Okla-homey
9/25/2007, 06:14 AM
September 25, 1867: Cattle pioneer Oliver Loving dies of gangrene
140 years ago, on this day in 1867, the pioneering cattleman Oliver Loving dies from gangrene poisoning in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. A few weeks before, Loving had been trapped by 500 Comanches along the Pecos River.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/26628/2001774092065636761_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001774092065636761)
Shot in the arm and side, Loving managed to escape and reach Fort Sumner. Though the wounds alone were not fatal, Loving soon developed gangrene in his arm, a common infection in the days before antibiotics. Even then he might still have been saved had his arm been removed, but unfortunately the fort doctor "had never amputated any limbs and did not want to undertake such work."
Oliver Loving was originally buried in post cemetery at Fort Sumner, NM. The next year, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving's son, Joe, transported Oliver Loving 600 miles on a buckboard for burial in the Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford, Texas. You see, on his deathbed, Loving had made Goodnight promise to bring his remains home. Goodnight did and made good. The headstone over Oliver Loving's grave was placed by Charles Goodnight.
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/27872/2001783708158922186_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001783708158922186)
Sometimes referred to as the "Dean of the Trail Drivers," Loving had been braving the Comanche territory along the Pecos in order to make his second pioneering drive of cattle from Texas to Denver.
During the Civil War, Loving made a few bucks driving cattle across the Sabine River to Louisiana to feed the western Confederate armies, but in the end, the CS currency he was paid became worthless.
After the Civil War ended in 1865, the Texas cattle herds were booming, but as long as the cattle were in Texas they were essentially worthless. To make money, they had to be moved over thousands of miles to the big cities where Americans were becoming increasingly fond of fresh western beef.
http://aycu20.webshots.com/image/29339/2001730788851661890_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001730788851661890)
To overcome this challenge, a number of Texans pioneered the technique known as the "long drive," hiring cowboys to take massive cattle herds overland to cattle towns like Wichita and Dodge City where they could be loaded on trains for the East.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/30390/2001737886976791368_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001737886976791368)
Oliver Loving's ranch west of Weatherford TX on the Brazos River near Possum Kingdom
Along with his partner Charles Goodnight, Oliver Loving tried a brilliant alternative approach. Goodnight and Loving proposed to drive a herd of cattle directly to the growing population centers in New Mexico and Colorado where they could avoid middlemen and earn higher prices per head.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/26385/2001768429468546537_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001768429468546537)
The result was the Goodnight-Loving Trail, a 700-mile route through west Texas and New Mexico that eventually brought the cattle right into the booming mining regions of Colorado.
During the course of their first long and often treacherous drive in 1866, Loving and Goodnight lost more than 400 head, mainly to dehydration and drowning. But the 1,600 cattle that survived the trip brought good prices, and when Goodnight headed back to Texas his mule carried $12,000 in gold.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/27993/2001795324029830263_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001795324029830263)
Goodnight and Loving's chuckbox
Encouraged, the two men were preparing to follow the same route the next year when Loving's fatal encounter with the Comanche abruptly ended the partnership. However, Goodnight and others continued to use the Goodnight-Loving Trail, and it soon became one of the most successful cattle trails of the day.
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/26341/2004853993948930778_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004853993948930778)
Post script
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/29928/2001723309371486206_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001723309371486206)
Cattle drives have always captivated folks attention. One manifestation if the allure of the cattle drive was the TV series "Rawhide" in which a young Clint Eastwood first gained fame. Also starring was an Okie from Erick named Sheb Wooley best known for his 1958 novelty hit "Purple People Eater".
Wooley was born in Erick, Oklahoma and grew up on a farm. He learned how to ride horses at a young age, and was a working cowboy and rodeo rider. He also played in a country-western band. During WWII, Wooley was turned down for service because of his rodeo injuries. He worked in the oil industry and as a welder. In 1946, he moved to Fort Worth, Texas and became a country and western musician.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/27799/2001700877053598528_rs.jpg
Sheb Wooley (left)
Wooley appeared in dozens of western films from the 1950s through 1970s, most notably High Noon. He also appeared in The Outlaw Josey Walesand Giant. He also co-starred as Pete Nolan in the TV Western Rawhide.
