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I remember the Crane News back through the years-- Back around 1938 or so a man by the name of Durham had the paper. It was housed right across the street from the Crane Food Store in the 500 block of Gaston, between where Westwind Insurance Office and the Exxon Station are now. Mr. Durham was 90 or more. We used to take him with us to McCamey on certain days of the week with his copy to get the paper set at the McCamey News. We went to McCamey nearly everyday to do our banking and he rode along. One day he told me that when he was a young man of 16 or 17 years, he lived with his family at Sterling City, close to San Angelo. He got a job helping drive a herd of cattle from there to the Pecos River Valley. He said that grass was waist deep when they got there. As Christmas time approached he rode his horse to Grandfalls where he left it at a livery stable and caught a stage to Monahans. There he boarded a train and rode to Big Spring where he rented a horse and rode home. After Christmas he reversed the trip and came back to the herd. He might have said he rode a state from Big Spring home. Either way I always considered this an interesting story. I wrote a poem every week and mailed it to the paper. He printed it anonymously. One day on the road to McCamey I told him that I had written the poems. I remember his old linotype with the melted metal that ran down and formed his type to set the paper. I also remember C. C. Carll, A. G. Adair, Roberta Stagg and Dick Stagg of The Crane News. |