated Frantz to the governorship of Oklahoma Territory. Frantz was inaugurated into the office on January 16, 1906, being the seventh and (at age 34) youngest governor to serve in the Territory's history. Frantz was final governor of Oklahoma Territory, and lost in a 1907 political campaign to be the first governor of the State of Oklahoma.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Frantz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Riders
http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=FR006
What do you know about the 2229 original Osage Allottees?
A photographic exhibit of the original 2,229 Osage allottees has found a new home at the Wakon Iron Community Center in the Pawhuska Indian Village after having been previously exhibited at the Saint Louis University Musueum of Art in 2014.
The exhibit concerns the resolution of a dispute over land ownership for the Osage tribe who once lived in Missouri, but were moved to Kansas, and then to a reservation in Oklahoma that is now known as Osage County. The federal government allotted, or assigned private ownership of what had been tribally owned reservation land to individual Osage tribe members. This was the result of the Osage Allotment Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1906.
More than 1,300 photographs are showcased in this exhibition featuring the original allottees of the Osage Tribe. Individuals, families and friends are presented as a proud nation of individuals and families steeped in tradition, noble and united.
The 2229 Osage Allottees has been organized by the Osage Tribal Museum. It is curated by Kathryn Red Corn and Priscilla Hokiahse Iba and designed by Carl Brune.
Established in 1938, the Osage Tribal Museum is the oldest tribally-owned museum in the U.S. It is located on the Osage Nation Campus in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
Sources: Osage 2229 Exhibit Finds New Home at Wakon Iron Center, Mike Erwin, Pawhuska Journal-Capital (Wednesday, October 26, 2016); The 2229 Original Osage Allottees, The Saint Louis University Museum of Art (April 2 - December 14, 2014).
Did you know that U.S. President Herbert Hoover lived in Pawhuska?
"For a year I lived [in Pawhuska] with my uncle, Major Laban Miles, while he was Osage Indian Agent. This was about 1882 and I was seven or eight years old ...." For more about his time in Pawhuska, see Herbert Hoover and the Osages from Chronicles of Oklahoma.
"Few Americans have known greater acclaim or more bitter criticism than Herbert Hoover. He achieved international success as a mining engineer and world wide gratitude as "The Great Humanitarian" who fed war-torn Europe during and after World War I. Elected president in a landslide, Hoover quickly became a scapegoat in his own land. Even today, Hoover remains linked with the Great Depression of the 1930s. Yet he refused to fade away. In the years after World War II, Herbert Hoover joined Harry Truman and helped organize the relief effort to save Europe and reorganize the executive branch of the federal government. By the time of his death in 1964, the scapegoat of the 1930s had become the grand old man of the Republic." Source: The Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum Website.