The Legend of Eli CrowChapter 47
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When they finished unloading the flatcar, they headed back to the house. Smitty, Leon, James, and Albert were on the wagon and Eli drove.
“Smitty, I need to have a talk with you. Want to walk down to the river with me?” Eli asked.
“Sure Eli, let me get a drink from the pump and I’ll be ready.”
“I’ll meet you out front.”
Eli went through the house and into the kitchen where the women were fixing supper.
“Corinne, come go with me,” Eli said.
“Eli, I’m not sure about this now. Can we wait for another time?” she knew what was about to happen.
“Corinne, get up and come with me. I want you to meet a good friend of mine. He’s a really good man and I think you’ll like him,” Eli said firmly.
Corinne stood up from her chair, shook her long dress out, fluffed her hair, and with her shoulders back, she stood straight and walked out with Eli.
Smitty was sitting on the front steps when they walked out on the porch. He stood and looked at Eli, then Corrine.
“Smitty, I want you to meet a good friend of mine, Corinne Vasher.
“Corinne, this is Smitty. That’s the only name I got for him, I reckon he’ll tell us if he’s got another one,” Eli said.
Eli watched as the two looked at one another, not smiling, but not looking away either.
“Miss Corinne, it sure is good to meet you. I saw you the other day and was hoping I’d get to know your name,” Smitty said as he took her hand and held her long slender fingers in his.
“I saw you too, Smitty, and I was afraid of you at first. I mean ... I wasn’t really afraid of you, I was afraid of how you made me feel when you looked at me. You’re such a big man, but I’ve decided that I like big men now,” Corinne said. She wasn’t afraid of Smitty anymore, but she knew she was talking like a young girl.
“Miss Corinne, I like tall skinny women and you sure are a fine, handsome woman – if I may tell you that.”
“Thank you, Smitty. Will you tell me your name, now that we’ve met?”
“I’m Harold. Harold Dean Watson. I kinda like Smitty though, since Eli started calling me that. But you can call me what you like.”
They had started walking down the slope toward the river, when Eli stopped and told them he’d forgotten something.
“Y’all go on and I’ll catch up to you,” Eli said ... When he got to the porch and looked back down the slope, they were walking side by side, talking like old friends.
Eli started in the door and all the women were peeping through the door glass at Smitty and Corrine. Lorene was there with Howard and they were both smiling that her younger sister was talking to a man for the first time in years.
“She’ll be alright, Eli. She might take that big man down on the ground right there on the river bank in broad open daylight, but she’ll be alright now,” Lorene said, smiling.
The next morning when the men met for coffee before breakfast, they were planning their first drilling site.
“Eli, Leon and me have been thinking about where we’ll set up the first derrick. We both agreed that it would be a lot better to get away from the railroad far enough that we don’t have a lot of nosy onlookers,” James Petersen said.
“He’s right, Marshal. When we first started drilling back east, we had so many folks walking around asking what we were doing, we had to make them leave to so we could do our work,” Albert said.
“If we move back to the far northeast side of our land, we’ll need a water well for sure and we’ll have lots of equipment to move back there too. Do you think we need to go that far?” Eli asked.
“Eli, we need to be out of sight of the railroad, if we can. As far as we know, no one has drilled for oil in these parts before. We sure don’t need this to get out and folks start pouring in here like they did back east. Once we hit oil, the news will get out anyway and folks will be coming from everywhere to Tulsa to start their own drilling companies. You may want to start buying up oil and mineral leases,” James said.
“We already got plans to do that as soon as we can. What will we do with the oil, once we drill down and hit a big one way back there?” Eli asked.
“We’ll need storage tanks back there and pipelines buried to bring the oil to the loading point on the front side. We can be doing this while we set the first derrick.”
“Are all of you that sure we’ll hit oil back there?”
“Marshal, we’ll hit oil on your place, no matter where we stick a drill in the ground. We need to order storage tanks and pipe to be shipped in. We’ll drill a big water well first, then we’ll start laying transfer pipe for the oil.”
“How will we make the oil run all the way to the railroad spur to load it?” Eli asked.
“We’ll need steam pumps to run the drilling rigs, since we don’t have electricity here yet. Eli, you may want to think about buying some small steam engines and even some of them big steam tractors. The tractors can also run the pump jacks from the flywheels with wide leather belts. We can use them to pump the oil from the storage tanks to the rail loading facility too. You’d have the tractors to plow with later, when we get electricity out here.”
