By Kristy McCaffrey
The Hashknife cowboys rode the high desert of northern
Arizona in the 1880s, part of an old west mythology of violence, cattle
rustling, and range disputes. But the truth is more mundane, involving drought,
falling cattle prices, and a convoluted public-lands policy.
Hashknife cowboys worked
for the Aztec Land and Cattle Co., an investment firm based in New York that
was formed in 1884. Livestock was considered a good investment, so Aztec bought
one million acres at fifty cents an acre from the Atlantic & Pacific
Railroad, which had acquired the land as a gift from Congress. Aztec then
purchased 32,000 head from Continental Land & Cattle Co,. a Texas outfit
that marked its cattle with a brand that resembled the type of knife cowboy
cooks used to cut vegetables—the hash knife.
There were problems from the very beginning. The company
owned every other parcel of land, with the alternating sections in public
domain, which were open to homesteaders. This pattern of ownership is sometimes
described as a checkerboard. Although many people weren’t willing to risk
homesteading because the land was too arid to farm, there was grass everywhere.
Everyone—Mormon settlers, horse owners, sheepherders, and independent cattlemen—put
their stock out to graze. The result was chaos.
Hashknife cowboys in Holbrook, AZ Circa 1900 |
The Hashknife cowboys didn’t bother determining which land parcels belonged to them. They turned their cattle loose like everyone else, and ran out smaller operators. The ruthlessness of the cowboys is up for debate, but they earned a reputation as a rough-and-tumble bunch. Not only did locals steal Aztec cattle, but so did the Hashknife cowboys themselves.
By the 1890s, it was clear that the land had been
overstocked and thousands of cattle perished. In 1898, Aztec shareholders voted
to sell the land, cattle, horses and other property. They sold the Hashknife
brand and some of its cattle to a local rancher named Jim Wyrick, who was
financed by the pioneer northern Arizona Babbitt family. The Babbitts acquired
the brand when Wyrick went broke, and still own it today. A line of
purebred horses has been named after it, as well as a Zane Grey novel.
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3 comments:
Great post, Kristy! Always interesting to read about those old outfits.
Thanks, Shanna!!
Hi Kristy,
My name is Dave Wyrick, father was Richard who I believe was either a son or grandson of Jim. I lived on the ranch as a very young child but would love to get more information about your research. My email is drockva1@gmail.com if you have a chance to reply.
Thank you,
Dave
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