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Judge Joseph H. Knowles Few careers are more representative of the life and times of Texas during the last four decades than that of Judge Knowles, present judge of Midland county. Judge Knowles is best known to the citizenship of west Texas as a cattleman, and the following paragraphs, written more as reminiscences than as formal biography, will endeavor to set forth the environment and the activities which characterized the varied scenes of his career from the time he began riding the range until the present. Judge Knowles, who was born in Gonzales county, Texas, December 20, 1858, is of one of the old Southern families, who located in Texas as early as 1827, only a half dozen years after the American colony was planted in this province of Mexico by the Austins. His parents were Ausmus E. Knowles and Ann G. Knowles. The mother is yet living in San Antonio with her daughter, at the age of ninety-six years, being well preserved and one of the venerable women of Texas, who has many delightful stories of the old days of this state. The father was a stock raiser and farmer of Gonzales county, where he Fettled about 1843. He was a native Georgian and a civil engineer and surveyor by profession. During the Civil war he was a recruiting officer and drilled a portion of the Texas volunteers composing Terry's Rangers in the Confederate army, holding the rank of captain. He was a veteran of the Indian wars in Florida, and soon after the close of those hostilities during the thirties he came west and located among the pioneers of Texas, while Texas was still an independent Republic. As a rancher and stock raiser, he prospered for more than sixty years. The location of his ranch now has a prominent name in Texas geography, being known as Raucho, in the extreme southwestern portion of Gonzales county, about a mile and a half north of the railway station of Nixon on the bank of the Clear Fork of Sandys, where the Gulf Shore Railroad crosses that county. The father died on the old homestead in that locality in the year 1900. There were ten children in his family, among whom Judge Knowles was fifth, and six of the children are yet living. Judge Knowles obtained a common school education as a boy in Gonzales county. From his early boyhood until the present time he has been engaged in raising stock in southern and western Texas. When he began his career in the early seventies all of west Texas was a vast frontier without a fence or a railroad in all the expanse between the Bio Grande and the Bed river, and west of the old sections of the state with the cities of Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio being the western border. In those days Judge Knowles frequently accompanied herds of cattle that were being driven up the great northern trains from south Texas into the northwestern territories. Across the famous cattle trails, there was only one railroad line and that was in southern Kansas. The time consumed in making such a trip was from three to five months, and from fifteen to twenty- five cowboys composed the outfits, as they were called, that conveyed these great herds of cattle over the trails between the south and the northwest. The herds ranged from two thousand to four thousand head of cattle, the average being about three thousand. Some of these great droves of live stock were driven as far north as the international boundary lines on the border of the British possessions. From the Nueces and the San Antonio rivers, tributaries of the Gulf of Mexico, on the south, to the British line on the north, a distance of over 2,000 miles, there swept a vast country which was entirely on the frontier. Over all this region there was never a fence to obstruct the wanderings of cattle or the moving of herds, and only the one railroad which has just been mentioned, and the presence of these immense herds of cattle never damaged any crops since there were practically no grain crops grown over the ranges at that time. In driving cattle to the northwest, Fort Worth was considered the "last chance" for supplies to the cowboys. Fort Worth was a little frontier village, with less than three thousand inhabitants and was altogether known as a cattle town and fort. In passing that village, the regular cattle trail followed a route just east of where the present Union depot now stands, and then veered a little to the northwest, crossing the Trinity River just north of where the court house stands. Then a little further to the north where the packing houses of North Fort Worth are situated, were the halting grounds where the cowboys collected and grazed their herds, until they themselves had satisfied their appetites for food and pleasure in Fort Worth. Half of the crews would go into town during the forenoon and if in condition to do so, would relieve the other half in the afternoon, so that all might have their good times in that wild and boisterous village. Whiskey in those days could be had in tin cup draughts, from a barrel, and there was hardly a shop or store in the town where liquor could not be had in any quantity. In 1874 Judge Knowles and some of his cowboy companions were camped at the old Cotulla ranch, near where the present town of Cotulla is located in south Texas, on the line of the Southern Pacific Railway. One evening while they were bathing in the Nueces River about one mile