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Research
recently turned up interesting facts about the parallel lives of
two Panhandle men, one who became famous and the other who became
lost in the annals of history. Strangely, the reason for the difference
in the outcome of their lives was, believe it or not, about 500
feet in altitude. Now, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the
story.
Charles Goodnight, the famous man, and Henry W. Cresswell, the forgotten
man, became acquainted when they both arrived in Pueblo, Colo. Goodnight
established a ranching venture and Cresswell started a dairy and
grain farm. As they prospered, they became good friends.
In time, both owned and raised a lot of cattle, grazing them on
open range east of Pueblo. Both became respected customers of the
Thatcher Brothers Bank in Pueblo, which eventually grew into the
largest financial institution in the area.
As the range settled up and became over-grazed, both men sought
new grass for their herds. Goodnight drove a large herd to the Canadian
River in Texas with Cresswell going
along to see and investigate the country. When Goodnight stopped
in the Canadian breaks, Cresswell went on in a great circle to see
the wide open spaces in the northern Texas Panhandle. He was convinced
it would be good cattle country.
Less than a year later, Cresswell brought his herd down the same
trail as Goodnight traveled, settling just down the river from Adobe
Walls and his friend, Goodnight.
Later that year, Goodnight moved on south into Palo
Duro Canyon, eventually grazing over a million acres. Cresswell
grazed his herds from the Canadian
River north to the Oklahoma Strip, which included 1.25 million
acres.
They were neighbors
and friends, sold and bought cattle from each other and were prominent
respected citizens. When Goodnight was elected the first president
of the Panhandle Stock Association in 1880, Cresswell served as
vice-president.
When the famous
drift fence was built across the Texas
Panhandle north of the Canadian
River, Cresswell built east into Oklahoma
and Goodnight and others built west into New
Mexico .
Both changed with the times, accepting new barbed
wire fences as inevitable and needed. Each protected their rights
but neither turned vicious with the nester/settler problems.
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