While all this hammering and pounding and digging was going on, I started with three companions and rode the country as far down as where the present town of Clarendon, Texas, now stands. We were absent about fifteen days, and upon our return we found the buildings about finished. We did not see many buffaloes on this trip. Maybe the buffaloes had scented Indians. We ranged as far east as Cantonment Creek, and on its east prong encountered a few scattering bulls. The season was too early for the cows and bulls to begin mating and running together.
On Cantonment Creek we stopped at some seeping springs. A lone cottonwood stood tall and gaunt among a few hackberries. I cut my name on this lone tree. One of the men who was with me at that time was a Frenchman, for whom we had no other name than "Frenchy," just as we had single names for many other men in the Plains country. He was an excellent cook, and I always thought he could broil buffalo steak better than any other man I ever saw.
In returning to camp, we crossed Red Deer about where Miami, Texas, now is, and camped at some water-holes. Heading northward we soon struck the brakes of Tallahone, and followed the Tallahone down to its mouth. This was a timbered creek with an abundance of running water. Perch and catfish were so plentiful that enough to feed the whole camp could be caught in a few minutes. Deer and wild turkeys were in sight all along Tallahone, and there were numerous signs of beaver and otter.
Here we crossed the Canadian at what for many years was the main crossing in this part of the country, and followed along the north side of the river to Adobe Walls.
During our absence from camp, Wright & Langton came down from Dodge City with another outfit and built a sod house sixteen by twenty feet. This firm bought buffalo hides and was engaged in general merchandising. The business was in charge of James Langton.
The buildings were finished as rapidly as possible, and every man at Adobe Walls who could be induced to engage in this kind of manual labor was given a job and paid well for his services. Each building had a big cottonwood ridge log, paralleled with smaller poles running down the roof. The poles were covered with dirt and sod. For safety and convenience in handling their stock, Myers & Leonard built a stockade corral. This inclosure was made by setting big cottonwood logs in the ground. The logs were hauled across the Canadian, from Reynolds Creek, a distance of about six miles, and was a laborious undertaking.
I had no liking for the monotony and restraint of camp life and was impatient to be about my own business, which was to find a good buffalo range and begin hunting. After remaining in camp two days, we saddled and mounted again, to go up the Canadian as far west as Hill's Creek. We crossed the river and followed the old Fort Bascom trail to Antelope Creek, where we crossed over to the Arroya Bonita, on which the LX Ranch afterwards established headquarters. The Arroya Bonita is one of the prettiest streams in the Panhandle country, with a good flow of water and lots of timber.
Here I struck the trail I had made during the previous winter, and which I now followed back across the Canadian and thence north to Grapevine Creek, where I camped two or three days. This was at the edge of the Plains. At intervals we struck small bands of bulls as we did all the way. Buffaloes were surprisingly scarce. Sometimes we killed them, and at other times did not molest them. Generally, there were from four to ten in a bunch. The scarcity of buffaloes rather discouraged us, and we redoubled our efforts to locate a big herd. We held to the east, keeping along the edge of the Plains and coming down to the Canadian between Bugbee Canyon and Big Creek. Bugbee Canyon received its name from the fact that Thomas Bugbee settled there in 1876. His was one of the first cow ranches established in the Panhandle of Texas. Charles Goodnight, whom I met first in the fall of 1875, brought his cattle that year from Colorado to Palo Duro Canyon. Mrs. Goodnight joined her husband in 1876.
We were in the Bugbee Canyon country in May, 1874. The season was delightful. The air was fresh and invigorating, the grass was green, flowers were blooming, the sky was clear, the sunshine pleasant, and a feeling of joy and happiness everywhere. Those were splendid nights, out there under the stars. The mornings came with dazzling splendor. At this season sunrise on the Plains presented a scene of magnificence. I always had the feeling that it came with a thunderous sound.
When we struck Big Creek I noticed a patch of lamb's quarter (wild greens), and I told the boys we would go into camp and cook a pot of green, which we did. We ate greens to our hearts' content.