The Allure of the Flint Hills

"Matfield sits on the western side of the South Fork, against the brow where the uplands drop to the river terraces and then rise again a half mile eastward to run brokenly to the Flint Hills escarpment.  The hamlet is snugged in enough to make me believe that with a terrific heave, I could throw a rock up and out of the valley onto the the uplands; it is this compression of river and trees and simple dwellings, hidden from the prairie sweep, that give the village its unornamented, if decrepit, charm and keeps its name from being a hoax."

-William Least Heat Moon, Prairy Erth.

At least five generations of my family have been drawn to the allure of the Flint Hills.  In my search for the root of this attraction I am indebted to the work of Joseph V. Hickey, Jim Hoy and William Least Heat Moon.  Their vivid descriptions of the land and the people who inhabited it have provided me with a rich backdrop for understanding the people and places that are my heritage.

I have come to think of the Flint Hills in feminine terms much like a sailor thinks of his ship as a “she”.  Her gentle breezes through the tall grasses tempt men like the ruffle of a woman’s skirt or a soft kiss.  Her perfume lingers over the prairie beckoning you to follow.  She is a temptress whose soft voice seems to whisper, “Come to me. Like the red tailed hawk souring above, I will set you free”. 

Yet she is a fickle mistress.  Her soft breezes can suddenly  become tornadic winds that destroy men’s lives. Without warning, her warmth turns frigid leaving men stranded and alone in the icy cold of a winter blizzard. As if on a whim, she moves from drought to flood without a care or concern for the lives she destroys in the process.

But she will not set you free. Like the Sirens of mythology, she calls men back with sweet promises. “Come back to me,” she whispers.  “It will be better next time.”  Women cannot compete with the power she holds over their men.  Like the wives and lovers of the sea captains of long ago, they wait and hope.

  

Pioneer women followed their men into the Flint Hills in search of the dream.  Often times it was not a dream of riches or wealth, but of a paradise on earth where one could derive sustenance from the land itself. The Flint Hills promised bountiful wildlife and fertile valleys.  If a man had a strong wife and many children, the land would provide the rest.  For most, it was an empty promise.  Families withered and died from starvation or the harshness and unpredictability of the climate.  Those who survived, remain loyal to the land and the dream.  They are rooted to the soil in ways others cannot understand. It is against this rich background that I begin to piece together the tapestry that is the beginning of this legacy.  

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The End of an Era

My grandfather died a few weeks before I was born so I never knew him.  In honor of Father's Day, I am posting a memory of my Grandfather, written by my mother, his daughter several years ago.

Let me tell you about my dad.  Newton Guy Cauldwell was his name.  Everyone in town called him "N.G.".  Mom called him "Guy", and we, his children, called him "Pop".


He was born to Will and Melvina Cauldwell on March 7, 1887. They lived about 8 miles north of Madison, Kansas in what was known as the Number 1 District.  This means it was the first school district in Greenwood County.  As a matter of fact, the school was only about a half mile from his boyhood home.


He use to tell me about how his mother would get him ready for school and pack his lunch and send him down the road.  She would stand at the door and watch him until he reached the bend in the road, because he was prone to play hooky.  Once he reached the bend, he would turn, wave to her and run towards school, but once out of her sight, he would duck into the orchard and hide until school was out in the afternoon.  Then he would come home as though he had been in school all day.


All good things must eventually come to an end.  Finally he was caught and Grandpa told him that either he went to school, or he went to work.  Dad became a man and put aside his school books and boyish ways.  He completed only four years of school.

It was at about this time that the Trail Drive Era in the Flint Hills of Kansas effectively came to an end and gave way to the Railroad Era transforming the Flint Hills cattle country into a major cattle shipping point on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad line.  The romance and lure of the great cattle ranches drew many young men away from the drudgery of farm labor and they hired on as ranch hands to help round up the cattle from their summer grazing pastures and bring them to the railhead for shipping. A major part of preparing for the summer cattle included the repairing of fences and replacing of water gaps that were washed out by spring rains.  Pasture season began in early spring when the dominant grasses of the tallgrass prairie were beginning to green. Massive general fires were set to burn off the previous year's dead grass and promote new growth. Trainloads of cattle would be unloaded at the Flint Hills railheads in the spring, many of which were thin and weak and required special attention if they were to be saved. Those that had their health, on the other hand, could be wild and skittish and difficult to drive.  Others, after having been put in the pasture, would sometimes crawl through fences or walk the cattle guards and wander off.

