1941 Cattle Drive

Join us on a captivating journey back to 1941, as we explore the legendary cattle trail drive led by Bill Fischer (Sam's grandfather) and his crew. This episode delves into the challenges and camaraderie of a bygone era, featuring tales of thunderstorms, rattlesnakes, and the resilience of cowboys. Discover the rich history and personal anecdotes that bring this remarkable story to life. Don't miss this unique glimpse into the past, where history meets adventure on the open trail.

Transcript

Sam Fischer  (00:17.582)
Greetings listeners. Thought I'd have a kind of a between the seasons podcast for you today. I've been thinking about this one for quite some time. Just never got around to doing it and it will be sold today. No guests. This is the story of the 1941 cattle trail drive that my grandfather had when he first started the herd of his ranch.

fascinating story and it is actually I'm gonna read from a story a publication called the fence post which was published on May 14th 2005

This story was told by the only remaining cowboy of that particular cattle drive, the only surviving cowboy who later passed away. But I think it's an interesting piece of history. If anyone's seen the movie City Slickers, then they might sort of identify with this, but it's a little more real than Hollywood. This actually happened. So I'm gonna go through it and then at the end of it,

There are some comments from my Aunt Frances, who is my grandfather, Bill Fisher, his sister. away we go. A little story today on Cowboys Not Eggheads. A 1941 trail drive through Western Nebraska told by Alex Lobner to his daughter Garnett Storer in April of 2005.

Early on an April morning in 1941, a trail crew made up of Mike Nielsen, Vic Rice, Pete Fisher, Everett McCormick, Alex Lobner, Bill Connors, and Bill Fisher took off with about 600 cows, calves, and yearlings heading for the Sunyslope Ranch outside of Valentine, Bill Fisher was the trail boss.

Sam Fischer  (02:29.88)
Bill Connors was trail cook and drove a pickup with a shell-like cover over it. This was the chuck wagon. He laid down the tailgate and used that for his table. He had a kerosene stove and some type of oven because he was able to bake cakes while we were on the trail. He fixed lots of biscuits, beans, and canned food. Bill was a good cook and had learned the trade in the Army.

Everett McCormick drove a team of six horses that pulled a hay sled carrying cake to feed the cattle. There was, and for listeners, cake is the protein pill. There was a small pin on the back to carry the little calves that were born on the trail. The rolled up mattresses that the crew slept on were also on the hay sled. Pete Fisher was Bill's brother.

Keep in mind, Pete Fisher turned the age of 15 on this particular cattle drive. Vic Rice and Mike Nielsen were hired to help move the cattle. Since Fishers and Lobners were close friends, Bill asked me to help on the cattle drive. In return, Bill Fisher sent his hired man with a tractor and a planter to plant the corn for my dad, Herman Lobner, since I wouldn't be there to do it. This is my way to...

This is my pay for helping with the cattle drive. Bill Fisher and his brothers, Albert and Ernie, owned the ranch and needed to get them to the new ranch. They owned the cattle and needed to get them to the new ranch. Each cowboy had two of his own horses for the drive. My horses were Dusty and Omaha. Dusty was a fast walker, so if the cattle strung out, Dusty and I took one side of the herd. Early that morning in April,

We left the Frank Barber place, who's my great grandfather and my Bill Fisher's father-in-law. We left the Frank Barber place and headed north on the Keith Garden County line, east of Llewellyn, Nebraska. There were problems getting started. The cows would go fine, but the little calves would run back to where they had...

Sam Fischer  (04:38.434)
they had been and go under fences. We had to take some cows back to get the calves to come with the herd. The extra horses followed the cows usually along the sides of the herd. Only about seven miles was accomplished on that first day. That first night we stopped at the Valgot place east of Jake Hunnigers. There were corrals but no one lived on the place. We paired up the cattle for the night and bedded them down.

The next morning we were up and ready to go at first light. The herd continued north to the George Schmemmel place and onto the main road, now County Road 203. Following the road to the ranch owned by Vernie Kempling, we arrived around noon. Here we ran into a problem. The renter came along and got angry because we were on his land.

