Carol C Taylor Blog

Buggies, wagons, and street cars in downtown Greenville, Texas, ca. 1912.

The ad in the Cooper Review in September 1918 read, “Wanted: good young buggy horse for use this season. Must be free goer and safe to hitch any place.”

The year 1918 was one of confusion, war in Europe, limited flour, sugar, and other baking goods, and the type of transportation best for the muddy black clay soil of northeast Texas. For the average citizens in north Texas, the first two were way out of her reach, but not the last. Automobiles were sold and driven throughout the United States. But not everyone was convinced of their worth.

Every so often that summer some young man would offer his spiffy new car for sale since he was about to sail to war in France. Others put theirs on blocks in the barns.
More prosperous town dwellers purchased larger cars for the family. Sunday afternoon drives were extremely popular. But was everyone in northeast Texas smitten with the automobile?

Evidently the newspaper reporter looking for a good, reliable buggy horse felt an equine suited his needs quite well. After all, he would be traveling through the county and to county seats as far away as Sulphur Springs, Clarksville and Greenville. As soon as the rains set in, those black dirt roads would not be navigable in an automobile.

A free-goer indicates the new owner would often let the horse follow the road while he worked on an article he was writing. A horse that could be hitched at any place would not try to nick another horse on the rail or at a tree. It would be a gentle animal. After reading this I wondered if the owner would rather have a ground tied horse that didn’t need a place to tie the reins.

Ground tied horses were trained very early when a cowboy was taming the horse. It learned to stand still when the rider dropped the reins straight down on the ground and walked away. No need to tie the reins to something else. Ground tied horses were used primarily in ranching counties, where if the rider was thrown off or there was no place to tie up the horse, the rider would not be left afoot for several miles when the horse decided to go back to the barn. (Could any self-respected cowboy walk several miles?)

The issue of automobiles versus equines was not resolved until the early years of World War II, some twenty plus years later. I have heard old-timers talk about buggies and wagons around courthouses up until 1940.

John W. (Dub) Duncan of Wolfe City told me when he was young the family went to town in a wagon. There were places to tie horses and mules in the alley or even to the wagon. His dad always took a bale of hay for the kids to sit on and for the horses to eat during the day. There was a water vat in the alley where horses or mules could drink during the day.

Dale Gaskill remembered lots of old home places had big circular driveways for wagons and buggies. My great-grandparents had a big open area at the end of the road leading up to their house. That was where wagons turned around; but I doubt that very many buggies travelled that path. I asked my father one time if he was embarrassed when his grandparents came to town in their wagon. He said no, because that was the norm.

Horses and mules were familiar, less expensive, and perfectly suited to those whose travels were not far away. That’s just one more way World War II changed our lives. I certainly would hate to ride fifteen or twenty miles, sitting on a bale of hay, with the temperature in the 90s or above.

Aerial view of the farm owned by the Greens. The Red Roof Barn is the largest building. The inset to the roof was where Green broadcast his radio show. This was something in the late 1920s. (Complement of John W. Dub Duncan.)

Sometime in the 1880s a farmer from Illinois came to Hunt County to visit his daughter and her family, also farmers. Riding in a wagon to the couple’s farmhouse, the Illinois farmer observed different methods of farming between the two states. Yes, Illinois does not have the same climate Texas does, but the differences he noticed were relevant to technology in either state.

First he noticed how muddy the streams were. Then he looked at the fields of cotton, all plowed and planted in rows. That was where the soil came from that muddied the water. For miles and miles all that was visible were fields of cotton. His daughter’s family had a milk cow, a garden spot thriving with vegetables and a few hogs. No orchard was in sight only cotton.

During his visit the Illinois farmer talked to several old-timers. He learned that when the county was young, streams were so clear the bottom could be seen filled with fish. Most of the farms raised their own food plus wheat and oats for sale. Cattle roamed on the open, virgin prairies. However, the arrival of the railroads in 1880 changed the agricultural scene.

Cotton was a cash crop, buyers in Greenville and other surrounding towns paid “good money” for the farmers’ crops. Buyers and landowners pushed for larger fields and less livestock. The more cotton produced the lower the prices were. But no one wanted to quit such a profitable business.

The Illinois farmer probably talked with his son-in-law about rotating crops and plowing in large circles to prevent runoff from rain. He was not the only one in the area trying to introduce new farm methods.

Last week I wrote about J. Riley Green of Wolfe City and the introduction of better roads. Green (1869-1927) was also an advocate of better farming techniques, diversification of crops and raising livestock as well as cotton. He served as public weigher for the north part of Hunt County and saw the amounts of cotton produced.

Around the time of World War I J. Riley Green began a successful career as an auctioneer of livestock and agricultural real estate. At one point in 1918 he sold a herd of cattle, mules, and horses in Celeste and netted $6,000. Today that equates to $99,551.52 according to Inflation Calculator at westegg.com.

Green was a great after dinner speaker at many banquets held by farmers groups. He talked about growing wheat one year, corn the next and cotton the third year. He talked about leaving a field fallow or planting peanuts to increase nutrients lost when growing cotton. He encouraged raising hogs or poultry in place of beef cattle. Every family should have a milk cow, he preached.

In 1921 J. Riley Green and his wife were instrumental in forming the Hunt County Stockmen Association where he held an office. At that time Mr. and Mrs. Green built an enormous red barn on their farm south of Wolfe City. He was so successful as an agricultural speaker he started the Red Roof Barn radio program.

At the same time the Greens started a herd of Jersey cattle. These small dairy cattle were first raised on the Island of Jersey in the English Channel. They are known for high butterfat content, lower maintenance costs, and a genial disposition.

At the time of his death, J. Riley Green was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Jersey Cattle Raisers Association of American. His wife continued to be active in the association and in raising Jersey cattle. And the red barn? It remained a landmark in Wolfe City until a few years ago when it was razed to make way for the new Wolfe City High School. I suspect it is missed.