“I saw two of them big steam tractors when we went up to Kansas City, I’d like to have a few of them anyway. Y’all make a list of all we’ll need, be sure we got what it takes. I want to hit oil in a big way and I want to be ready to load it in barrels and tanks on the train.”
“Eli, we can buy some used railroad tank cars back east. There’s plenty just sitting on side tracks back there, good ones too.”
“So if we buy our own tank cars, the freight will be cheaper?”
“That and we’ll never have to wait for empty tank cars. We can have them parked on the loading spur and the side track. Once we get to moving a lot of oil from here, we’ll have loaded cars leaving and empty cars returning all the time. We can ship them anywhere there’s a railroad, so we get the best price too. We won’t have to take another man’s price just to empty our tank cars.”
“How many do we need to buy, to start with? Jon David can get the names from you and get started makin’ deals on them now.”
“I suggest fifty. If we buy in big lots, we can get better deals and we’ll need that many before the first year is over. From there, I see your company owning as many as five hundred and upwards to a thousand tankers to handle both the Tulsa, and Little Tree, Texas, loading points.”
“Dad, if we strike oil down on the Pecan Ridge location, do you think the railroad will run us a spur over there from the Frisco?” Jon David asked.
“Jon David, check on that for us. They’re already setting the roadbed to grade right up to the edge of unassigned lands. You can bet, they’ll not stop there. See when they’ll have that part of the railroad finished into Texas and how close it will come to Pecan Ridge. Tell them we just moved twelve thousand head of cattle from down there and we may need a spur for our other businesses too,” Eli said as they all smiled. This was about to get big.
“Jon David, I have some friends in Kansas City who can put us in touch with the right people in the Frisco Railroad,” Howard told him.
“Find out their names and I’ll send them a telegraph message asking for permission to propose a spur. I’m sure they’ll want to keep that new railroad busy, to recover their expenses,” Jon David said.
“If we start drilling the water well now and laying pipe to bring the oil up to the spur, when will we drill the first oil well?” Eli asked.
“We should be ready to set the derrick and drilling platform by the time your hired hands get here. It will take us quite a while to dig a ditch to bury the pipe all the way up here. But when we get through, we’ll have connectors and shut-offs in place to connect the other storage tanks along the main pipeline as we drill more wells.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, Leon. What if I build a really big plow and we plow a deep furrow all the way from the back side to the front side, then lay the pipe as we connect the joints?” Smitty asked.
“We’ll need the pipe at least a foot deep; can you build a plow that will plow a clean furrow that deep?”
“I can build it, but we may need to buy some more mules to pull the thing.”
“You build it, we’ll put a twenty-mule hitch in front of it if we have to,” Eli told him.
“Eli, if Smitty can build that plow, we can have the pipe laid and all the connectors in place in less than a month’s time. With no rain to speak of, that is,” James said.
“I’ll start on that tomorrow,” Smitty told them.
“Eli, I hate to ask this, but the three of us are flat busted. Is there anyway you can advance us enough to keep us going, until we start making money?” James asked.
“You just sit tight. I never thought to ask if any of you needed money. I’ll be right back,” Eli told them.
He went upstairs to his stash and got four of the bundles of hundred dollar bills he’d taken from T. F. Miles, and gave a bundle to each of them.
“Here’s enough to see you through until we can start selling oil. When you get ready to buy something for the oil drilling rigs, tell me and I’ll pay for it with Crow Oil Company money,” Eli told them.
“Eli, this is five thousand dollars! I was thinking of more like a couple hundred,” James said as he looked at the money.
“You’ve already earned this much and we’re not even started yet. If what you four men have told us is true, I figure all four of you will be millionaires in a few years.”
“Eli, we already know you’re right. We just can’t make ourselves believe all this is really happening. We worked our asses off back home, hoping to make enough money to live on the rest of our lives when we got old. Just about the time we got it all going good, the boom went bust and we were back working twelve hours a day for someone else again,” Leon said.
“Men, we’re gonna ride this oil boom all up and down Indian Territory. We’re gonna work our asses so hard, you won’t have time to spend your money. We’ll let Jon David and his wife handle all the money when it starts coming in. That way, when we get it all up and going, we can sit on this hill and watch that river run south and them trains leaving here pulling Crow Oil Company tankers loaded with our oil.”
