Uncle Alf Reeves, "Oldest Cowboy in Texas"


Last spring the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show at Fort Worth, Texas, conferred upon Uncle Alf Reeves, the title of "The Oldest Cowboy in Texas." Uncle Alf is 82 years old and still able to ride and rope with the best cowhands on his ranch near Hext, Texas.

Like most old-times, who have spent the greater part of their lives in the saddle, he is a great lover of horses.

"I reckon I've owned some of the best horse flesh that Texas ever produced," he said. "'Old Buck,' a big roan, was about the best horse, I guess. One night a fellow stole him--sneaked up and 'swapped' horses with me. Took the hobbles off of Old Buck, put them on his own mustang and pulled out.

"The next morning when I saw what had happened I saddled a horse right away, circled around until I found Old Buck's tracks and followed them. The country was then covered with tall sage grass that made trailing mighty hard. Ten days I stayed on that trail. Some times I lost it for awhile, but soon I'd pick it up again. It led me into Austin, Texas, (about 130 miles form the Blockhouse Ranch) where I found Old Buck in a stable."

It is interesting to note the speed with which justice was carried out in Texas in those early days. The thief that stole Old Buck was on his way to the penitentiary before Uncle Alf got back to the Blockhouse Ranch.

Always Take Best Care of a Horse

"Always take the best care of a horse," Uncle Alf advised. "If he's a good one he'll pay it all back; if he's no good take care of him anyway. You can trade him off quicker!"

Breaking to the saddle wild horses was Uncle Alf's specialty for many years. "Everybody had it to do then to keep a job," he remarked. "I just took them as they came. Some were easy and some were hell. I always claimed, though, that I could ride any horse that wore hair. But sometimes I had to try more than once to do it.

"A mean horse will pull tricks to get rid of a rider and a mean horse is always a dangerous horse. One of their favorite tricks is to rear and fall back on the rider. Some of the best riders dreaded those kind, but they weren't so bad if you knew what to do and watched your horse," explained Uncle Alf. :The was to handle that kind is to be ready and when you see the horse coming back on top of you just reach out and grab the devil by the bits and swing off to one side. Then let him fall back, if he wants to. You'll be on your feet and ready to crawl back in the saddle when he starts getting up. You have to be careful, though, or he'll paw you with his forefeet."

Roping a Wild Mustang

Uncle Alf tells the time he roped a wild mustang that jerked the tree of his saddle completely out: "The saddle was old and the leather getting rotten. When that pony hit the end of my rope he never checked but took the saddle-tree right out from in front of me and high-tailed it across the prairie. I had ot ride over to Pegleg and stay up nearly all night putting another tree in my saddle so I could be ready for work the next morning."

Uncle Alf Reves came to Texas in 1868 from Georgia with nothing, he says, "but a pair of worn out leggins, a fuzzy face and a good appetite." But by the time he courted and married Miss Charlcie Blair, of Erath count, in 1874, he had plenty of horses and cattle to start an outfit of his own.


Three years later the young couple rounded up their livestock, loaded their household goods in a ox cart and moved to Mason county. Hog Creek, in the northwest corner of the county, was their destination. There they settled and lived 14 years. Uncle Alf bossing the giant cattle herds of the late Felix Mann that grazed over four counties.

Foreman of Blockhouse Ranch

In 1891 Uncle Alf took a job as foreman of the Blockhouse outfit, whose headquarters were on the San Saba river, about twenty miles south of Brady. The famous Flying H brand of that ranch was once owned by W. H. Wheeler, of Mason, but is now owned by C. L. Martin & Sons, of Mason. This ranch used to brand about 2,200 head of calves every spring.

Although the old blockhouse on the Blockhouse Ranch ws built some time before the war between the States, it still stands in a fair state of preservation. At the time Uncle Alf moved his family int it the floors had rotted away and there was no chimney. But he made repairs--cut elm, sycamore, burr oak and hauled the logs to Pegleg to be sawed into lumber for the flooring. The attic he floored with the drain boards of a nearby sheep dipping vat. Later he hauled rocks for a chimney and hired a man to build it.

"When I hauled the rocks for the chimney," he relates, "I didn't have but one old ox. But I had a milk heifer that was always straying off the herd, so I just yoked her to the old ox and went right ahead with my work. She made a pretty good work animal."

A rather exciting incident caused Uncle Alf to build a picket fence around the blockhouse. He sometimes fed his range hogs near the house to keep them from straying. One day his little daughter, about three years old (now Mrs. Lynn Wooten, of Double Knobbs), crawled into one of the feeding troughs to play. Several men at work nearby heard the child scream and were horrified to see a huge sow carrying her off toward the river. When rescued she was unharmed. The sow's teeth caught only the child's clothing and had not penetrated the flesh.

Many Gifts From Friends

Every year Uncle Alf receives gifts from friends all over Texas. He now has eight gift hats, ranging in styles from Mexican sombreros to $25 Stetsons. He has a trunk full of neckties, though he seldom wears a necktie of any sort. Not long ago his wife did press him into putting on a tie just before his picture was taken. Lariat ropes hang in every room of the house.

"Got enough ropes to do me for the rest of my life," is his proud comment.

On the wall of his "fireplace room" hang the horns of a buck deer that cost Uncle Alf a good hunting dog. While working with his cattle out on the range a buck deer ran past him. Knowing that fresh meat was needed in camp, he pulled his rifle from its scabbard and shot the deer, wounding it slightly in the leg. It continued to run until it disappeared in some brush. Uncle Alf put his dog on the deer's trail and followed at a lope. In a little while the dog bayed the buck. When Uncle Alf took another shot both buck and dog fell dead. The bullet, penetrating at the base of the buck's horns, glanced off and killed the dog.

Mr. and Mrs. Reeves recently celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary at the ranch home, on the Mason-Menard highway. Friends, children and grandchildren by the hundreds attended the anniversary.

Of the thirteen children born to this happy pioneer couple, nine are still living.



The Hearne Democrat
Hearne, Robertson County, Texas
Jan. 10, 1936
pg 8

Uncle Alf Reeves, "Oldest Cowboy in Texas"
By FREDERICK GIPSON
206 E 22nd St., Austin, Texas.
(Copyright. 1936. by the House Color Print Co.)

Click on the photos to enlarge them
Thanks to Sean Moran for the photos below:

 

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