Inventory of the Charles Goodnight Correspondence, DYKES MSS 00125 ., 1898-1938.
Title:
Inventory of the Charles Goodnight Correspondence, 1898-1938.
Charles Goodnight, rancher, pioneer wildlife preservationist and stock breeder, was born 5 March 1836, in Macoupin County, Illinois. and moved with his family to Milam County, Texas, in 1845. In 1857, Goodnight herded cattle up the Brazos River to the Keechi valley, in Palo Pinto County, Texas. At this time, Goodnight also became acquainted with fellow cattle herder Oliver Loving. In the spring of 1866, Goodnight and Loving organized a cattle drive from Fort Belknap, Texas to the Pecos River, and up to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. This route became known as the In 1869 Goodnight established his Rock Canon Ranch on the Arkansas River, west of Pueblo, Colorado, and married Molly Dyer on 26 July 1870. Goodnight eventually settled in Armstrong County, Texas, where he built a ranch house he dubbed the Home Ranch. Goodnight developed one of the nation's finest herds through the introduction of Hereford bulls. With his wife's encouragement, he also started a domestic buffalo herd, sired by a bull he named "Old Sikes," from which he developed the "cattalo" by crossing bison with Angus cattle.In 1887, Goodnight built a ranch house near Goodnight, Texas, where he and his wife moved, and where he relocated his buffalo herd of 250 head. Goodnight also kept elk, antelope, and various other animals. Goodnight's wildlife preservation efforts gained the attention of such naturalists as Edmund Seymour, and American Bison Society member Martin S. Garretson. The Goodnights had no children. After his wife's death in April 1926, Goodnight became ill, and was nursed back to health by Corinne Goodnight, a young nurse from Butte, Montana. On March 5, 1927, Goodnight married the twenty-six year old Corinne. Shortly afterward they sold the ranch and bought a summer house in Clarendon. Goodnight died on December 12, 1929, in Phoenix, Arizona.The Charles Goodnight Correspondence (1887-1938) consists chiefly of personal correspondence between Charles Goodnight and various friends and business associates, some business correspondence relating to the purchase of several grandfather clocks from the Waterbury Clock Company, personal memos, notes and receipts. Also present are newspaper and journal clippings related to Goodnight, Christmas cards from Mrs. Corinne Goodnight to M. S. Garretson, and a photograph of Charles Goodnight. Most of Goodnight's letters refer to his obsession with the breeding of animals, the demise of the American buffalo, problems with his ranch, and his health. The bulk of the correspondence present from after Goodnight's death in 1929 refers to the breaking up of Goodnight's various animal herds, and the possibility of his land being taken over by the State Game Commission of Texas to be made into a State Game Preserve and Bird Sanctuary. Correspondents include his close friend Martin S. Garretson, business associate George R. Collins, E. Seymour, J. M. Coburn, Ira Noel Gabrielson, Ray E. Gardner, Corrine Goodnight, Cleo Hubbard, George Hunt, O. H. Nelson, J. H. Ogden, and the naturalist Edmund Seymour. Goodnight-Loving Trail.
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