above the ranch headquarters, they were fired upon by a band of supposed Apache Indians from the Bluff on the south side of the river. The boys quickly retired from the water to a grove of pecan trees on the north side, and securing their guns energetically returned the fire. No personal injury was received by any member of the party and the incident is chiefly interesting from the fact that it was the last Indian raid ever made in that section of the state. These Indians came from old Mexico, having crossed the Rio Grande about eight miles above Laredo, and got as far north as the Nueces at that point, after which they returned by a circuitous route, crossing the river about fourteen miles below Laredo. They moved rapidly, it is said, about sixty miles a day, being closely followed on their retreat by a baud of Texans. In this raid, as on a number of others which occurred during that decade in south Texas, a number of people were killed and about three hundred head of horses were stolen, succeeding in making their escape across the Rio Grande into Mexico, although they lost their chief early in the retreat, after an encounter with two determined ranchmen. During this period of his career, Judge Kuowles had considerable experience in driving herds of burses to the eastern states to market. Most of these horses were secured in the eastern states of Old Mexico, and from there driven across Texas and Louisiana, to the Mississippi river. Judge Knowles came to Midland. Texas, in 1886. at a time only five years after the construction of the Texas & Pacific Railroad, and when Midland still lay on the frontier, and in the midst of a vast cattle range. The Indians, however, had departed previous to that time. It is interesting to note that before they left the Midland country they set fire to the prairie grass all over this section, supposedly in revenge for their being compelled to leave the country. Over this section of Texas at the time were scattered a few ranch headquarters about the springs and lakes. Along about this time was established northwest of Midland twenty-five miles, the Nels Morris ranch, better known as the "C" Ranch. This ranch was distinguished as having been one of the first in all the southern plains of Texas to be completely fenced, and to have drilled wells. The vicinity about Midland had long been noted for its windmills, where practically every rancher, in the earlier days, before the introduction of gasoline power, used wind power to elevate the water from the subterranean forces. Outside of the Morris Ranch there were no fences anywhere probably within a hundred miles, and the cattle of the old time ranchers during the winter storms would drift south and west as far as the Rio Pecos and the Rio Grande, whence the cowboys would bring them back in the spring. With few exceptions all the country was open to the cattlemen, but the days of free range were rapidly drawing to a close. It was a splendid country for sheep raising, since the sheep did not require the water which cattle did, and as the growing of wool was a very profitable industry at the time, there were thousands of sheep grazing over all this country. Of wild animals the judge recalls that as many as two thousand antelopes could be seen on west Texas prairies at the time, and herds of mustangs, there were a few buffaloes, although the great herds of that animal had been effectually scattered and almost exterminated. The wolves were a severe pest and were especially destructive to sheep and lambs. South of Midland were a great many panthers, which would attack and kill horses and young cattle. All the things which have just been mentioned belong to the old time era of west Texas. The howling of the wolves or any other wild beast would startle even the old timers in this section of the state today. Instead, can be heard the almost hourly whistle of passing locomotives, the jumble of cotton gin machinery, and the honk of the hundreds of automobiles which now whisk through the roads of the state. And occasionally within the last few years has been heard the hum of the aeroplane in its flight from ocean to ocean. These sounds, with the ringing of church and school bells tell better than long descriptions the wonderful story of the growth of civilization in this part of the state. Judge Knowles has been an active business man throughout his career, and he has been especially successful in the raising of live stock, both in the days of free range and since most of the land came under private ownership. For some years he has been retired from such affairs, and has been serving the people as county judge. He is a staunch Democrat, seeking and contributing his means in various ways for the advancement of the party, and for the cause of good government. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and very prominent therein, and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. His church is the "old school" Presbyterian. Judge Knowles is one of the leading Masons of Texas. He has been especially prominent in Cryptic Masonry, and has for a number of years served as a member of the Custodians of the work in this branch of the order. He also holds the position of District Deputy Grand Master in Texas, is High Priest of the Royal Arch Chapter of Midland, and is Thrice Illustrious Master of the Council there.
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