Another unarmed cowboy in the old west

[Dave]

A while back I told about Peter French's crew being attacked by Indians and only having one gun for the crew. Well, recently I read a book about Ben Snipes. He was referred to as the Cattle King of the Northwest. A while back I shared one of the stories of an epic ride he made. He became extremely wealthy raising cattle in south central Washington and driving them to the gold fields up in British Columbia. His first such drive occurred in 1855. Ben and two young Indians drove several hundred steer up to the goldfields. This was about 600 miles of uncharted wilderness. Unlike the Texas cattle drives where you were headed to a rail head or some form of civilization, this was going from unpopulated wildress to farther into the wilderness. They had to swim the Columbia River in two places. This is about the time that the Indian wars were happening here. Before he left his main man, who was staying behind to watch the cow herd, advised him that he should take a gun. His reply was why would he need one both the Indians each had a gun.

He went on to grow a few hundred cows bought on credit into 150,000 head. He made some epic trail drives. And legendary rides to avoid outlaws. But through it all he never packed a gun. At one point he owned much of what is down town Seattle. He diversified into banking and the bank panic of 1893 bankrupted him. Some time after the dust had settle and he had lost everything one of his old ranch hands met him on a trail. He was herding along one lone cow. The cowboy asked him what he was doing. He said that he owned that cow and he was taking her to slaughter house and would go buy two with the money. As the cowboy rode on his way he shook his head and said anyone but Ben Snipes couldn't do it. But Ben...... When he passed away in 1906 he owned a small ranch with 100 cows.

My wife's great aunt was married to a man who rode for Ben. He died when she was pretty young and all she remembers of him was that he was tall. Ben's parents are buried on a hill top 6 or 7 miles from here. Ben is buried in the town we go to for shopping.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Always figured a cow was better than a piece of paper.

 

[callmefence]

Always figured a cow was better than a piece of paper.

I reckon you aint tried putting one in your pocket yet.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

Always figured a cow was better than a piece of paper.

I reckon you aint tried putting one in your pocket yet.

I never tried for it, but I've had a couple end up there. Paper is a more comfortable fit. Good stories Dave.

 

[greybeard]

It is a good story and a tribute to his tenacity.
But I do have to wonder, about how many unarmed cowboys there were no stories written about because they died pretty young or quick and didn't make it long enough to have those stories told of them....

 

[Dave]

I think there were more of them than a person would think. Hollywood put a gun on the hip of all of them.

A good Ben Snipes story is how he took a herd to Barkersville B. C. in the mid '60s. The town was full of gold but empty of food. He sold the cattle for a bundle in gold. An Indian woman warned him of some half breeds who were planning murder and rob him on the trail back south. He told the Indians who had helped him drive the cattle to buddy to those half breeds in the saloon and tell them that Ben planned to stay around for a couple days visiting friends. In the middle of the night he slipped out of town. For two days he rode only at night but rode all night. He avoided any travelers who were going north. Once he reached Washington he didn't take the normal route which would have meant swimming the Columbia. He figured that the gold he had weighed too much to risk the swim. He took the much rougher route down the west side of the river. In six days he rode 600 miles from Barkersville back down to his home in The Dalles, Oregon. And he did that ride on a mule.

 

[greybeard]

Hollywood, and the dime novels that were popular back East at the time.

 

[snoopdog]

Great story

 

[backhoeboogie]

Hollywood, and the dime novels that were popular back East at the time.

No one knows of all the trail drives to New Orleans that went on for decades. All you hear about are the drives north that went on for barely over a decade. Dime store novels is exactly right.

 

[Bestoutwest]

I think there were more of them than a person would think. Hollywood put a gun on the hip of all of them.

A good Ben Snipes story is how he took a herd to Barkersville B. C. in the mid '60s. The town was full of gold but empty of food. He sold the cattle for a bundle in gold. An Indian woman warned him of some half breeds who were planning murder and rob him on the trail back south. He told the Indians who had helped him drive the cattle to buddy to those half breeds in the saloon and tell them that Ben planned to stay around for a couple days visiting friends. In the middle of the night he slipped out of town. For two days he rode only at night but rode all night. He avoided any travelers who were going north. Once he reached Washington he didn't take the normal route which would have meant swimming the Columbia. He figured that the gold he had weighed too much to risk the swim. He took the much rougher route down the west side of the river. In six days he rode 600 miles from Barkersville back down to his home in The Dalles, Oregon. And he did that ride on a mule.

