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Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: April 23, 1937
Name:  J. W. Douthett
Post Office:  Henrietta, Texas
Residence address:
Date of Birth:  1859
Place of Birth:  Carter County, Texas
Father:
Information on Father:
Mother:
Information on Mother: Added Comment - "I don't remember much about them" (parents)
Field Worker:  Warren D. Morse
Vol. 26 Microfiche 6016891 #207

The first time I came into the Territory was in 1871. We just came through hunting. Buffalo ranged in the northwest and we cut across the west part of the state. Indians were wild every once in a while. You would hear of a white man being killed and scalped. On this trip we camped just as close to the rangers as possible so the Indians wouldn't make a raid on us. Fort Sill was very small, being at that time nothing more than an outpost. We were out hunting buffalo. They were not hard to kill. We had a long range rifle with us. When we killed a buffalo we skinned it. We used eight stakes to pin it to the ground. We let it stay till it dried out, the fur side being next to the ground. After the skin dried, we did what was called tanning it by burying it in the ground. We let it stay under ground three days then took it up, folded it into a square shape with the fur inside. We stacked these in bundles of eight and tied them. They were then ready for the trader wagon when it came around. Bull hides brought from $1.50 to $1.95; yearlings brought from $2.00 to $3.00. We killed as many as one hundred and eighty-five in one day's time. 

We had a time keeping out of Big Tree's way. He had a fighting bunch of hunters. I was on cattle drives through here. We drove over that Chisholm Trail. Since they have started history, every man wants to claim the naming of the trail. I know a bunch of the Chisholms. There were Bob, Charles, John and Jesse. The trail was named after John, and he was a Texas white man. At the time the trail started in 1866, there was never an Indian down in Texas. This trail started away down below Houston, Texas. Indians couldn't read, besides they knew nothing of freighting then. Old John Chisolm's brand was the bar on the side with the split ears, part of which hung down, the other stood straight out. He made many trails through Oklahoma but the original trail was about along the 98th Meridian or the U. S. Highway 81. John Chisholm had to move to New Mexico after the Civil War. The people in the south were so hungry they nearly ate all of his cattle. 

Submitted to OKGenWeb by Donald L. Sullivan < donald.l.sullivan@lmco.com > September, 2000.