The Bounty of Texas Page: 25
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The Bounty of the Woods
and high time too, as I only had a few scattered catches in the most
distant traps.
The next morning all the trappers gathered at the Crow ranch,
and we loaded up to head east to sell our furs, regroup, and plan the
next chapter in our lives. Mrs. Crow didn't want me to leave and
offered many inducements and fringe benefits if I would stay and
work for her. She pointed out how young I was and that I was wasting
my life with such a "foul smelling" bunch, but I kissed her fondly and
left in a hurry. What she offered was indeed the good life, but I didn't
realize that for years.
It was now beaver and muskrat season so we moved on to finish
out the years' work of trapping.
Mancel Gets Credit at the Post Office
W E PULLED into Toyahvale, Texas, early in the morning,
and mailed our furs to "Taylor Fur Co." in St. Louis, Mo. We all had
plenty of money, what with the bounties and the sale of our first
catch in Marfa. Jim took the train home as his wife was expecting a
baby. Rex, Frank, and Uncle Allen went up to New Mexico and
trapped down the Pecos River for about two hundred miles. Grandad
Maddox, Mancel, and I headed west and intercepted the Rio Grande
at Indian Springs, south of Sierra Blanca, and trapped down to
Ruidoso, about one hundred miles as the river flows. Beaver were
very hard to catch, but we managed, with hard work and persever-
ance, to get about thirty blanket-sized pelts.
Muskrats were easy. We got about two hundred of them and about
two dozen mink before we got to the store at Candelaria, where
Mancel went in to buy a few articles of food. Now, when we outfitted
the first time to go west it was in Llano and things were very
reasonable: tall cans of milk, five cents each; salt bacon, eight cents
a pound; oatmeal, five cents a pound; sugar, four cents a pound; soap,
two bars for a nickel. But at Candelaria things were more than double
in price. Considering its isolation maybe it didn't seem too bad to me,
but Mancel began to bargain slowly and whittled the prices down.
The storekeeper also bought fur and had several hundred on hand.<25>
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The Bounty of Texas (Book)
This volume of the Publications of the Texas Folklore Society contains a miscellany of Texas, Mexican and Spanish folklore, including information about hunting, canning, cooking, and other folklore. The index begins on page 225.
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Abernethy, Francis Edward. The Bounty of Texas, book, 1990; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38873/m1/37/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.