Bill had to pay $25 to noon there. Now I looked that up listeners and $25 in 1941 is about 568 bucks today. So that was a chunk of change. I mean, I think it was significant. We hurriedly, just to be in somebody's Lampert hour, we hurriedly ate and turned the herd east into the George Williams Ranch now owned by Conrad Lobder. Here we camp for the night.

pairing up the herd, which was a nightly job. Virgil Valentine, who worked for Williams, had a deck of cards that we borrowed so that we could play away the evening playing cards. The family gave us the tattered deck of cards to take with us. The next morning, the cattle were pushed north-northeast to a ranch run by Foreman Knight Low.

who also owned several hounds. Knight with his hounds was sitting around and talking when 16 year old, actually he wasn't quite 15 yet, Pete Fisher started whining and howling. And if you knew my uncle Pete, he's the guy that I always quote on here as saying, seen a lot in my life.

Sam Fischer  (06:54.294)
or seen a lot of change in my life, been against most of it. Anyway, if you knew my Uncle Pete, he was a teaser and I can completely see him stirring up these hound dogs. The hound dogs got into a terrible fight, which my Uncle Pete started or helped start, which doesn't surprise me. Night was pretty upset with Pete for that incident. It proved to be our excitement for that day and night. Several evenings and nights, thunderstorms came up.

If it looked like a possible storm was coming, we would try and find an east fence and bunch the cattle along the fence to keep them from drifting during the storm. Lightning flashed and streaked the ground. Thunder crashed. It was scary. We were out in the storm on our horses watching the cattle. I would get off my horse and stand beside it during the storm, letting the horse shield me from the weather. One night a rainstorm came up after we crawled into bed.

We slept on thin mattresses in a row with a tarp thrown over us for cover. It rained, the water collected on the top of our tarp between us and began to soak through. One by one, we abandoned our beds. Bill Connors was at the end and the water ran off him, so he was not bothered. When I jumped up, I stepped right on him. If the rain continued during the day,

We hunkered down in our slickers and pulled our hats down around our ears trying to keep most of the rain off. There was a period of about three days of steady rain. During that time, we never took our boots off. If we removed our boots, we couldn't pull them back on. Unless there's having actually been on many cattle drives in the rain myself, it is miserable. So three consecutive days of that would be

It would make a cowboy out of anybody, trust me. If the weather was stormy, each of us took turns at night, which lasted about two hours. We slept in our clothes so it didn't take us long to get ready for our watches. I always had the first ship. When my time was up, I returned to camp and woke up ever McCormick. Often I returned the herd.

Sam Fischer  (09:13.528)
Often I returned to herd with Everett and rode around the cattle with him so it wasn't so lonely. Mike Nielsen always got up very early so he had to last watch until the herd was ready to leave in the morning. When the weather was nice we bent the cattle down and all of us could get some sleep. We crossed through several ranches. I remember crossing the Herman Ranch and the Wuffadin Ranch. One night we stopped at another ranch owned by an elderly woman.

she offered us the bunkhouse for our night as well as coffee and rolls. We were pretty cold so we snapped up that offer. Now keep in mind this is April in Nebraska and it probably got into I would say the 40s on some nights and if it was raining it would just again it would have been miserable so I'm sure they they were pretty appreciative of that bunkhouse. Bill Fisher always rode ahead and laid out the trail.

He had to contact the ranchers whose land we were to cross. Sometimes the ranchers themselves rode across the ranch with us cowboys in the herd, or they sent a hired hand to ride up with us. One rancher rode across his ranch with me. He told me about raising Morgan horses. Someone's work stud got into his herd of Morgan horses. The two stallions fought. The rancher worried that his Morgan stallion might not survive the wounds.

received in the fight. So that's what they talked about. We arrived at the South Loop River, a little creek. The cattle, hay sled, and pickup crossed over with ease. However, when we reached the middle loop,

North Loop. He wasn't quite sure which one as dictated in the story. We had a terrible time finding a place where everything could get down to cross to the water to cross. The banks were too steep for the hay sled and the pickup. After some diligent searching a crossing was discovered and everything made it safely to the other side. Soon, soon we arrived. Are you serious?

Sam Fischer  (11:24.204)
Sorry about that listeners. Somebody's trying to call me on this.