You should check out this book, from the history stuff you post I think you'd find it interesting. There's a story in there about a man walking around in northern Vermont that was fun to read b/c I knew everywhere he was going. There's another where the Indians are about to attack so they put all the women and children in the armory and will blow them up to save them from the Indians. Really wild stuff.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Courage ... dpSrc=srch

 

[True Grit Farms]

Here's a good read, some fiction some truth. When he writes about the ranches in Fort Pierce he's writing about my great uncle and uncle. Real cowboy's that carried guns and knew how to use them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Land_Remembered

 

[greybeard]

Hollywood, and the dime novels that were popular back East at the time.

No one knows of all the trail drives to New Orleans that went on for decades. All you hear about are the drives north that went on for barely over a decade. Dime store novels is exactly right.

One of the trails East was the Oppelusus Trail, another went to a rail line that loaded cattle at Kaplan, not far from Abbeville, but I believe that track was destroyed by a hurricane in the very late 1800s..

One of the early Texas ranches was the White Ranch that's still near High Island today. I've seen some very old pictures of them driving their cattle East to New Orleans. They were still doing it in the early 20th century too.

http://www.texasescapes.com/AllThingsHi ... -204AM.htm
http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/opelousa.htm

 

[backhoeboogie]

Hollywood, and the dime novels that were popular back East at the time.

No one knows of all the trail drives to New Orleans that went on for decades. All you hear about are the drives north that went on for barely over a decade. Dime store novels is exactly right.

One of the trails East was the Oppelusus Trail, another went to a rail line that loaded cattle at Kaplan, not far from Abbeville, but I believe that track was destroyed by a hurricane in the very late 1800s..

One of the early Texas ranches was the White Ranch that's still near High Island today. I've seen some very old pictures of them driving their cattle East to New Orleans. They were still doing it in the early 20th century too.

http://www.texasescapes.com/AllThingsHi ... -204AM.htm
http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/opelousa.htm

I've read a great deal of WT Block's work. He was awesome and published (captured) a whole lot of historical facts

 

[Dave]

One of the real telling things about Ben Snipes story is not that he got along with the Indians or avoided the outlaws but that it was lawyers who ended up taking him down. Before the bank panic one of his banks was robbed. Ben spent a bunch of personal money investigating the robbery. They caught the robbers. A lawyer told them that he could get them off but he wanted to get paid up front. The amount of money he wanted was the same amount as they had stole. The wife of one of the robbers got the money out of hiding and gave it to the lawyer. He did get them off. The robbers went free, the lawyer got the money, and Ben was left holding the bag.
When the bank panic hit some lawyers got him put into receivership. They then picked him clean. Selling off all of his assets for pennies on the dollar. It doesn't say so but I would bet that those assets were sold to friends and relatives. In the end Ben had nothing and the depositors in his banks got 7 cents on the dollar.
The moral of the story is don't worry about the bad guys. bad cows, wilderness, or weather. It is those guys in three piece suits carrying brief cases into the courthouse who will rob you blind.

 

[SmokinM]

An honest man can't work for a crook.

 

[greybeard]

It is those guys in three piece suits carrying brief cases into the courthouse who will rob you blind.

Same holds true today, but including the suits in them big stately buildings in state capitals and Washington DC.

 

[backhoeboogie]

One of the real telling things about Ben Snipes story is not that he got along with the Indians or avoided the outlaws but that it was lawyers who ended up taking him down.

I've googled and read many things about him. Thank you. Why did he dissolve his partnership with Jeffries ?

 

[Dave]

One of the real telling things about Ben Snipes story is not that he got along with the Indians or avoided the outlaws but that it was lawyers who ended up taking him down.

I've googled and read many things about him. Thank you. Why did he dissolve his partnership with Jeffries ?

I have never seen a definite answer to that. My thoughts are that Ben didn't want a partner. He was an, I want to do it myself guy. A risk taker. A hands on guy. Just an independent man on a personal level. Jeffries was more of a home body. The money man who hired the help done. I believe they remained friends and did business with each other. Just not partners.

He did inspire loyalty. Jobe, an Indian, who was his main man stayed with him until the day he died. I know grandchildren of men who rode for him. Nobody has a bad word to say about Ben. That is unusual for someone who acquired the wealth that Ben did. If for no other reason then people are jealous. He made himself very wealthy but he remained humble. And he always treated people right.

I was down in The Dalles this morning. I can only imagine what it was like to ride up over the Columbia hills and see bunch grass that went on for miles. Not another person or livestock. Just grass free for the taking.