Smitty started working on his idea of a huge plow the next day. He envisioned one that would plow a deep furrow in the soil from the Barkley brother’s land on the backside of Crow Lands, all the way to the loading spur. It took a week to build the heavy wheels and running gear for the big plow, then another week to heat and fashion a plow point and plow share, with a moldboard big enough to roll that much soil out of the furrow.
He built a depth gauge with a long lever that took three men to raise the plow share off the ground. He made a hitch at the back, just in case they had to pull the plow backwards, when it went too deep. When he had it built and assembled, he knew it was too heavy to pull across the river. He dismantled the plow and they hauled it across on wagons, making five trips to get the heavy plow across.
Albert had helped him put together trace chains and double-trees for a twenty mule hitch. By the time Smitty reassembled the plow and was ready to try it out, Eli, Moses, and Duncan had brought forty mules over. They’d use a twenty mule hitch, with an additional twenty mules standing by to spell them.
With full leather harnesses on twenty mules, collars and hames in place on each mule’s shoulders, they hitched ten teams to the giant plow. The men, women, and kids of the Crow family, Iron Hammer and his Cherokee brothers and kids, and the Barkley brothers and wives were all there to watch the big plow work.
Smitty walked beside the huge steel wheel on the right side of the plow, as Moses, Joe, Leon, and James all pulled the lever back to release the catch on the depth gauge. Smitty had his mules walking by the time the shiny plow point sliced into the rich red soil. Deeper and deeper it went, as the mules leaned into the harnesses.
When the shiny point of the plow share leveled out, the mules already had a good step going. Leaning harder into their harnesses when they felt the load, the mules walked toward the windmills at the loading pens, far in the distance. The big plow was rolling out a long wide ribbon of dirt on the right side of the deep furrow, leaving it open and clean on the bottom.
The boys and girls ran to jump down into the furrow, standing waist deep as they all cheered and clapped their hands. Corinne ran over to where Smitty was walking at a fast step beside the giant plow. Walking beside him, she pulled him over and kissed his cheek. He handed her the leather reins and let her walk with him as the mules and plow did the work.
The women laughed at Corrine, but they were proud for her and Smitty. Miranda ran over to Eli and hugged him as he walked beside Smitty and Corrine.
Leon, James, and Albert were walking on the opposite side, next to the big, wide steel wheel, as they looked the plow over. They were smiling that they didn’t have to dig this deep trench by hand. They looked across the wide, slow rolling iron wheels and grinned at Smitty as he beamed a smile back at them.
The next week and a half was spent laying sections of two inch, cast iron pipe. They’d started on the Barkley brothers land, then down through Crow Lands, and on out to the loading spur.
They put tee connectors in the pipeline every two hundred yards and capped them, to be connected to more storage tanks, as they drilled more oil wells later. Another long trench was plowed, this one across Cherokee lands then, on across Crow lands to the loading point by the railroad. They laid pipe there too, so they’d be ready when the drilling started to expand, and the oil began to flow from all the wells.
By the time they had the pipeline in place, the storage tanks were arriving on flatcars. They hauled them two at a time on flatbed wagons, hooked in tandem and rolled them off at the places they had marked to set them.
Before they started driving the water well on the north side of Crow Lands, Eli and the other marshals had to leave on a trip up toward the Kansas border.
When they were packed and ready to leave out, all the women lined up just as they had in Fort Smith, to send them off with a hug and well wishes. This was the first time Miranda saw them leave on a trip. This was the first time she wouldn’t be with Eli since she arrived here. Miranda was crying as he held her and told her he loved her.
They had hoped her parents would have been here by now, but they’d been delayed when her grandmother became ill.
“Your parents will be here by the time we get back, we’ll get married and start our family then,” he told her.
“Eli, we already have a baby in my belly. You be careful out there. Come home safely to me and our baby,” she cried.
“I’ll be back in a week or so. You get your schooling started and you and Sissy plan for them babies.”
Crow Ridge Cattle Company Tulsa, Indian Territory June 12, 1884:
“Eli, we saw that big package we got in the mail, what all was in there?” Duncan asked as the four of them rode north at a fast lope.
“Looks like we got us another one of them big land owners who wants to have it all. Any of y’all ever heard tell of dynamite?”