Sam Fischer  (11:32.428)
Soon after we arrived at the railroad that ran through the Monahan Ranch and we crossed it east of Whitman, Nebraska, Bill Fisher headed into Mullen to replenish the supplies. One day, Everett McCormick had an accident. He borrowed a knife from Vic Rice, who had the habit of always sharpening his knife. Everett was trimming his horse tails.

listeners, I wouldn't do that down the middle of the pasture. I just wouldn't. And why wouldn't I do it? Well, because when he pulled down on the horse's tail, it must have been a rat, the knife stuck. And when it came loose, it slashed down, cutting a deep hole in his thigh. So they're in the middle of nowhere and this guy's got a pretty nice little wound in his thigh because he was being an idiot.

I don't know if he's being an idiot, again, I wouldn't have done that. I would never do that to my horse's tail unless I had the horse in a pen where I could control a lot of things. But anyway, Bill Fisher took him to the doctor in Hyannis where clamps were used to close the wound. When he arrived in Valentine, he was to see the doctor and have the clamps removed. While in Hyannis, Bill replenished our supplies, which were running low. Another day, I noticed

I noticed first one cow and then another turned out and walking into a certain spot in the trail. Right over I found two large rattlesnakes lying there. I grabbed my rope and beat them to death. I don't think he did, but we'll just leave that in the story, shall we? I don't think you can beat a rattlesnake to death with a rope. Maybe you can. I don't believe that, but God bless him. It's his story. We passed the Kennedy Post Office in the schoolhouse.

The teacher and her students were out on the step watching us go by. I stayed up by the step and visited with them as the cattle passed. If the herd

Sam Fischer  (13:34.734)
stop anywhere near any blowouts, would search for blowouts for arrowheads when I wasn't working. I only found part of one arrowhead. And most listeners aren't going to understand what that reference is too. Actually in the Sandhills, Nebraska, people go arrowhead hunting because there are actual still arrowheads buried out in the sand out there. And when I say arrowhead, was arrowhead.

for my video people I showed it. It's an arrowhead. It's made out of stone or flint or something, but it's an actual arrowhead that Native Americans used years prior. So that's what he's talking about in the blowouts in the arrowhead. Finally, on the 20th day of the drive, the herd arrived at Sunnyslope Ranch on a Saturday with the loss of only one cow that wandered off and had not been missed. Some rancher ended up with an extra cow in their spring roundup.

Bill Fisher took us into Valentine for supper and bowling. While there, Everett, along with me for support, went to the doctor to get the clamps removed. Remember, the guy stabbed his freaking thigh with a freaking knife. The doctor didn't have the correct tools needed to remove the clamps, so he used needle-nose pliers. With tears streaming down his face, he squeezed my hand and I squeezed his.

I think he's talking about Ever here. Yeah, yeah. With tears running down his face being Ever, he squeezed Alex's hand and Alex squeezed his as the doctor twisted and turned the clamps, prying them out of his thigh. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Sunday, Bill took us to the Harms Ranch, neighbors to his new ranch. We spent quite a while

returning to the Sunnyslope, quite a while of visiting, before returning to Sunnyslope to rest. Monday Czech Reich arrived with the Bulls in a semi truck. Now that's fascinating me because I don't think

Sam Fischer  (15:39.33)
Highway 83 was built in 1941, yeah, and I could be wrong. So this guy had a semi out on dirt roads, miles and miles from any, I mean, I'm sure highway two was there, but we're talking, you know, 40 miles on dirt roads. This guy had a semi with their bulls. Even I had.

had planned to lead the horses back home or Everett and I had planned to lead the horses back home and since the semi trailer were there the horses were shipped back by truck so that saved those guys taking all those horses all the way back. Of the seven cowboys on that cattle drive I am only living. I'm the only one that's still living. I enjoyed the experience and the camaraderie of my fellow cowboys. I was

pleased with it enough with the trip except during the thunderstorms.

