SAN ANGELO STANDARD December 13, 1982

Out Yonder -- Ross McSwain

Tales recreate hard,awkward hogherding days

MASON -- The late John Martin, who ranched in the Mason country many years ago, helped accomplish a nearly impossible mission in February 1896 when he and eight or nine others successfully drove about 400 head of fat hogs to market from the Streeter community in Mason County to San Angelo, a distance of about 125 miles.

Anybody who has ever been around hogs knows they are not the easiest animals to direct around in a pen, much less across about 125 miles of unsettled open rangeland where water holes are scarce and there are ample draws and creekbeds to lure the pesky porkers to stop and root around.

Martin's story of the 17-day-long hog drive came to light recently during a search through Standard-Times files.

According to Martin, the year 1895 had been a prosperous one for Mason County farmers. Corn cribs were full to overflowing and hundreds of bushels of corn had been left in the fields.

Martin related that his father, Dan Martin, decided he could make some extra money fattening out a bunch of hogs. He also was a cattle trader with plenty of

pen space for the porkers. The Martins found their hogs -- about 400 head of small, razorback types -- in neighboring Menard County.

The hogs' journey to market actually started the day the Martins bought them from Mann. The Martins drove the porkers about 30 miles from the Mann Ranch to their own place near Streeter.

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"We had a bit of trouble getting them to the ranch," Martin recalled in his story. "They stampeded two or three times, and at one time it seemed we had hogs scattered all over Menard County," he said.

When time came to sell the hogs, the Martins decided to drive them to San Angelo where they felt they could get a good price. The trip would be about 125 miles by trail.

Martin said about 125 bushels of corn were purchased to feed the hogs on the drive. It took two wagons to carry the corn.

The drover party included Martin, his father, Dan Martin, an uncle, Tom Martin, a black man named Bob, John Teague and about three others.

"Uncle Tom was our morale builder, telling jokes; John Teague was our singer;

and Bob was the brunt of everything," Martin said.

Martin said the hogs were fat and had to be driven slowly. His job was to saddle the only riding horse the group had each morning and ride around the hogs a couple of times to get them started. He also looked for strays.

The trail led to Menard, then up to the Kickapoo Creek.

One night while camped along the Kickapoo,the hogs were disturbed by loud howling and the bleat of a small calf being attacked by wolves, a common occurrence in those days.

"We'd find several carcasses each day of calves that had been killed by the wolves the night before," Martin said.

According to Martin, the country close to the Kickapoo was "a prairie section of low hills and tall grass. There were no trees and the hog drivers ran out of firewood. They had to cook and keep warm on fires made by soaking cow chips in kerosene.

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On the 16th day, a dark cloud came up in the northwest when the men and hogs

were about five miles away from San Angelo on the Lipan Flat. The men found a

sheltered place for the hogs and tried to bed them down before the cloud struck.

"The rain froze as it fell. The next morning was a dreary scene. It was awful -- cold and mud -- driving the hogs those last five miles," Martin said.

The hogs were penned in San Angelo the evening of the 17th day, and Martin's father made the rounds to butcher shops looking for buyers. He finally sold the hogs to three butchers for 3 1/2 cents a pound.

"Part of it was paid in cash, with the remainder to be paid in a few days. I never knew if we got paid all of it or not," Martin said.

article transcribed & picture scanned by Carol Martin