DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, out on the old LX range in Potter County. Now, before there was much of anything else out here, there was the LX. First ranch in Potter County, established in 1877 by two Boston industrialists — W.H.
Bates and D.T. Beals — men who looked at this windswept stretch of Texas and saw possibility. The ranch ran cattle, ran hands, ran hard.
Then in 1884 the LX was sold to the American Pastoral Land and Cattle Company, a British syndicate, and that's when this particular patch of ground started keeping a different kind of record. The earliest burials came after that sale. The first grave was dug for Mrs.
James Wyness, the LX bookkeeper's wife, who died in Tascosa on June 15, 1887. Six weeks later, the newborn son who had survived her was laid at her side. Two graves, a mother and her infant, before the year was out.
That's a weight that doesn't need any embellishment. The infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Charley Mott was buried here in 1888.
Then came P.O. McCrary — went by the name Bunch — killed in 1890 when his horse fell on him while he was roping a yearling. The kind of thing that could happen on any given afternoon out here, and sometimes did.
In 1893, a man named James Bailey was hauling grain from Amarillo when he bogged in quicksand in the Canadian River. Getting his wagon out, he suffered exposure, and that exposure brought on a fatal case of pneumonia. And then in 1902, a grave was dug for James Bell, found dead in a corral with a bridle still in his hand.
The marker doesn't say more than that, and sometimes that's all you need to hear. When the syndicate was eventually liquidated, this portion of the ranch was purchased by an early cattleman named R.B. Masterson.
And through all those years, a man named John Arnot — one of the original employees of the syndicate, who later became a U.S. government cattle brands inspector — maintained this cemetery until 1945. Kept it tended, kept it decent. Now it's cared for by Mrs.
Mary Masterson Fain, a descendant of the third owner of the old ranch land. Different names on the deed, same quiet ground. Out here where the LX first ran cattle, the land has been holding these stories since 1887 — and somebody has always shown up to make sure they're not forgotten.
What the marker says
On the old _X (LX), first ranch in Potter County, established in 1877 by W.H. Bates and D.T. Beals, Boston (Mass.) industrialists. The earliest burials occurred after the LX was sold, 1884, to American Pastoral Land and Cattle Company, a British syndicate. First grave was dug for the LX bookkeeper's wife, Mrs. James Wyness, who died in Tascosa on June 15, 1887; six weeks later the newborn son who survived was laid at her side. The infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Charley Mott died in 1888. Second adult buried here was P.O. ("Bunch") McCrary killed 1890 when his horse fell on him while he was roping a yearling. In 1893 James Bailey, hauling grain from Amarillo, bogged in quicksand in the Canadian; in getting his wagon out, he suffered exposure that brought on a fatal case of pneumonia. A 1902 grave was for James Bell, found dead in a corral with a bridle in his hand. When the syndicate was liquidated, this portion of the ranch was purchased by an early cattleman, R.B. Masterson. John Arnot, one of the original employees of the syndicate, and later a U.S. government cattle brands inspector, maintained the cemetery until 1945. It is now cared for by Mrs. Mary Masterson Fain, a descendant of third owner of the old ranch land. (1967)