I frequently talk about this trip to my grandchildren, grandchildren, anyone who asks. There aren't too many left who can say they went on a real trail drive braving storms, sleeping outside on the ground and eating chuckwagon food. It was quite an experience. So that's that kind of ends the article in the fence post. And then my aunt who

also has a letter in here and she's not going to be happy. She passed away years ago but

Sam Fischer  (17:20.382)
Anyway, I'm reading this simply out of history, not out of disrespect for privacy of my family. I don't think there's anything too crazy in here. This is her recollection of the story. In the fall of 1936, Bill went with S.P. Delatorre to Texas to buy Hereford Bulls. Now, I will tell listeners, if you Google S.P. Delatorre, the guy was an absolute bonafide businessman and cowboy of Nebraska for many years.

very influential cattlemen. So my my granddad Bill and S.P. Delaporte went to buy these Hereford cows. My grandfather told of this event when they went to the Denver remember they're going down to Texas so when they got to the Denver train station the train only stopped on their way back the train stopped all along to hook the cattle cars onto another train. S.P. told Bill

to go to a nearby cafe for hamburgers and tell them SP sent you. Back in the days when that actually meant something. The cafe was crowded, the bill got prompt service, and was back on the train just in time.

Not only Llewelyn residents, but people from all over had great respect for Delatorre. He was a very shrewd businessman. He was known to go to Texas annually to buy yearlings to run on his ranch. They railroaded the cattle to Omaha in the fall. Most of Delatorre's ranch land is now owned by Ted Turner. He has Buffalo instead of cattle. And again, if you Google S.P. Delatorre, D-E-L-A-T-O-U-R, you will find more out about him.

Well, we're still talking about it. When Delatorre is 93 years old, he deeded 22,750 acres of his ranch and an irrevocable trust to his son Ben to be sold within 10 years and the money divided between several charities. Father Flanagan's Boys Town got a big chunk of it. His son Ben kept all the mineral rights on it. S.P. Delatorre died on November 28th, 1943 at the age of 95.

Sam Fischer  (19:31.586)
Bill had his father, Chris Fisher, who was my great grandfather, a carpenter by trade, make a six horse evener so all the horses were to pull an even amount. On the second day out on the drive, pulling the hay sled, loaded heavily with cattle cake, going through the sand, the evener broke. Bill made a hurry trip back to Llewellyn, getting his dad lumber, probably.

10 feet by three inches from lumber yard, took it to the local blacksmith, Knox Bradley, to have it reinforced with iron. They made the rest of the trip without incident. It's a very good example of my grandfather fixing stuff. He did that all his life, even when I knew him into his 70s. When the cattle went past a little country school,

The teacher and the two little girls were standing on the steps. Alex Lobner visited with him. Again, Alex Lobner is the guy who told the story I just told.

Alex lobbed her a visit with them when the cattle were passing by. He noticed the girl standing close to the teacher. He asked them if they liked their teacher. They nodded their heads yes. Then he said, don't you think she's pretty? Again, they nodded their heads yes. Alex always had the ability to make friendly conversation with anyone. Maybe that's why he she's a good storyteller. In order for the Knight Rider to find their way back to the camp, they had lit a

kerosene lanterns they had lit a kerosene lantern inside the pickup so you again this is Western Nebraska it's dark there's no lights out there at all it could this is where they have international stargazing conventions because it's darkest place on earth and when you're done when it's dark and unfamiliar territory they had a simple solution to the problem simply by having that kerosene lantern inside the pickup

Sam Fischer  (21:27.45)
One has to remember that dollars were scarce. They barely had enough cowboys. There weren't any cameras on the drive. Vic Rice owned the only watch. The only one of the cowboys had a watch. They shared it with the Knight Riders, taking two hour shifts on stormy nights. The Knight Rider would have the watch, strike a match. He didn't have a cell phone flashlight or a flashlight. had a match. Strike a match to see if the shift was over. He would ride back to camp.

wake up the next rider giving him the watch. Wesley Clark was to be the cook but he became ill on the second day out so Bill Connors then became the trail drive cook. The men ate very well as he baked biscuits pies and cakes. He used a broken pitchfork handle for a rolling pin when making pie crusts etc. In the early 40s the cooks didn't have the convenience of book cake excuse me of box cakes mixes everything was made from scratch.

Bill Fisher, when writing head contacting the ranchers for permission to prosper property, he would often buy milk, cream, and eggs from the ranchers' wives. Now most farmers and ranchers get their eggs and dairy produce from the grocery store.

Sam Fischer  (22:45.624)
My grandfather Bill was very pleased with the guys he had helping him, the cowboys, and that included Connors as the cook. So Pete Fisher, again, my Uncle Pete Fisher, the guy that used to call me a girl all the time. I mean, my first lesson in teasing came from Uncle Pete.

