Authentic Tales of the West: Part 11

FLOODS!

Arnold Ashford’s Journal Entry #11

Growing up in the Shenandoah Valley, I had seen my fair share of storms, and even a few floods, but never had I seen such raw, unrelenting and remorseless power as the floods that hit Dodge City and the surrounding countryside. The drought just weeks prior had baked the soil into such a hard pack that the torrent that hit had nowhere to run off, so it ran over and through. Everything.

I am humble enough to admit to you that I was terrified as I had never been before. Where just minutes earlier an entire herd of cattle had been grazing, now just wide open space. The folk of Dodge City and the irrepressible spirit that defined them, did what I had always seen them do; they picked up and kept on. It was this very contagious spirit that drove me to follow suit, as I too picked up and moved on. I had seen the legendary town of Dodge City and gotten to know her people, but there was yet much more of The West for me to see.

The way I saw it, I could head Northwest up to the rugged frontier town of Fort Laramie, or begin my southern descent into the famed land of Texas. ‘Texas’. Something about that word immediately spurred my imagination the first time I’d heard it. It sounded somehow mystical and folksy at the same time. It sounded like home in a far off land. And it’s where I was headed next.

Abilene, Texas. A newer frontier town, word is that its natural beauty must be seen to be believed, and the fastness with which cattlemen have flocked to the area; both piqued my interest. Abilene, I’m on my way.

— Check back next Monday for a new entry in Ashford’s journal —