Ben K. Green

Ben K. Green as photographed by James Narramore.

The other night I was somewhat restless. I had just finished an intriguing book and wanted something that would engage my mind again. I had lots of books relating to research I am involved with, but I really wanted something light and fun. I was in no mood to take notes while curled up with a good book.

So I chose a work by the late Ben K. Green (1912-1974) of Cumby, Texas. If you are not familiar with Green, you need to meet him through his work. He lived in this area much of his life. At the age of twelve, he left home to seek out wagon yards, mule barns, and livery stables while looking for a more useful education. At age nineteen, he was well into his life-long career of horse-trading.

Around 1963, Ben K. Green submitted a short piece to a journal of Texas short stories. Once it was accepted, Green began a new career; one that A. C. Greene called “the last real voice of old-time Texas in literature.” Ben would talk into a tape recorder in his normal speech. His secretary would transcribe it and sometimes do a little editing. Between 1963 and 1974, Ben K. Green “talked” eleven books into publication.

I have collected most of them. I think my favorite is The Shield Mares. But I recently read The Last Trail Drive Through Downtown Dallas. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. Believe it or not, it is a cross between a page-turner and a mile a minute chuckle.

Now I feel I need to explain a few things for those of you who don’t know me well. I come from a long line of avid readers in my mother’s family. In addition, my husband and son love to read.

My mother had several favorite authors including Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and J. Frank Dobie. I inherited her Dobie books when she died. About that time I discovered Ben K. Green. So with a love of Dobie and Green, along with the fact that her father was a cattleman in Archer County where I spent almost every summer while in school, it is natural that I love books about Texas cattlemen and horse traders.

Now back to that last trail drive. Somehow, modern Americans believe that life in 1900 or 1910 or even 1920 was not much different that the 21st century. Of course, there was no television or Internet, but there were many more differences. One was transportation. My dad told me that it was completely normal for farm families to come to town in a wagon or on a horse until the end of World War II.

So about 1929, Ben K. Green rode out to Paint Rock, Texas, and purchased forty-two head of horses for $840. Along with an old chuck wagon cook and a drover wanting to go home to Oklahoma, the three men set out for Bossier City, Louisiana. Along the way they drove those horses through downtown Dallas, causing traffic jams, scaring the horses, and losing the cook. Finally they made it to Garland where they bedded down their herd for a couple of nights and sold a few horses. The only place where they had any trouble was in Rockwall where a policeman told them to move on or he would fine them $200.

Needless to say, they drove the horses to Greenville, and as they went down Lee Street, Green spotted an old friend Al Eiland. The two men struck up a bargain, both trying to get a troublesome horse off their hands. But you will have to find a copy and read what happened to that trade and many more like it.

Ben K. Green was a true Texas writer.