My mom, kind of a sidebar, my mom, he'd always tease us. And that's my first experience is being teased as a child. As my great uncle Pete would always call me out, here's, look at the girl, the girl's here. And of course, as a, you know, eight, six, eight, 10 year old boy, don't, you really call it a girl. you know, what are you supposed to tell this guy, older guy who's giving you hell? So my mom once told him, uh,

you know, well next time he calls you a girl, say, I'm doing pretty good, Aunt Pete. So I did that and I just remember him saying, if you say that again, I will kick your ass over that fence. anyway, rest Uncle Pete. But he was 15 years old.

when he started on that cattle drive and he turned 16 on May 1st and Bill Connors made him angel food cake. Connors often took an angel food cake to the Garden County Fair. He took great delight in getting first prize from ladies. He did this year after years. Connors had been a cook in the Navy for seven years serving World War I. Connors must have...

Connors must have made a lasting impression on the Fishers as Ernest became, or my uncle Ernest became an army cook in World War II and Pete ended up becoming an army cook during the Korean conflict. The road to the ranch was in such poor condition, the semi couldn't travel to the Sunnyslope Ranch. When the bulls were trucked up there, they were unloaded five miles from ranch at Harold Harms Ranch.

Sam Fischer  (24:42.926)
The Cowboys' horses were loaded for the return trip back to Garden County. Corrals and scales were built at the Harms's. Bill had to drive cattle there for a number years before the roads were improved. So they were so bad that we had to use the neighbors' corrals to truck cattle.

Bill Fisher had other things on his mind besides getting cattle to Sunyslope Ranch. After cattle were at the ranch, Bill went to Lincoln to get Edna Barber, was Frank Barber's daughter.

and they married, if you want to Google Frank Barber might find some stuff. They were married on June 5th, 1941 at Hardington, Nebraska. He came back to Llewellyn so that we could, we being the family, could meet the bride. They went back to the Sunnyslope. The previous owners of the ranch, George Christopher, had a large family and financial problems so they lost the ranch.

It was bought from an investment bank.

The place was leased for several years before finding a buyer. The fences all needed much repair. Ernest Fisher, Bill Fisher's partner at the time and his brother went to the ranch on March 1st. Was very busy repairing fences, etc. He had to get back to Garden County as he was as he was drafted for the war. He left Garden County via train for Llewellyn and several men got on the train at Oshkosh. They were inducted into the army on June 13th.

Sam Fischer  (26:22.575)
1941, Friday the 13th in Cheyenne, Wyoming. They were discharged in October of 1945. Albert, my other great uncle, my Bill Fisher's brother also, retired to help, was running the barber place until he went into the Army September 1944.

and he got out in November of 1946. Bill Fisher managed both places, the barber place and the sunny slope, which is really both Frank Barber's stuff, until they came back from the war. Later the partnership was dissolved and Bill Fisher took over. Bill was a very hard worker all of his life. He was always looking for better and more efficient way to do everything.

He was trustworthy and loyal to family members, friends, and neighbors. Yes, he was.

Now, here's the little funny part. My Aunt Frances really didn't want anybody to share that and she actually puts it in here. The above information was compiled from the memories of Bill's relatives. It is not to be published in the Fence Post or anyplace else. Well, sorry Aunt Frances, it was published on Cowboys Not Eggheads. I hope she can forgive me because I do believe that this story is quite historical in nature.

Not just from my family standpoint, but just from the times that we're talking about only 80 years ago. My grandfather, as I've discussed previously in this podcast, when he died in 1986, he had two ranches, the Sunny Slope Ranch and the Powderhorn Ranch.

Sam Fischer  (28:15.758)
I grew up in the Powderhorn Ranch with his oldest son JB, who we've talked about before. So I hope you enjoyed today's podcast. I'm not sure when we're coming back. I'm really not in a big hurry, but I want to make sure that whatever I do do will be.

quality content and today I think I provided some quality content for you. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review. Remember that I'm on YouTube now so subscribe to Cowboys Not Eggheads on YouTube and you can watch my radio podcast face, record some videos here, and hopefully we'll have guests coming soon in the next season. Thanks for listening.