Yesteryear

The sun plays peek-a-boo as it awakes from behind Gold Hill.

Its light beams through the camper window and dances on my eyelids. I turn away underneath my down comforter, but to no avail. It’s time to get up. The air inside the camper is nippy and the wind outside holds up its hand to a meadowlark’s flight to the rock. But, with a flick of the thermostat, the heater whirls on and soon I am toasty warm.

In July you read about how the original 43 partners struggled to keep the ranch together. You will get an opportunity to join us in honoring them during the Labor Day BBQ (2011). Partners Jim Bradney, Ross Flaven, and Gail Thompson have joined their talents, brain power, and desire to preserve ranch history to create a beautiful wooden plaque honoring those original 43.

Homestead laws helped settle the Western United States and territories. Hundreds of thousands of pioneer farmers poured into the west in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. New communities were built and new wealth was created. The following types of homesteads are on the Flying X.

The old cabin near the confluence of Bluegrass Creek and Halleck Creek was the homestead of the William H. Padgett family. William was commonly known as Dick Padgett and frequently called “Uncle Dick” by many of the young ones in the area because of his kindness. His wife was Josephine Ruple and they had one daughter, Georgina. They spent many years of travel, growth and adventure before finally settling on their Padgett homestead.

The Taylor Grazing Act was enacted in 1936 and it changed the face of the range. The Federal Government began leasing all lands that were vacant or not appropriated. The Swan Company took up all the available leases around their property and began to fence it all in. As the fencing occurred, the Swan Company threw all cattle that had been free ranging on the land off of their fenced in acreages.

The tipi was the center of women’s activities, their ruling base. They performed most of the work of making a tipi, fleshing down the buffalo skins and tanning them. Somewhat in the manner of a frontier family inviting neighbors for a barn-raising, a lodge maker would invite her friends to a fest and after it was ended, she would give each one a buffalo hide and several strips of sinew thread. Thus in one day all the skins for a tipi could be spread on the ground and sewed together in a semi-circular shape.