Sign Up  /  Login

Wrangler LbNA #44884

Owner:Boots Tex
Plant date:Dec 5, 2008
Location:
City:Trickham
County:Coleman
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Found by: Silver Eagle
Last found:Feb 16, 2012
Status:FFFFF
Last edited:Dec 5, 2008
1874 Captain John T. Lytle and several cowboys left South Texas with 3,500 head of longhorn cattle and a remuda of saddle horses. Five years later, the route Lytle cut out of the prairie to Ft. Robinson, Nebraska, had become the most significant cattle trail in history – the Great Western Cattle Trail. Though less well known than the Chisholm Trail, the Great Western Cattle Trail was longer in length and carried cattle for two years longer than the Chisholm. The Great Western saw over seven million cattle and horses pass through Texas and Oklahoma to the railheads in Kansas and Nebraska, therefore, developing the cattle industry as far north as Wyoming and Montana. A typical head would move 10 -12 miles a day and included the trail boss, a wrangler, and a cook. The drive from South Texas to Kansas took about two months at a cost of $1000 in wages and provisions. At the end of the trail, cattle sold for $1.00 to $1.50 per head. In Texas, feeder trails from the Rio Grande led to the trailhead near Bandera and the Great Western passed through, Kerrville, Junction, Brady, Coleman, Baird, Albany and Fort Griffin. It is believed that the main streets of Throckmorton, Seymour, and Vernon run north and south because of the trail. The wrangler was the cowboy who took care of the remuda. Each cowboy on the trail drive could have 15 to 20 horses so that he would always have a fresh mount. So, if there were 10 cowboys, the remuda could have as many as 200 horses. The wrangler was usually a very young cowboy, often as young as 15, or an inexperienced cowboy. The hard work of driving the cattle fell to the older (19-21) and more experienced hands. John Chisum (no association with the Chisholm Trail) organized trail drives and established a store and saloon in this location to provide supplies and relief for the trail hands. The cowboys were fun-loving guys who loved to play practical jokes on unsuspecting young cowboys. When the town applied for a post office, they asked for the name Trick ‘em, but the postal service spelled it Trickham, thinking that the residents must surely be illiterate.

Directions:
Trickham Cemetery is located in the community of Trickham, which is on FM 1176 southeast of Santa Anna in Coleman County, Texas. Look for the green and white sign on the west side of the highway and turn west at the county road. You’ll see the cemetery on your right.

To the box:
When you drive into the cemetery, the first grave plot on the left belong to the McClatchy family. The wrangler is hiding in the tree that stands in the middle of the plot.