“I heard tell of it, never did see or hear it blasting personal though,” Duncan answered.
“I saw it one time, over at Fort Supply. The cavalry was digging up stumps to build a new supply house next to the fort, and they used some dynamite to blow the stumps out of the ground,” Moses said.
“What does it do, Moses? I never even heard of it,” Joe said as they rode four abreast at a fast walk.
“When they set that stuff off, you’ll think your ears are gonna bust open, it’s so loud. They made us get way back from it before they set the charge, they called it.”
“What does it look like, Moses, you ever see any of it?” Eli asked.
“It’s just a round stick near ‘bout a foot long and as big as two fingers. One man said it was just wrapped up paper, holding the explosive stuff in place.”
“How did they make it explode? Did they just throw it at the stump?” Joe asked.
“No, they had a blasting cap and some long rope-like fuses. They clamped a blasting cap on the end of fuse, then pushed that cap into the stick of dynamite. When they lit the fuse, they run like hell. The fuse had powder in it and it burned right up to the cap, setting it off. Then that little explosion set the dynamite off.”
“What happens then? I mean how bad is that stuff?” Duncan asked.
“They’d put one stick down a hole under a stump, and it would blast a stump loose from the ground. Two sticks would blow that stump up in the air like it was a feather.”
“WooooWeeee, that sounds like some bad stuff. Eli, why did you ask us if we’d ever seen or heard of it? I reckon the men we’re after uses dynamite, is that it?” Duncan said.
“The warrant papers said the man was using dynamite to clear the land south of Coffeyville, Kansas, and dam up the Verdigris River for his own water. It even told about his men blowing up folk’s houses with them inside, if they didn’t sell off their land to him.”
“Some folks just ain’t satisfied are they? They just want it all no matter what they’ve got to do to get it,” Duncan said, shaking his head in disbelief.
The terrain was becoming rougher than they’d experienced so far. The fifty miles took them almost two days, as the trail twisted and turned, and back tracked through the jagged rocks of the first foot hills as they came closer to the Southern Rockies. By the mid-afternoon of the second day, they had ridden down into a big grassland that covered most of the valley. The horses were hungry for fresh grass and they stopped to let them graze near a cool, clear river. Juni and Tin Yu were naked...
Sissy and Joe came home while they were still sitting around the table. Joe was wearing a Deputy United States Marshal’s badge, grinning that crooked grin, and Sissy was hanging on him like she was shackled to him as she came in grinning. “We’re married, Daddy. I’m a wife now and I love my husband. Judge Parker married us and he cried, he was so happy that we let him. He told us not to worry about that trouble over in unassigned lands, he would take care of it.” “Momma, I’m taking my man...
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“Sundy, you put this shirt on and slide over here on my horse with me. We’re going up there and scout this trading post,” Eli said as he unlocked her shackles and pulled a buckskin shirt out of his saddlebag. “Marshal, you be watchful of Sundy if there’s shootin. We’ve took a liking to her and want to see her do good, now that her kin have been arrested,” Jessie said. “I’ll be alright, I know Marshal Eli will keep me safe,” she said as she hugged her thin body to his back. “Duncan, I’m...
“This big horse wants to run, Duncan. You want to make some time?” “Let him run, Eli. We have almost 700 miles due west to ride and I’m ready. It’ll take us over 2 days hard riding to get to Tulsey Town, over on the Arkansas River.” The two deputies rode hard for over an hour and then slowed their spirited horses to a long easy lope as they talked and laughed as friends, starting a partnership that would be remembered in Indian Territory and surrounding states for years to come. The...
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Doctor Harrod came out just a few minutes after Eli and Jefferson walked into the lobby and sat down. They both jumped up as soon as he came through the door, hurrying to meet him. “Doc?” Eli said as he looked at the young doctor. “Duncan is fine. He’s sleeping now and you’ll both be able to see him in a few hours. I drained the wound where the injury had become infected. There was a bone fragment just as I thought. It was wedged in a clump of hair that had pushed into the tiny skull...
Indian Territory June 15, 1884: “Eli, look at all them dark clouds down yonder south of here. I sure hope we don’t run into any bad weather on the way home,” Duncan said as they rode on into the late afternoon after getting Joe patched up. “I’ve been watching them too, Duncan. I hope they’re between us and home, I’d hate to know our place was being hammered by storms.” By nightfall, the dark storm clouds had moved east of where they were heading, but the air was still damp and heavy like...
