A H Huffmeyer, of San Antonio, an old time cowboy and trail man, tells an illuminating story on himself. During the era of free grass and free cattle he was living in Frio County, roping mavericks for another man and dodging thorns to protect his own skin. "In the fall of 1876," he says, "I decided to work for myself for a while. First I had to select a brand and a mark that no one else ran. After considering a good many combinations, I adopted 7 T 6 on the left side as my brand and smooth crop of the right ear and underhalf crop of the left ear for my mark. After six weeks of hard riding I had put the stamp of ownership on 250 head of mavericks. Then one day a friend asked me if I had recorded my brand and mark with the county clerk. I replied that I had not and that I did not know that a recording was necessary. He warned me that unless I attended to the matter at once somebody might steal the brand from me. The very next day I went to Frio Town, the county seat. When I told the clerk what I wanted, he opened his big brand book and showed me where ______ _______ had nearly a month before entered my brand and mark in his own name. This fellow had a legal claim to all the cattle that I had branded, and for all my work I had nothing but a lesson on the disadvantages of ignorance.
From A Vaquero of the Brush Country by J Frank Dobie, pg 110.
TXGenWeb, Frio County - Disadvantages of Ignorance