Ranch Archeology
This was not world class archeology, but it was ranch archeology. I’m Jeff Keane; I’ll be right back with a history story.
You just never know how history will reveal itself. We are in the early stages of rebuilding our corrals. Of course, the first step in any remodel job is tear down, so my brother was using the backhoe to remove the worst part of the old corrals. As he was doing some leveling, a branding iron came rolling out of the dirt and popped into view. My brother jumped off the backhoe and pulled the complete iron out of the ground. There is always a certain mystique when history is uncovered. That part of the corral was originally built in the early 1900’s and was about eight feet tall to contain totally undisciplined range horses. In 1947 a new barn was constructed and the corral repaired to maintain the necessary height and strength for handling those uncivilized horses. In 1948 a flood went along that side of the corral and deposited about one and a half feet of volcanic rocks over the original soil. In 1964 the corrals were totally redone and I can testify to the depth of those nasty rocks that had to be worked through to dig the postholes. During all those years and activity that branding iron laid there waiting to be found. Because of the size of the forge-welded brand figures and the length of the handle we know it was a horse brand. But whose? Dad never talked about that brand, only the cattle brands. It had to be used before Dad’s time. Was it used before brands were recorded, when a brand was good enough if the neighbors knew it? Our piece of history has now become a mystery. I’m Jeff Keane.
