Charles Goodnight

 by Billy Cauble  

Billy Cauble on Soda Pop

Charles G. was born in Mocoupin County, Illinois in 1836.  He left there after ten years of age.  He went to Texas with his mom and step dad.  He had rode a blazed-face mare all the way for 800 miles straight.  After getting there he and his family stayed in Waco on a little farm for a few years then he met a man that wanted to hire Charles.  He had made fences, plowed pastures for miles.  Not long after that he moved out on his own when he was about twenty years of age.  He had traveled up around New Mexico and in the Panhandle plains on a train.  He had went in to cattle business with a bunches of men that he didn’t know of.  He had met a real nice man the man was a Irish man.  His name was John Adair.  He went to sales every were.  Finally he had made a deal with John.  They wanted to make a ranch in Texas.  So Charles Goodnight and John Adair got on a train and traveled to Texas.  After they arrived Charles & John had bought a couple of horses and traveled to the Palo Duro canyon.  All of the canyon was for sale.  Charles and John had enough to get it all.  So they had all of the Palo Duro canyon to themselves.  They had hired a bunch of cowhands to help them out.  They bought a bunch of cows and horses.  The first thing they had seen was buffalo and Indians.  They had to get rid of the buffalo first to put their cattle on the ranch so they made a big plan and started to run them off.  The Indians got mad and started to fight.  The Indian chief was Quanah Parker, an old friend of Charles Goodnight.  He told the rest of the scouts that they will leave and go some where else.  So he went on and started to build fences and started to build a home.  Not long after that Charles got married to Miss Goodnight.  Charles needed to sell some of his cattle.  So he went on the Goodnight Loving Trail to Colorado.  When he got there he made a cabin on some land there.  They tried to figure out a name for the ranch.  They decided to call it the JA ranch.  When Charles was getting real old him and his wife started a movie and then a college.  Charles had made a new herd of cattle called “cattlo”.  Charles was famous for several of things.  In 1929 Charles had passed away.  His wife had kept on with the ranch until she had died.

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