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Devil's Rope by GERALD MCCATHERN — book cover

Devil's Rope

by GERALD MCCATHERN
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Overview

The ongoing story of the Ceebara, the million acre ranch on the Llano Estacado – and the adventures of Colonel Jim Cole and Ned Armstrong as they struggle against buffalo hunters, cattle rustlers, Indians and outlaws to carve out their ranching empire.

Nobody liked the barbed wire, not even the ranchers who began installing it around their ranches. The first was called a drift fence – a fence erected to prevent cattle from drifting during winter storms. Next, ranchers began to fence their outer property lines to keep their cattle separated from neighbors livestock and to help control rustling. Then, homesteaders began fencing their small plots of land which were located within the boundaries of the huge, free grazing ranches, and started plowing out the sod and planting crops.

Horses and cattle were cut and maimed when they became entangled in the Devil’s Rope. Nomadic Indians were unable to travel their old trails. Then the disastrous blizzard of 1886 roared across the plains and hundreds of thousands of cattle piled up along the drift fences and froze to death.

Tempers flared, night riders began cutting wire, shots were fired and people were killed. The Texas Legislature stepped in with laws in an effort to prevent enclosure of school lands with wire by the cattle barons, and began levying lease payments on the school lands.

The die had been cast, barbed wire was here to stay, and free grazing was a thing of the past!

Synopsis

The ongoing story of the Ceebara, the million acre ranch on the Llano Estacado – and the adventures of Colonel Jim Cole and Ned Armstrong as they struggle against buffalo hunters, cattle rustlers, Indians and outlaws to carve out their ranching empire.

Nobody liked the barbed wire, not even the ranchers who began installing it around their ranches. The first was called a drift fence – a fence erected to prevent cattle from drifting during winter storms. Next, ranchers began to fence their outer property lines to keep their cattle separated from neighbors livestock and to help control rustling. Then, homesteaders began fencing their small plots of land which were located within the boundaries of the huge, free grazing ranches, and started plowing out the sod and planting crops.

Horses and cattle were cut and maimed when they became entangled in the Devil’s Rope. Nomadic Indians were unable to travel their old trails. Then the disastrous blizzard of 1886 roared across the plains and hundreds of thousands of cattle piled up along the drift fences and froze to death.

Tempers flared, night riders began cutting wire, shots were fired and people were killed. The Texas Legislature stepped in with laws in an effort to prevent enclosure of school lands with wire by the cattle barons, and began levying lease payments on the school lands.

The die had been cast, barbed wire was here to stay, and free grazing was a thing of the past!

About the Author, GERALD MCCATHERN

Gerald McCathern, a native of the Texas Panhandle, has been writing most of his adult life, having published his own nationally circulated newsletter, The Agriculture Watchdog. He has written a syndicated column for several newspapers and has authored several books, including From the White House to the Hoosegow, Gentle Rebels, To Kill the Goose, Line of Succession, and Horns.
Gerald has had an exciting life, having served in the Aviation Engineers during WWII, working as a roustabout, rough-neck and graduate geologist in the oil fields of West Texas, and farming, ranching and cattle feeding in the Texas Panhandle.
As the National Wagonmaster during the agriculture protest movement of 1977-1979, he led over 5,000 tractors and 50,000 farmers across the nation to Washington, D.C. in their effort to carry their economic problems to congress and the American people. During the three year period of the protest, he became very respected in the political realm, having met and worked with most of the leading political figures of that time, including Presidents Carter and Reagan; Senators Dole and Harkins; and Speakers of the House, Wright and O’Neil.
As a spokesman for the farmers, he appeared on Good Morning America and The Donahue Show, as well as on many radio talk shows, and met with the editorial board of The Washington Post. In 1981, President Reagan appointed him as Special Assistant to Secretary John Block in Washington, D.C., where he worked on many high level programs including a top secret effort to prevent Castro from taking over Jamaica.
Gerald met and married his wife, Bonnie Traweek, while attending Texas Tech in 1947. The have 3 children, 8 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. They reside at their home in Hereford, Texas.

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Book Details

Published
November 20, 2010
Publisher
OUTLAW BOOKS/MICHAEL CAMPBELL
Pages
265
ISBN
9781935841388

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