Camp House Lies... I mean stories
Whitsett, TX - (left to right) Ben Cumpian, Dick O’Brien, Morgan O’Brien and Marcos Campos, Jr. (Jayco)
“Well if the saddle’s gone, I ain’t staying up there!”, said Jayco.
The night before all the hands were milling around the camp house. Some were talking trash about who made “the board”. Some were just recapping the day and some were discussing the plan for tomorrow. All of these young men were tired. Some were probably bloody although none were seriously injured… yet. But every single one of them was eager for the next day.
The next day would bring exhausting “panel parties” where we’d all gather, dismount and pack Powder River panels around until that day’s cattle pens had been built. Then the work would start. Several groups would head out horseback, gather the cattle that were willing and bring them to the pens. Then they’d head back out and rope the unwilling.
I remember like it was yesterday when I finally got permission to go on a Whitsett trip. I was 10. I thought I was going to “The Show” - like a minor leaguer that finally got called up! Ha! I was mostly in the way at that age, but I learned what real work was. Recently, we came across some old photos and I asked my father about it.
“We tried to work that place 2 times a year, but it usually happened more than that,” Morgan O’Brien said. “The only water out there was from natural sources, so if a place went dry we had to move them. And every animal had to go. We planned to ship 2 times a year, but there are always stragglers so we’d have to rope some pretty big stuff out of there pretty regularly.”
“That place” that Morgan was referring to was known to us simply as Whitsett. It was a lease we had from the Morrill Family out in Whitsett, TX during the 80’s and I think maybe back into the late 70’s as well.
Morgan continued, “We’d all load up a string of horses and head out there usually on a Monday. We’d have to take everything though - a cook, food, even water. There wasn’t really any water on that lease back then. We’d work to get wrapped up by Thursday and then come on in on Friday. ”
Well sometime between Monday and Thursday back in the 1980’s, there was a bull out there that could be described as one of the, um… unwilling. Most mavericks are bull yearlings. This bull is better described as a PBR prospect - probably a 2 or 3 year old bull weighing around 1200 - 1400 pounds.
The cow crowd had penned what they could and were headed back out when the dogs hit him. As they worked to slow him down, Marcos Campos, Jr. lined him out and made short work getting a rope on him.
“We called him Jayco back then,” Mick O’Brien said as he retold the story. “He didn’t have much trouble getting him roped. But he had a hellofa situation on his hands when the rope came tight!”
There was popping and horses jumping and the couple of cowboys that were there couldn’t tell what was breaking - brush limbs, saddles and leather… or Jayco!
Well it didn’t take long for the sound to stop and all they saw was Jayco’s saddle go skipping into the brush behind that bull.
I asked the twins (my uncles retelling the story) if something was loose on his saddle, or if he was on a colt that freaked out and bucked him off or what happened and Dick jumped in.
“Nah, nah nah, Jayco was a damn good hand. I don’t think his saddle was loose. Something broke,“ Dick O’Brien said. “Pretty sure it was Ben (Cumpian) that rode up there asking him what the hell happened.”
“Well if the saddle’s gone, I ain’t staying up there!”, Jayco said.
So Ben wheeled around and went after him. When he got close, his horse’s head turned crooked like a curious dog - one eye & one ear down on that saddle dragging and one eye and one ear on that bull. The bull and Ben’s horse didn’t know what the heck to think as Ben ran the bull down with a damned saddle skipping through the brush behind him!
But long story short - he roped him, got him loaded and made “the board”.
I’m pretty sure Jayco made the board as well, but I don’t know which side ;)