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J. C. GUNTER
Vol. 3, p. 1010

Among circles of old cattlemen will be frequently heard the
tradition that the Indians first taught cattle the art of stampeding.
Whether there is any truth in this cannot be established, but it is
certain that either meanness or mischief has led many a redskin to
precipitate a herd into riot apparently without the slightest
provocation. An instance is given by Jot C. GUNTER, a prominent
ranchman of Bromide, and an early cattle dealer in the Chickasaw and
Choctaw country. A few years ago he was in charge of a herd of 1,500
steers being driven from the 7 J N Ranch near Durant to the Lazy S
Ranch, a few miles west of Duncan in the Comanche Indian country. The
herd was resting for the night on Wild Horse Creek. The weather was
calm and the cattle were still and peaceful. Toward midnight an
Indian came out of the timber with a red blanket over him and threw
it into the midst of the herd. They were seized with panic, flew
madly in various directions, and scattered over a territory so large
that it required Gunter and his men nine days to recover them and get
ready for the rest of the drive.

At that time the breaking up of the big ranches of the Chickasaw and
Choctaw countries had already begun, and such rich cattlemen as Dick
NAIL of Bonham, Texas, and Frank W. WEAVER, of Fort Worth, who were
among the pioneer cattlemen of these countries set their eyes toward
the great millions of acres of Kiowa and Comanche Indian lands. Mr.
Gunter, who for several years had been engaged in buying cattle in
the region around Durant, gathered together this herd of 1,500 and
started to deliver them to the Nail and Weaver pastures in the
Comanche country.

Another incident of this drive which shows both the characteristic
of the early-day cattlemen of Indian Territory and a coincidence that
has had a good many counterparts in this part of the country. Six
weeks before the drive started a fine horse and saddle had been
stolen from Mr. Gunter. Life on the range had taught him that sooner
or later on some prairie or in some wooded valley the thief's booty
would be returned to him. He was not greatly surprised therefore,
when the day after his arrival at the Lazy S his horse and saddle
were found by one of the cowboys and brought in. They may have been
borrowed, they may have been stolen, the thief may have repented, or
some practical joker may have thought it time to bring the joke to an
end.

Mr. J. C. Gunter, who is a native of old Indian Territory, is now
engaged in ranching on Cobb Prairie, near the Town of Mill Creek in
Johnston County, and also owns lands and resides at the Village of
Bromide. His ranch on Cobb Prairie is near the pretty Pennington
Creek, which furnishes never failing water for his herds. A few years
ago this was near the center of a wide range that would have supplied
grass and water for 200,000 cattle. Today the range has been so
reduced that it would not take care of more than 10,000 cattle. The
high grass is gone, and the farmers have plowed up the old trails
that led to markets outside the Indian country.

A few miles north of the Cobb Ranch, W. W. CORBIN has a grazing area
that will pasture 3,500 cattle. Northeast is the Armstrong ranch,
owned by Fort Worth interests, capable of pasturing 5,000 cattle.
WESTHEIMER & DAUBE, merchants of Ardmore, have a small ranch to the
east, and HOOD Brothers have holdings to the southeast that will
accommodate 500 to 600 cattle. Frank GATEWOOD on the east has a range
that will afford grass for a similar amount of cattle. All this
country, which once was a great attractive unpeopled out of doors is
watered by the spring-fed Little Blue and Big Blue rivers and the
Pennington Creek.

Jot C. Gunter was born in the Chickasaw Nation, near Durant, Indian
Territory, in 1880, a son of Joshua and Emma (PARKS) Gunter. When he
was still a child his father died. His father was a native of Texas
and a pioneer cattleman of the Choctaw Nation. Mr. Gunter has two
brothers and two sisters: Mrs. J. R. HOUSTON, wife of a cotton and
grain dealer and ranchman of Durant; D. B. Gunter, a farmer and
stockman of Durant; Mrs. Minnie GOLDSBY, wife of a farmer-stockman at
Purcell; and W. R. Gunter, a farmer at Pauls Valley.

The education of Mr. Gunter was acquired in the common schools at
Durant, but at the early age of fifteen he was employed on the ranch
of D. MORGAN, a cattleman now living at Durant. He bought cattle for
Morgan two years, and then engaged in the cattle business for
himself, his headquarters being principally at the 7 J N Ranch, seven
miles east of Durant. This was one of the pioneer ranches of the
Choctaw Nation. Mr. Gunter is affiliated with the Masonic lodge. He
was married January 1, 1910, at Bromide to Miss Juanita JACKSON,
daughter of the well known Judge William H. Jackson, the founder of
Bromide and a pioneer citizen of Indian Territory. Their two children
are J. C., aged three years, and Benjamin, aged one year.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Dorothy Marie Tenaza, January 9, 1999.