It was supposed that, of course, the oxen must perish
during the winter. But next spring the owners were surprised to
find that the oxen, so far from perishing, had flourished very
much--indeed, were fat and in good condition. So runs the story
which is often repeated. It may be true, but to accredit to this
incident the beginnings of the cattle industry in the Indian
country would surely be going too far. The truth is that the cow
industry was not a Saxon discovery. It was a Latin enterprise,
flourishing in Mexico long before the first of these miners and
adventurers came on the range.
Something was known of the Spanish lands to the south through the
explorations of Pike, but more through the commerce of the
prairies--the old wagon trade from the Missouri River to the
Spanish cities of Sante Fe and Chihuahua. Now the cow business,
south of the Rio Grande, was already well differentiated and
developed at the time the first adventurers from the United
States went into Texas and began to crowd their Latin neighbors
for more room. There it was that our Saxon frontiersmen first
discovered the cattle industry.
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