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1. Following the end of the War of 1812-1814 an inflationary prosperity began which lasted until 1818. The recession set in which caused many bankruptcies and much suffering. But Ebenezer and Nancy were young, they had made some headway, and the ravages of the depression passed them by. With good health, with hope and courage and a fine baby boy, they faced the future with supreme confidence.

2. When the terms of the colonization law were published in the United States, they set in motion one of the greatest attempted land grabs in history. Within some eighteen months twenty-eight contracts were made calling for the settlement of more than ten thousand families and covering almost all the land in Texas. Not more than a half-dozen of these would-be colonizers ever made an attempt to carry out their contracts, and only one of these, Stephen F. Austin, met with any marked success.

3. Fighting men were still coming into Texas from the United States, but not the type of young man who had made up the military companies participating in the revolution. Many of those now coming were looking for loot and plunder. South Texas filled with outlaws, and the country between the San Antonio and Rio Grande rivers soon lay in desolation and ruin. After almost seven years of spending and fighting and dreaming dreams of a great empire, little or nothing had been accomplished by the government of the Republic, the frontiers of the old colonies had been advanced but a few miles.

4. The decade of the 1850’s was a period of great development for Texas, not only in the extension of her frontier but in growth and population and general improvements over all the state. With admission into the Union and the successful termination of the Mexican War, there had come to the people a greater courage to meet the present and a surer confidence in the future.   

5. Yes, Texas was growing by leaps and bounds. The land, the plow, the branding iron and the lariat, were being wielded by sure and steady hands. A wilderness was being transformed into a land of homesteads that meant security and prosperity for millions yet to come. The people were working and thinking; they were also dreaming of the future – dreaming of transcontinental railroads, of superhighways, of navigable bayous and rivers, of great cattle ranches and fertile farms and of beautiful country homes and modern cities. The dreams of a people must be reconed among their greatest assets, for without dreams one nation nor individual can grow. But the people were not altogether happy. The black clouds of war, which for years had hung low on the horizon, now rolled up angrily, casting their shadows over the land and driving the sunshine from the hearts of the people

6. With this epoch which we term “romantic” but which, to those who lived it, meant hardship and danger, the men of the Miller family, especially George, Doal and Lum, were well familiar. Among them they knew the West as Rangers before the war, as Confederate soldiers during the war, as Rangers, buffalo hunters and trail drivers after the war. As most all who knew the extreme frontier, they talked but little except perhaps to recall unusual weather conditions, animal behavior or some humorous incident. Their extraordinary experiences in human relationships died with them.

7. In the late 1860’s the greatest movement of livestock ever known to history began. The like cannot be expected ever to occur again. It produced one of the most colorful chapters in the history of the world. With all the romance of knighthood and with all the glamour of the hard-riding highland clans of old Scotland, the Texas trail drivers grazed their herds from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada and the Pacific. They encountered every condition of weather possible; they swam most, if not all, of the rivers west of the Mississippi; they fought Indians, cattle rustlers and Jayhawkers alike with the one steadfast purpose – to deliver their herds on time at their proper destination.  

8. More than ten million head of cattle and about one million head of horses are said to have been moved over these trails between 1866 and 1895. The tables of Easterners were supplied with beefsteaks – as were the British Isles. The Indian reservations were supplied with cattle to replace the Indians’ buffalo which had been exterminated. The vast, unused prairies of the great Northwest were furnished herds both for stocking and breeding as were the territories of New Mexico and Arizona. California’s shortage of beef was overcome and her ranges stocked. Competent authorities place the average amount per head paid Texas ranchmen at $10.00, and on this basis Texans received during those years one hundred and ten million dollars. It was a speculative business; like all such enterprises of those who played their money, some made fortune, but the majority lost. But Texas men were given profitable employment, and the millions in cash which poured into the state found its way, in greater or lesser amounts, into every home.

9. When it was discovered, in 1867, that buffalo hides would tan successfully, a market was created that could consume all offerings. To meet this demand professional hunters went into the West, and between 1868 and 1881 the slaughter was so great that the buffalo was all but exterminated. The hunters began their operations in Kansas and Nebraska, and no effort was made to enter Texas until 1873. This effort, which proved a failure, was made in the Panhandle. By the terms of the Medicine Lodge Treaty the federal government had recognized the Panhandle as the hunting grounds of the Indians. When the hunters entered the territory the federal government failed to fulfill its treaty obligations, and the Indians attempted to protect their own interest. The result was the second battle of Adobe Walls, a fight which was probably the most prolonged ever to occur between the whites and Indians. It, however, only temporarily decided the issue of buffalo hunting in Texas.

10. At roundup time men from neighboring ranches would be present to check for cattle belonging to their outfits. At these times the men would work together in performing the necessary operations, thus speeding the work. Some were assigned to cutting the brutes from the herd and turning them over to the branding crew. As the brutes came out of the herd the ropers would catch them, usually by both hind legs, and throwing them with a sudden jerk, would drag them to the branding place. Here a roper, or tier, would secure the head and stretch the animal on the ground in such a way that it could not get up. At this stage the brander, with his iron red-hot, would run the brand on the animal’s side or hip, as the case might be. The cutter marked the animal’s ear and, if it was a male, castrated it. Thus in the operations of branding and marking, five men were employed to do the work often done by one man on the range; but the work was greatly speeded and much more accomplished in a given time. “It was a breakneck game,” said James M. Cook, “but, like football, good sport for those who liked it". 

11. After the dance waned in popularity “candy-breakings” became popular with the young folks, and no one objected to this form of entertainment. Candy would be bought according to the number of couples expected. This would be apportioned to allow a certain number of drawings per couple and a certain number of sticks of candy to be drawn each time. The candy was kept in a separate room, and the couples would go in and draw the number of sticks allotted. As the couples completed their drawings, they would return to the parlor where the candy was eaten. Escorts were expected to choose their partners for the first drawing; after that they were free to take others if they wished.

12. Pack peddlers would come through the country from time to time carrying enormous packs on their backs. These huge bundles were covered with black oilcloth and secured with leather straps. When they were opened and the goods displayed, there seemed to be enough to stock a good-sized store. From these peddlers the women were able to secure many articles and materials not available in the local stores. Later the peddlers began using light, one-horse spring wagons. Great was their pride in these wagons; customers would be called out to inspect them, which they did with much genuine interest. The capital for many successful business establishments was acquired by peddling. The original Sanger, who founded the well known firm of Sanger Brothers at Dallas, started as a pack peddler. 

13. Texans, as individuals everywhere, have no cause to boast; there is always too much unfinished work to be passed on to others. Although here progress has been great, Texas, today, is a greater frontier than it has ever been before in its history. But it is still sorely in need of trail blazers - men and women of vision and of initiative and courage. Unlike those who pushed a savage frontier westward, the trail blazers needed today are those of technical training and experience. For such, Texas is still The Land of Opportunity, and to such and to all capable, sincere and industrious men and women,Texans, one and all, say: WELCOME!