This project is online thanks to the:
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA General Writer's Project
Collection.
Range-Lore
Nellie B. Cox
San Angelo, Texas
Page one {Begin handwritten} Dup {End handwritten}
RANGE-LORE {Begin handwritten} - From a diary {End handwritten}
A pioneer girl of the West carried a revolver, rode bad horses, roped
cattle and herded sheep.
These activities were not carried on in a spirit of bravado or daring
but as part of the every day
work. Miss Gula B. Foote, who came to Ben Ficklin in 1876, has done
all of these things and
has kept a diary of the things she thought of as ordinary happenings
in a busy life.
Miss Foote's father, C.D. Foote, a civil engineer, came to the western
part of Texas in 1875.
The next year he sent to Michigan for his family which consisted of
his wife who was a teacher
of piano in a large school; a daughter Gula, aged nine and a small
son, Harry. Miss Foote tells in
her diary: We had an uneventful train trip to Round Rock, Texas. There
we were met by my
father. {Begin handwritten} C.12 - 2/11/41 - Texas {End handwritten}
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We then traveled in a fearful (to mother and me) manner, that is, a
brown topped hack drawn by
horses. We were afraid of every thing- principally the horses- but
we imagined worse things;
Indians, rattlesnakes and skunks. My father did all the cooking on
the trip as my mother was
never good in the culinary arts even in the best equipped kitchen.
However, through it all I was
thrilled to be going to our new home".
The diary relates that at an early age she overcame her fear of horses.
She delighted to meet the
stage at Ben Ficklin; for the driver, W. J. Ellis, after discharging
the passengers, would permit
Gula to drive the four horses hitched to the big stagecoach down to
the corrals.
Miss Foote tells of riding bronchos at fairs in competition with men
riders and of winning. She
always rode sideways- never astride. "White Bess", an Arabian mare
owned by Mr. Foote,
would permit no one except Gula to ride her.
After her father became disabled, Miss Foote took over the entire management
of their ranch,
which they named, "Kiowa Ranch". Here she bred, raised and broke to
saddle and harness the
fine horses which were the best in show ring or in actual use. She
gave them such names as
"Lady Bird", "Chaquita", "Chico". Miss Foote had nothing but ridicule
for "scrub stock".
On the ranch Miss Foote did all kinds of work even milking the cows
which is always a
distasteful job to any ranchman or ranchwoman. She tells that one Sunday
a somewhat
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shiftless widower in the neighborhood [stayed?] around the ranch all
day. When milking time
came and she started out with the milk buckets, the man sidled up to
her and said soulfully,
"Miss Gula, don't you ever feel the need of a man about the place?"
"Yes", replied Miss Foote,
"but when I do, I hire one".
The many mementoes tell of her part in the social life of the "gay 90's"
and earlier. Dance cards
filled with the names of popular gentlemen; engraved cards; pressed
flowers; photographs and
newspaper clippings attest to the fact that Miss Foote was a much sought-
after young lady in
the society circles of Ben [Ficklin?] and later of San Angelo.
After leasing out the ranch, Miss Foote sold her horses and moved to
her home in San Angelo.
She owned and learned to drive a car but always insisted that she would
much prefer driving her
favorite team of ranch horses.