It wasn't an easy life by any means.  Days often began at 4:00 a.m. and continued late into the night, but there was plenty of work and wide open spaces. Grandfather's lack of education was irrelevant to the times and the work of the cowboy...and then he met the school marm.

The Cowboy Spirit

 “As another necessary consequence to possessing true manly courage, the cowboy is as chivalrous as the famed knights of old. Rough he may be, and it may be that he is not a master in ballroom etiquette, but no set of men have loftier reverence for women and no set of men would risk more in the defense of their person or their honor.”

(Texas Live Stock Journal. October 21, 1882.)

“The term “cowboy” was supposedly coined in Texas. When the Civil War began in 1861, the Confederate Army needed every able-bodied man available, so the women, children and slaves were left to run the big cattle ranches by themselves. Suddenly young boys took over the responsibilities of their older brothers and fathers. Because they learned the roping and riding techniques that were necessary for maintaining the herds of cattle, they were called cowboys. Eventually the term was used to refer to anyone who herded and tended cattle, regardless of his age.”

“The cowboy traveled very lightly; every article of clothing and equipment had to be functional, serving a multiple of purposes. His wide-brimmed hat, which evolved from the Mexican sombrero, served as a screen from the blistering sun, a water dipper and as a pillow at night. His long-sleeved flannel shirt and leather vest had plenty of pockets for holding small items, like tobacco, rolling papers and perhaps a harmonica. The colorful bandanna around his neck was used as a towel, a tourniquet or sling in medical emergencies, and a mask during dust storms.” (Helberg,1982: 4)

Instead of shining armor, these “knights of the plains” were dusty and dirty and often smelled bad from long periods of sleeping and working out on the range.  Yet, there was a gentleness and a general sense of moral goodness beneath that tough demeanor. They were often loners who relished the wide open spaces and solitude of the prairie.  There was no need to develop social skills on the prairie.  As a result, relationships were often difficult and conversations tended to be short and stilted.  Yet these same men who found it so difficult to show their emotions and feelings openly were often capable of great tenderness and passion. The same hands that could punch a man to death if pushed to it, could also help birth a newborn calf or gently cradle a baby.

“Altogether cowboys are a large-hearted class of fellows...the constant communication with nature...the days and nights of lonely cruising and camping on the prairie, the uninterrupted communion with and study of self which this occupation affords, tends to make young men honest and noble.” (G. Shields, author, 1886).  These men were fiercely independent and often questioned or rebelled against authority.  They were used to living by their own rules and code of honor. The cowboy’s relative isolation and work environment both contributed to the development of a distinct cowboy culture, based on the frontier values of the American West: self-reliance and individualism with a healthy dose of the blues. 

When there was too little rain for ordinary farming, but enough grass for grazing, cattle ranching became dominant. In the mid 1800’s much of the Great Plains became open range, hosting cattle ranching operations on public land without charge. In the spring and fall, ranchers held roundups where their cowboys branded new calves, treated animals and sorted the cattle for sale. Such ranching began in Texas and gradually moved northward. Before the railroads arrived in Texas the 1870s cattle drives took large herds from Texas to the railheads in Kansas.

Overstocking of the range and the terrible winter of 1886 resulted in a disaster, with many cattle starved and frozen to death. From then on, ranchers generally raised feed to ensure they could keep their cattle alive over winter.  With the end of the great cattle drives, cowboys became hired hands, lived in bunk houses on the ranch and took care of feeding and rounding up the cattle for sale. My grandfather was such a man—small in stature, but larger than life in many ways, and fiercely independent.  It is no wonder that my grandmother, the school marm, was attracted to him.