Uncle Alf
Reeves, "Oldest Cowboy in Texas"
Last spring the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock
Show at Fort Worth, Texas, conferred upon Uncle Alf
Reeves, the title of "The Oldest Cowboy in
Texas." Uncle Alf is 82 years old and still able to
ride and rope with the best cowhands on his ranch near
Hext, Texas.
Like most old-times, who have spent the greater part of
their lives in the saddle, he is a great lover of horses.
"I reckon I've owned some of the best horse flesh
that Texas ever produced," he said. "'Old
Buck,' a big roan, was about the best horse, I guess. One
night a fellow stole him--sneaked up and 'swapped' horses
with me. Took the hobbles off of Old Buck, put them on
his own mustang and pulled out.
"The next morning when I saw what had happened I
saddled a horse right away, circled around until I found
Old Buck's tracks and followed them. The country was then
covered with tall sage grass that made trailing mighty
hard. Ten days I stayed on that trail. Some times I lost
it for awhile, but soon I'd pick it up again. It led me
into Austin, Texas, (about 130 miles form the Blockhouse
Ranch) where I found Old Buck in a stable."
It is interesting to note the speed with which justice
was carried out in Texas in those early days. The thief
that stole Old Buck was on his way to the penitentiary
before Uncle Alf got back to the Blockhouse Ranch.
Always Take Best Care of a Horse
"Always take the best care of a horse," Uncle
Alf advised. "If he's a good one he'll pay it all
back; if he's no good take care of him anyway. You can
trade him off quicker!"
Breaking to the saddle wild horses was Uncle Alf's
specialty for many years. "Everybody had it to do
then to keep a job," he remarked. "I just took
them as they came. Some were easy and some were hell. I
always claimed, though, that I could ride any horse that
wore hair. But sometimes I had to try more than once to
do it.
"A mean horse will pull tricks to get rid of a rider
and a mean horse is always a dangerous horse. One of
their favorite tricks is to rear and fall back on the
rider. Some of the best riders dreaded those kind, but
they weren't so bad if you knew what to do and watched
your horse," explained Uncle Alf. :The was to handle
that kind is to be ready and when you see the horse
coming back on top of you just reach out and grab the
devil by the bits and swing off to one side. Then let him
fall back, if he wants to. You'll be on your feet and
ready to crawl back in the saddle when he starts getting
up. You have to be careful, though, or he'll paw you with
his forefeet."
Roping a Wild Mustang
Uncle Alf tells the time he roped a wild mustang that
jerked the tree of his saddle completely out: "The
saddle was old and the leather getting rotten. When that
pony hit the end of my rope he never checked but took the
saddle-tree right out from in front of me and high-tailed
it across the prairie. I had ot ride over to Pegleg and
stay up nearly all night putting another tree in my
saddle so I could be ready for work the next
morning."
Uncle Alf Reves came to Texas in 1868 from Georgia with
nothing, he says, "but a pair of worn out leggins, a
fuzzy face and a good appetite." But by the time he
courted and married Miss Charlcie Blair, of Erath count,
in 1874, he had plenty of horses and cattle to start an
outfit of his own.
Three years later the young couple rounded up their
livestock, loaded their household goods in a ox cart and
moved to Mason county. Hog Creek, in the northwest corner
of the county, was their destination. There they settled
and lived 14 years. Uncle Alf bossing the giant cattle
herds of the late Felix Mann that grazed over four
counties.
Foreman of Blockhouse Ranch
In 1891 Uncle Alf took a job as foreman of the Blockhouse
outfit, whose headquarters were on the San Saba river,
about twenty miles south of Brady. The famous Flying H
brand of that ranch was once owned by W. H. Wheeler, of
Mason, but is now owned by C. L. Martin & Sons, of
Mason. This ranch used to brand about 2,200 head of
calves every spring.
Although the old blockhouse on the Blockhouse Ranch ws
built some time before the war between the States, it
still stands in a fair state of preservation. At the time
Uncle Alf moved his family int it the floors had rotted
away and there was no chimney. But he made repairs--cut
elm, sycamore, burr oak and hauled the logs to Pegleg to
be sawed into lumber for the flooring. The attic he
floored with the drain boards of a nearby sheep dipping
vat. Later he hauled rocks for a chimney and hired a man
to build it.
"When I hauled the rocks for the chimney," he
relates, "I didn't have but one old ox. But I had a
milk heifer that was always straying off the herd, so I
just yoked her to the old ox and went right ahead with my
work. She made a pretty good work animal."
A rather exciting incident caused Uncle Alf to build a
picket fence around the blockhouse. He sometimes fed his
range hogs near the house to keep them from straying. One
day his little daughter, about three years old (now Mrs.
Lynn Wooten, of Double Knobbs), crawled into one of the
feeding troughs to play. Several men at work nearby heard
the child scream and were horrified to see a huge sow
carrying her off toward the river. When rescued she was
unharmed. The sow's teeth caught only the child's
clothing and had not penetrated the flesh.
Many Gifts From Friends
Every year Uncle Alf receives gifts from friends all over
Texas. He now has eight gift hats, ranging in styles from
Mexican sombreros to $25 Stetsons. He has a trunk full of
neckties, though he seldom wears a necktie of any sort.
Not long ago his wife did press him into putting on a tie
just before his picture was taken. Lariat ropes hang in
every room of the house.
"Got enough ropes to do me for the rest of my
life," is his proud comment.
On the wall of his "fireplace room" hang the
horns of a buck deer that cost Uncle Alf a good hunting
dog. While working with his cattle out on the range a
buck deer ran past him. Knowing that fresh meat was
needed in camp, he pulled his rifle from its scabbard and
shot the deer, wounding it slightly in the leg. It
continued to run until it disappeared in some brush.
Uncle Alf put his dog on the deer's trail and followed at
a lope. In a little while the dog bayed the buck. When
Uncle Alf took another shot both buck and dog fell dead.
The bullet, penetrating at the base of the buck's horns,
glanced off and killed the dog.
Mr. and Mrs. Reeves recently celebrated their 61st
wedding anniversary at the ranch home, on the
Mason-Menard highway. Friends, children and grandchildren
by the hundreds attended the anniversary.
Of the thirteen children born to this happy pioneer
couple, nine are still living.
The Hearne Democrat
Hearne, Robertson County, Texas
Jan. 10, 1936
pg 8
Uncle
Alf Reeves, "Oldest Cowboy in Texas"
By FREDERICK GIPSON
206 E 22nd St., Austin, Texas.
(Copyright. 1936. by the House Color Print Co.)
Click on
the photos to enlarge them
Thanks to Sean Moran for the photos below:
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