In the late 1950s, he embarked on a recording career, and recorded the song that made him famous. Wooley followed up "People Eater" with a series of lesser-known novelty hits. Wooley also wrote the theme song for the long-running television show "Hee Haw".
http://aycu10.webshots.com/image/28369/2001771835632398195_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001771835632398195)
140 years ago, on this day in 1867, the pioneering cattleman Oliver Loving dies from gangrene poisoning in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. A few weeks before, Loving had been trapped by 500 Comanches along the Pecos River.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/26628/2001774092065636761_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001774092065636761)
Shot in the arm and side, Loving managed to escape and reach Fort Sumner. Though the wounds alone were not fatal, Loving soon developed gangrene in his arm, a common infection in the days before antibiotics. Even then he might still have been saved had his arm been removed, but unfortunately the fort doctor "had never amputated any limbs and did not want to undertake such work."
Oliver Loving was originally buried in post cemetery at Fort Sumner, NM. The next year, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving's son, Joe, transported Oliver Loving 600 miles on a buckboard for burial in the Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford, Texas. You see, on his deathbed, Loving had made Goodnight promise to bring his remains home. Goodnight did and made good. The headstone over Oliver Loving's grave was placed by Charles Goodnight.
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/27872/2001783708158922186_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001783708158922186)
Sometimes referred to as the "Dean of the Trail Drivers," Loving had been braving the Comanche territory along the Pecos in order to make his second pioneering drive of cattle from Texas to Denver.
During the Civil War, Loving made a few bucks driving cattle across the Sabine River to Louisiana to feed the western Confederate armies, but in the end, the CS currency he was paid became worthless.
After the Civil War ended in 1865, the Texas cattle herds were booming, but as long as the cattle were in Texas they were essentially worthless. To make money, they had to be moved over thousands of miles to the big cities where Americans were becoming increasingly fond of fresh western beef.
http://aycu20.webshots.com/image/29339/2001730788851661890_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001730788851661890)
To overcome this challenge, a number of Texans pioneered the technique known as the "long drive," hiring cowboys to take massive cattle herds overland to cattle towns like Wichita and Dodge City where they could be loaded on trains for the East.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/30390/2001737886976791368_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001737886976791368)
Oliver Loving's ranch west of Weatherford TX on the Brazos River near Possum Kingdom
Along with his partner Charles Goodnight, Oliver Loving tried a brilliant alternative approach. Goodnight and Loving proposed to drive a herd of cattle directly to the growing population centers in New Mexico and Colorado where they could avoid middlemen and earn higher prices per head.
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/26385/2001768429468546537_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001768429468546537)
The result was the Goodnight-Loving Trail, a 700-mile route through west Texas and New Mexico that eventually brought the cattle right into the booming mining regions of Colorado.
During the course of their first long and often treacherous drive in 1866, Loving and Goodnight lost more than 400 head, mainly to dehydration and drowning. But the 1,600 cattle that survived the trip brought good prices, and when Goodnight headed back to Texas his mule carried $12,000 in gold.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/27993/2001795324029830263_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001795324029830263)
Goodnight and Loving's chuckbox
Encouraged, the two men were preparing to follow the same route the next year when Loving's fatal encounter with the Comanche abruptly ended the partnership. However, Goodnight and others continued to use the Goodnight-Loving Trail, and it soon became one of the most successful cattle trails of the day.
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/26341/2004853993948930778_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004853993948930778)
Post script
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/29928/2001723309371486206_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001723309371486206)
Cattle drives have always captivated folks attention. One manifestation if the allure of the cattle drive was the TV series "Rawhide" in which a young Clint Eastwood first gained fame. Also starring was an Okie from Erick named Sheb Wooley best known for his 1958 novelty hit "Purple People Eater".
Wooley was born in Erick, Oklahoma and grew up on a farm. He learned how to ride horses at a young age, and was a working cowboy and rodeo rider. He also played in a country-western band. During WWII, Wooley was turned down for service because of his rodeo injuries. He worked in the oil industry and as a welder. In 1946, he moved to Fort Worth, Texas and became a country and western musician.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/27799/2001700877053598528_rs.jpg
Sheb Wooley (left)
Wooley appeared in dozens of western films from the 1950s through 1970s, most notably High Noon. He also appeared in The Outlaw Josey Walesand Giant. He also co-starred as Pete Nolan in the TV Western Rawhide.
In the late 1950s, he embarked on a recording career, and recorded the song that made him famous. Wooley followed up "People Eater" with a series of lesser-known novelty hits. Wooley also wrote the theme song for the long-running television show "Hee Haw".
http://aycu10.webshots.com/image/28369/2001771835632398195_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001771835632398195)