on Five Mile Creek, in Gonzales county in 1869. In Five Mile vicinity the settlers were Carson, Sedberry, Atkinson, Killough, Gill Womack, O'Neal, Gibson, Boathe, Price, Floyd, Ward, Jeffries, Casey and others. Some of those pioneers built their houses out of oak logs, while others hauled pine lumber from Indianola and Port Lavaca with ox teams. My father, Jim Conner, built a pine lumber house in 1872, and it is still standing in good shape. Father died in 1873, and we lost the place, later moving into a log house over on the West Prong of Five Mile Creek to the old Gibson place, near which was a cattle trail. We lived on this place several years and saw thousands of cattle and horses pass up the trail. There was another trail which ran from Victoria to Cuero by Concrete on to Town Prairie two miles above Gonzales, where the two trails came together. JOHN B. CONNER I remember the summer of 1877 was so dry the creeks dried up and hundreds of cattle perished for water, and that winter hundreds of others died in piles, many of them being skinned for their hides. The first pasture fence in that section was built by John Jeffries on the head of East Five Mile Creek in 1878. It was constructed of two elm planks at the top and black wire at the bottom. In 1878 or 1879 Bob Floyd built a large pasture south of West Five Mile Creek, and made it of large split rails and finished it with two strings of elm plank and one strand of black wire. Rail and brush fences around fields were the rule in those days. When I was 18 years old, in 1885, I had my first chance to go up the trail. On the 18th of April of that year we left Gonzales, seven outfits going at the same time. We went to Kyle with 160 wild Spanish ponies and there another bunch of 400 was thrown in with ours and shipped for Wichita Falls, both horses and men. At Ft. Worth we laid overnight and day, then took the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad, struck a washed out bridge between Bellevue and Bowie, and had to take a freight train for Henrietta, leaving there at sundown, and backing up for Wichita Falls. We were all in and all over those box cars. I was outside on top when the engine turned over, killed the engineer and two negro trail hands, and I was thrown into a slough of water several feet deep. About 3 o'clock that night we reached Wichita Falls and slept in the depot. Next day we got our chuck wagon fixed up, and went to housekeeping. For two or three days we made preparations to take the trail, picking up our horses. Each man was allowed one night horse and five day horses, changing three times a day. We went to Doan's store on Red River, and crossed and went up the Salt Fork to the Goodnight ranch where we received 3,000 head of two and three-year old heifers, steers and bulls of the X brand. The horses on this ranch were branded Diamond F on the left hip. My boss was J. G. Jones. The cattle were bought by Lytle & Stevens and were bound for Colorado. As I was a young chap I was made horse-wrangler, but I had to do everything from punching drags to night-herding on the bed ground. We had some terrible storms, and stampedes, and several head of cattle were killed by lightning while we were on the west side of Red River in Greer county, Texas. We went from there to Wheeler county and crossed the North Fork of Red River, then crossed Sweetwater creek east of Mobeetie, went on to Hemphill and crossed the Wichita east of Cataline, then into Roberts county, crossed the Canadian, and on to the Staked Plains, struck near the head of Wolf Creek and on to Palo Duro Canyon. We saw where hundreds of buffalo had died on the plains, many of them killed by hunters just for their hides. In Ochiltree county we saw three buffalo and some of the boys killed one, but the outfit with next herd got the meat. At Palo Duro we struck the old trail and the stage line from Dodge City, to Tascosa, Texas. The cattle quarantine turned us from going to Colorado, and we went into Kansas, where as soon as we struck the railroad I decided to pull for home as I was not well. I went to Dodge City, the honkatonk town, cleaned up and bought a suit of clothes, and left for San Antonio, reaching home July 1, 1885. THE RUTLEDGE BROTHERS The four Rutledge brothers, Jim, John, Ed and Emmett, were well known among the early cattlemen of the state. They moved to Texas from Alabama, with their parents in the early fifties, and settled on the Hondo in Karnes county. All of these brothers, except Emmett, who was too young at the time, enlisted in the Confederate army and served throughout the war. John and Ed Rutledge each received wounds in battle. After the war the Rutledges began driving cattle up the trail to Kansas, and continued their drives until 1879. Jim Rutledge made trips with cattle to New Orleans and to Powder Horn. He was considered an expert in the art of catching mustangs, sometimes catching a whole herd at one time. Emmett Rutledge was for many years an inspector for the Cattle Raisers' Association, with headquarters at San Antonio, and was considered one of the best on the force. JESSE PRESNALL The subject of this sketch was born in Bozier Parish, Louisiana, October 31, 1849, and died at his home in San Antonio April 5th, 1916. He came to Texas with his parents in the early fifties, settling in Bexar county. While quite a young man he engaged in the cattle business which he followed until his death. He was one of the early trail drivers to the northern markets, continuing right up to the closing of the trail. No man in the cattle business in Texas was better or more favorably known than Jesse Presnall. He drove many herds individually and was interested at different times with Capt. John T. Lytle, John Blocker, Hart Mussey and others. Mr. Presnall was a strong believer in the strict enforcement of the laws of our country, and many times he rendered valuable assistance in bringing to justice cattle rustlers and outlaws. His noble traits of character will never be forgotten by his many surviving friends. At the time of his death he was operating a farm and ranch in Atascosa county, which his widow still maintains. JESSE PRESNALL GEORGE W. WEST Among the prominent figures in the cattle industry of Southwest Texas is to be found George W. West, cattleman, capitalist, town builder and philanthropist. George W. West was born in Tennessee, and came to Texas with his parents some time in the fifties, settling |