The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 31, July 1927 - April, 1928 Page: 231
390 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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A History of the J A Ranch
I said, "I don't want it." He said, "I ain't going to run this out-
fit all winter for you!" I said, "You contracted to; didn't you?"
He said, "No, I didn't." I said, "You had better get your con-
tract out and read it." It stated just what I claimed. I said,
"Now, Jot, behave yourself and get along with the contract and
I'll tell you where you can get another chunk of country. There's
a country over there at Quitaque that is vacant." He said, "That
ain't vacant." I said, "I know it is. It's the next best thing on
earth, and you can locate that with these certificates you have and
make you a fortune." And he said, "I'll do it." Well, we ran
all over this country and kept surveying and designating and
taking; spotting it up so they couldn't sell it to anybody else. And
then he'entered into a contract with me, that he wouldn't sell to a
cattleman unless he bought a ranch. I said, "Now if you'll go
into this and not sell to a cattleman unless he buys a ranch in-
stead or a section or two, I'll make this the best country in the
world." He kept that contract.'
The canyon which Colonel Goodnight spoke of wanting so much,
is the Palo Duro Canyon. This canyon with its tributariees con-
stitutes the headwaters of Red River and was the favorite camping
grounds of various Indian tribes for hundreds, and perhaps thou-
1Colonel Goodnight gives this explanation as to how Gunter and Mun-
son obtained the land certificates: "The way these certificates came
about was this: the 'Carpet Baggers' took what money was in the State
Treasury and ran through it and spent it. Then they went to issuing
scrip and land certificates to raise revenue. They issued and issued un-
til it got down to where, when I came to this country, you could buy a
six hundred and forty acre certificate for sixteen dollars. The certifi-
cates required that you go and locate it. This man, Jot Gunter, got on
to that, and he formed a partnership with an Illinois fellow named Mun-
son. He got Munson to go to his friends in Illinois and get them to
raise a hundred thousand dollars to buy Texas land. The certificates
were handled by banks at Houston, San Antonio, and Austin, and they
sold them for whatever they could get. Old Jot went down to Houston
where he had a banker friend and he told me himself that he bought all
his friends had on hand. Munson went to Austin and Summerfield, the
surveyor, went to San Antonio. They all bought all they could get hold
of and cleaned them up. Gunter said to his banker friend, 'I need some
more certificates. Can't you contract me some more?' The banker said,
'Yes, I can get you all you want.' Gunter wrote the contract and the
banker picked up the pen to sign it when he changed his mind and said,
'I don't see why I should sign this contract. I can get certificates all
right and I will, but I don't see any use in signing this contract.' Gun-
ter was trying to stick his banker friend, and if the old man had signed
the contract, he would have lost everything he had and Gunter knew
this, because he knew by sundown there wouldn't be any certificates left.
"Gunter told me that they cleaned up the whole thing, and then they
went to locating. Later, they got the Legislature to take the land off
the market. The certificates applied to unappropriated land, and he
stopped any land from being located until he had located what he
wanted. There are certificates out to this day unsatisfied."23'1
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 31, July 1927 - April, 1928, periodical, 1928; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101088/m1/249/: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.