Page 96 - February Sun Rays

Left: A promotional poster providing a
Continued from the previous page
longhorns in their herd. The process was
going smoothly until a steer Ace had roped
flanked his horse, knocking it over. Ace
slammed into the ground, unconscious.
One of the other cowboys, seeing the inci-
dent, dashed over to help. In his haste the and 28 members of crew.
cowboy tripped and fell, breaking two of
Ace’s ribs. Though he was in terrible pain, The drive took place during one of the wet-
Ace was back in the saddle and branding
once more the very next day - he never
missed a day’s work.
The drive began in March 1995, departing
94 | SUNRAYS FEBRUARY 2017
from the historic Fort Worth Stockyards
with a token head of 40 steers. Cheering
crowds lined both sides of the street to
wave them off. Additional cattle were col-
lected after clearing the city, resulting in cowboys faced in the 1880s. Part of the
a final tally of 253 longhorns, 105 horses
test springs on record. The second night
out it poured rain and blew a gale. Ace
found out his new tent would have to be
replaced. Fighting the wind and rain, they
rigged it back up with ropes and stakes,
rough outline of the route taken by the
members of the drive.
Below: Ace’s spurs.
cheerfully observing that there were only
six months and 1,500 miles and to go!
Rain – sometimes all day and all night,
sometimes off and on, most of it seemed
to come down in buckets. They sloshed
through mud and more mud. All the gear
was wet, the insides of their slickers were
wet. The wind blew and it was cold. Atti-
tudes and tempers suffered, but the cattle
just took it in stride.
Driving the herd in modern times was
more challenging than the journeys
route led them down highways, which they
shared with vehicles. The crew navigat-
ed their herd alongside numerous cars,
trucks and 18-wheelers who tried to get as
close to the cattle as they could for photos,
as well as many thoughtless drivers who
had no regard for anyone’s safety, steer
or otherwise.
Narrow roads posed their own unique
challenges. On one occasion, the cattle
had been spooked and, in true Hollywood
fashion, sparked a stampede. A Lincoln
Continental Town Car had been coming
toward the herd down the same road and
stopped dead in its tracks. Longhorns al-
ready closest to the sides of the car sim-
ply went around, but those in the middle
chose to go up on the hood, across the top
and down across the trunk of the vehicle.
After the stampede had passed, the Lin-
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