The Saw-Horned Cattle Company Summary

Jeff was mesmerized by the discussion of the forts, Indians, and Comacheria. Talking to Jeff they could see the excitement in his eyes, so they told him that if he ever got the courage up to come out they would give him a job with their company, the Saw-Horned Cattle Company. Cattle rustling was a big problem in the region, and so to distinguish their cows from others they would simply saw the long-horns off rather than branding them, hence the name. (Haley, 17) This lit a fire inside of Jeff and he began saving all of his money for a good horse, saddle, tack, spurs, lariat, weapons, and leather to hold them. Seeing the passion in his eyes, a relative of James Yarbrough, Parham, donated to the cause by providing Jeff with a .44 caliber
set out on this three-hundred-mile journey, and didn’t want to see him go. The three-hundred-mile journey was long and over hard and rugged country, but he loved every minute of it. He felt a sense that he was finally getting closer to what he had been searching for……life on the range. The frontier where they were headed was known for its violence, so the thought of anyone going there was concerning. Over the previous thirty years it had been one of the deadliest places on the frontier, and although the threat had dissipated some with the end of the Red River Campaign, violent raids from Comanche Indians and outlaw bandits were still a common occurrence. Not all of the Indians had been killed or captured, and it was still not uncommon for them to sneak off the reservation and conduct raids. A majority of the raids on the northwestern frontier were believed to be conducted by Comanche and Kiowa from the Fort Sill reservation in the Indian Territory, but non-reservation Comanche were also suspected, and they inhabited the Llano Estacado, just west of where they were headed. Jeff was desiring dangerous adventure, and working with the Saw-Horned Cattle Company didn’t just make it a possibility, it was a