With the arraignments and hearings coming up for the criminals that Eli, Duncan and Moses had arrested in the past weeks, they were all required to be in the courthouse most of each day for a week. After that, they were told by Judge Parker they needed to be on call for another week as the prosecutors, lawyers, and public defenders obtained information from them. Though this was a rough two weeks for the three of them, who were used to being out in the open. They did enjoy their time at...
The next morning early, the three had ridden no more than half a mile from camp, when Eli pulled his horse back. “We got riders coming in, hold up and get your guns ready,” he told them. They were suddenly surrounded by sixteen members of a cavalry patrol, handguns drawn and hammers backed. “Stand your position men, United States Cavalry here. You’re trespassing on government property,” a big sergeant in front of the troop yelled. “Mister, you best put them pistols away before we shoot...
As the three rode back to the courthouse, they felt good about the girls going to learn about nursing. They felt good about getting to ride out together again too. Jefferson had their warrants, since Judge Parker was already in court for the day. “Eli, this big horse wants to run some, let’s get stretched out and make some miles. It sure does feel good to be out here again,” Duncan said. They poked their horses up to a good hard gallop and let them run for miles before they pulled them...
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A week after the marshals returned from their last trip, Eli rode across the river to Tulsa with Little Eli and the other boys and girls. The young’uns thought they were almost grown now, getting to ride the big high stepping horses all the way across the river with him and going to the post office at Perryman’s. He gave them enough money to buy some candy and even some gum, for the first time in their lives. The boys saw some baseball bats, gloves, and balls and each of them wanted baseball...
December 27, 1884 Tulsa Depot Tulsa, Indian Territory Jon David and Joe were at the train depot when the train pulled in from Kansas City. Jon David had gotten a telegraph message that there would be twenty-one, young Negro women aboard the train arriving on the twenty-seventh. There were only two Pullman cars and a caboose connected to that train. The preacher from the Negro church in Kansas City had made the trip down to Tulsa, escorting the young women personally, since the young women...
Indian Territory October 5, 1884: As the light of dawn began to spread across the plains, they harnessed the mules and hitched the teams to the wagons. They were all ready to meet the others at Pecan Ridge Cattle Company and start the pecan harvest. They saw how the nearby trees were loaded with pecans and knew this pecan crop was going to be a big one. Eli and Moses had been out before dawn, riding the western perimeter. Duncan and Joe had also been riding the eastern perimeter behind...
They did make that trip in September. Eli wanted the family to visit their hotel in Santa Fe then come back through Albuquerque on their week-long trip. They even made it down to Las Cruces to stay two nights at that hotel before heading back home. Eli knew the women would be having babies in the spring and he was already planning trips to Kansas City after the babies were born. In April of 1890, Eli took his Cherokee brothers, Iron Hammer, Iron Hand and Iron Eyes, with their families for a...
Tulsa, Indian Territory Sunday, July 28, 1889 While Moses, Isaac and Little Eli were loading the horses, the engineer yelled and waved to Eli again just as he stepped down from the Pullman carrying Little Eli’s traveling bag. “Marshal, if we’re gonna make a fast run down to Abilene like you want, the fireman will need some help from your bunch to keep up the steam,” he yelled above the noise of the locomotive. “We’ll ride up here with you. I want to keep this this thing red hot and smoking...
Miranda turned and sat sideways on the top rail as she watched Little Eli run over to get on his horse. Lee Yu, Lilly Beth, Kia, and Michi were all waiting for him. They all waved to her when they saw her looking. She felt like getting off the fence right then and grabbing Eli Crow. She was so in love with him and his family. No matter if it was right in the middle of the cattle pens, and right in front of all the men, she could have thrown him to the ground and loved him right here. They...
Across the small hotel dining room, there were three well-dressed men wearing tall white hats, drinking coffee and smoking fat cigars. One of them moved closer to sit at the table nearest the Young Bucks. “Excuse me please, but did I hear you say you have an exceptionally fast horse bred from Cheyenne horse blood?” The man asked from behind Eli. Eli turned to look back at the man, “Yes Sir, we sure do. He’s never been beaten in about thirty races,” he told the man. “We’re here to meet the...
After their meal, they rounded the young’uns up and headed them back upstairs. The elevator had to make two trips to get them all to the top floor. By the time they had the younger ones settled and into bed, it was after ten o’clock and they had a busy day planned for tomorrow. The baseball game started at one o’clock and they were scheduled to play two games before dark. The grownups talked for another hour before heading off to their separate rooms and to bed. They still wanted to spend...
“Trapper, there are at least two dozen turkey-buzzards circling overhead back west of here,” Micah told him as they rode north. Trapper and the others turned their horses to look back to where Micah was pointing. “Looks like we could have a fresh one for you men to check out. Let’s get on over there,” Trapper said and spanked his horse with his reins. They topped a small rise to see at least two dozen more buzzards on the ground tearing into a dead calf. When they rode up, the buzzards...
After their performance on their first assignment in Colorado back in October of 1896, the six Young Bucks’ names became well known at the Western District U.S. Marshal’s Service office in Kansas City. During the next two years they were called upon time and time again to settle disputes. They were sent to the Missouri border town of Fort Scott, Kansas, to help settle a railroad union dispute that had already gotten out of hand with clashes of violence by the time they arrived. With strong...
“We’ve never been up this way before, Daddy. Where are we going?” Little Eli asked. “We’re going up the Arkansas to the rough country where the Pawnee and Osage Tribes join lands. We’ll camp on the Arkansas and we’ll have our own school for you boys out here.” They had crossed the Arkansas River in a northwesterly direction, then followed along the west side of the river until mid-day. The boys were told to bring nothing but jerky in their grub bags, they were going to survive on what the...
Kansas City, Missouri July 21, 1889 Eli and Isaac were up and dressed, after washing up from a wild time the night before when they’d had champagne sprayed all over them and made love on the balcony. They were sitting out on the balcony again, looking down on the sprawling city below as people began to stir and fill the streets. The girls came out laughing and talking about the fun, crazy time they’d had last night. They were bathed, dressed and ready for a day of shopping and sightseeing...
Upon their return to Tulsa from racing Cheyenne at Vinita, Little Eli had met with Bill and Jack Robertson that day, asking them about making a lightweight saddle just for Cheyenne. After measuring and fitting him with the special built saddletree and pad, they made a saddle with no high pommel and no saddle horn. There were no fenders, just leather straps that supported the small brass stirrups. This saddle was half the weight of the working and pleasure saddles they used on the ranch. As...
October 1, 1881 While Eli was getting his latest prisoners turned over to the jailers, Jefferson left the courthouse through the back door and ran out to saddle his horse. He rode hard up the back way, cutting across an open lot and through someones yard as he raced home. He didn’t take time to put his horse in the barn, he knew Eli would see it anyway. He jerked the saddle off and turned his horse in the cow pen. When Eli rode into the yard later, it was almost sundown and there was no one...
When they arrived in Durant, the sun had been up a few hours and Eli herded them to the hotel. The fireman and engineer went with them as the local railroad workers filled the reservoirs with water and oiled the locomotive for them. This was the first chance Eli had for more than a few words with his Bucks since they’d boarded the caboose in Abilene. Eli and Moses sat across the table from them in the dining room and looked at each of them as they talked to their brothers and their...
“Kit, would you and Ruby want to wear buckskins like we do?” Caleb asked as they all talked, ate, and became friends. “We sure do. Marshal Eli told us we could, and said he’d even give us our own horse,” Kit answered. “We’ll have to round up our horses in the morning and see how many we have now. Daddy may have to get more horses from our friend, Iron Hammer. He’s the main man in the Cherokee Tribe that owns all the lands around us,” Little Eli said. “Momma told me we could all go down to...
Crow Ridge Cattle Company Tulsa, Indian Territory Thanksgiving Day November 27,1884: “Here come the Buffalo Soldiers, they’re crossing the river now!” Isaac yelled as he jumped off the back porch, headed toward the barn where the men, the girls, and the rest of the Bucks were gathered. The women had run the men and younger ones from the house so they could finish cooking and get the dinner ready. This was to be the biggest feast and biggest celebration they’d had to date. The men, the...
After an early start in the cold hours of morning, they rode hard and steady all day, stopping to relieve themselves twice and eat from the grub sack. They made Kansas City, Missouri late in the day as the sun was sinking behind the cold flat horizon, across the river in Kansas. They stopped at a big fancy hotel and registered as Eli and Rose Crow. The desk man was hesitant at first to let the two Half-Breeds stay in his hotel, but saw the Deputy U.S. Marshal badge and the Indian Police...
“ELI! You’re back. Did you get the last one? Dal said you thought there was a woman with them too,” Sam Connor greeted his grandson when he came through the back door, stomping the mud off his feet. Eli was soaked, his buckskins wet and clinging to his body, his moccasins filled with mud and water. He hadn’t even put his long coat on when he left Young’s Store. The back of his coat was shot out anyway. “They’re all taken care of, Grandpa. How’s Grandma? She alright after all this?” He...
When they reached the river’s edge, Kit laid the fuses and caps on a stump. Ruby handed Kit a stick of dynamite and picked up a cap and a short fuse. Eli and the others watched as she inserted the end of a fuse into the open end of the blasting cap, then put her fingers about an inch from the end of the brass. She stuck this short end of the exposed brass into her mouth with the extra fuse trailing down her chin. They could see her straining her jaws as she bit down on the brass, clamping it...
Eli had planned their trip himself and since he wanted them to stay a few days in Boones Crossing without being in a rush, he decided to take his dad’s advice and travel to Kansas City first then come back to Boones Crossing. Though he and Isaac didn’t wear their guns, they did have their knives on their hips, with their guns packed in their traveling bags. Both were dressed in buckskins and their girls dressed in finery like the other women traveling on the train. They ate one meal in the...
Saturday October 3, 1896 Crow Valley, Oklahoma Territory “Let me see that map again, Deuce,” Ezra said. He stood next to Eli and Isaac as they looked at the map. They had just gotten their first orders as Deputy United States Marshals two days ago, and the six of them were excited as they saddled up. They’d packed the night before and already had their two packsaddles loaded with tents, food and supplies for at least a two-week stay once they reached their destination. They were being sent...
Dal Hopkins had been half asleep, half-awake as he worried about his town. He heard a man whisper something behind him in the cell. Was he dreaming? Could it really be? HE KNEW THAT VOICE... He’d know that voice in the middle of a windstorm on the plains or in a howling snowstorm on top of a mountain. No matter where on earth he was, he would know that voice... Eli was here. He knew it was him! How – he didn’t know, but that was Eli Crow behind him, he’d bet his life on it. “Marshal,...
Eli knew he had a battle on his hands convincing the mommas of his sons and daughters that his plan was the best way to keep the Bucks, the Crow girls and the rest of them from having babies and still let them spend time with their friends. He figured the best way to handle this was to get them all at once and get it over with. Miranda, Clarissa, Tin Yu, Catt, Eva, Rose, Sissy, Suh, Juni, and Grandma were gathered together out away from the others. Eli wanted all of them to listen to what he...
Boones Crossing, Kansas July 23, 1889 Little Eli, Kit, Ruby, and Isaac arrived in Boones Crossing early, making the short trip from Kansas City in only a matter of two hours. They had accompanied their friends to the train station the evening before and watched as they boarded the train to Colorado. This was a tearful parting of new friends with all of them vowing to meet again soon. The McInnis sisters especially took it hard, sobbing as they sat on the train and waved out the window to...
Crow Ridge September 1, 1896 “Come on in, Ezra. Your dad and I wanted to talk to you before you head back to Crow Valley,” Rose told her son. Jefferson was sitting up in bed with the covers pulled to his waist. “Dad, are you feeling any better?” Ezra asked as he walked over to sit at his bedside and lay his hand on top Jefferson’s right hand. “I feel better today, Son. This has actually been one of my better days in the past few months. “Dad, I suppose I’ve always taken for granted that...
When the Buffalo Soldiers rolled in from Little Tree with empty wagons, all of them jumped in and loaded them as quickly as possible. There were fifteen more loads to ship after they held back the last three loaded wagons to take to Tulsa. Willis turned fifteen of his men right back around, telling them to get on back so they could all head over to Tulsa and start learning to be oil well drillers. The next morning early, Eli and Jon David were sitting by the fire outside, drinking coffee...
Eli knew he had to get over to the women as soon as he could. He saw them laughing and talking with Analisa, pointing now and then toward where he stood. Even Sissy, Miranda, and Grandmother were huddled with the young Mexican woman, whispering and laughing. When Catt and Eva pulled her aside, they were laughing aloud and Eli knew it was time to go. “I see all of you have met Analisa. I hope you’ll make her welcome. I’ve asked her to work for us when we get back to Tulsa,” Eli told them when...
Two weeks earlier, when Duncan and Eli had split as they arrived in Tulsa, Duncan felt alone as he rode north toward Kansas. Though he’d been a deputy marshal for over two years when he met Eli, he’d grown to like hid friend so well that he missed his company and the friendship they shared together on their trips into the Territory. He rode into southern Kansas two days later, after riding late like he and Eli often did when they first met. He wanted to hurry and do his law business, then...
The men of Crow Ridge Cattle Company loaded the second trainload of cattle bound for Kansas City and knew there wasn’t time to load another fifteen cars before dark. The first trainload would have to make it to the next sidetrack, near the Kansas state line, before the two empty trains could travel on down to Tulsa. They made plans to start loading at daylight the next day. The empty trains would arrive during the night and have to lay over. They gathered around after the first day of...
The Waco Kid never raised his head as he reached out to pick up a stick and thrash it across the bedroll nearest him. “Get your asses up, we got a score to settle this morning and I’m ready to get started!” he said loudly. The other men began to stir in their bedrolls and The Waco Kid rolled over to sit up. He had yet to look up as he pulled his boots on, then picked up his two pistols and shoved them down in his holsters. He stretched his arms over his head, wincing at the pain in his ribs,...
Crow Ridge March 29, 1889 The family was up before dawn to see the Crow girls and the Young Bucks off. Even their younger brothers and sisters were up. Eli cornered Little Eli and Ezra as soon as they came downstairs and pulled them aside. “I need to give you men something. I’ve been wanting to tell you about this, but never felt like it was the right time until now. “Eli, back when you told me that you Bucks wanted to have a place of your own and still wanted it to be near each other, I...
Union Station Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania June 19, 1885 Eli had been on the train for four days when he arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They had an hour layover there, one of many layovers they’d had on his long train ride from Indian Territory. After he’d found the toilets to relieve himself, he sat inside the huge train station and watched the hundreds of people coming and going. He’d never seen this many people in one place ever before, not even in Kansas City at the ballpark. He kept...
“This is absolutely beautiful. I just love the way the houses and barns look with all the pecan trees around,” Miranda said. “It does look good and shady back in them trees. We need to plant some pecan trees over at the other place to shade it a little, I reckon,” Eli agreed. “You boys get you some clean buckskins and go back behind the barn and get a bath,” Eli told the six boys. “Miranda, would you help Sissy get the girls back there and get them bathed?” “I will, but first we’re going...
There were snow flurries blowing in the wind, with a light blanket already covering the ground when the Bucks started out the next morning after saying their goodbyes to the family. They were dressed in their buckskins with their union suits underneath and heavy boiler overalls over their buckskins. Each had a leather fur-lined cap pulled down over their head and ears. They wore wool scarves backed with flannel over their faces, leaving only a slit with their eyes exposed as they rode...
Eli and Duncan headed out of town with their wagon load of prisoners. Bud Parkins drove the wagon, Duncan and Eli rode their horses. “Eli, I already like this horse pretty good. He’s as tall and long legged as that big stud you got.” “Yep, you got a good’un, Duncan.” They turned south at the creek crossing, and rode right by Noonan’s ranch. “You could at least let me see my wife before you take me back,” Noonan said. “I’ll go see if she wants to see you... “Duncan, you keep them headed...
“What can I do for you, Mister? You look to be part Indian. Are you?” The man behind the window at the train station said as Eli walked up to the window to send a telegraph message back to Little Tree. “I need to send a message over to Little Tree, Texas. Can you do that for me?” Eli said, ignoring the man’s remark. “I sure can. Who is it for and what name do you want on it?” “Put my name on it, Marshal Eli Crow. Send it to Hoke at the livery. Tell him I need him to get word to my folks at...
“Son, that was some race. We heard what Parkman’s jockey said. You did the right thing holding Cheyenne back, then letting him run away with the race after they’d tried to run him down like that. You’d think Sam Parkman would know better by now,” Eli said as he and Joe stood beside Little Eli when their picture was made. “Did you win big again, Dad?” Little Eli asked, knowing by his smile that he did. “We all won big on that race. I already have another big bet placed on the last race...