The Steer is Here

After the Civil War from 1865 to 1880, 10 million head of cattle were driven northward from Texas along four different routes. 12 to 15 cowboys working for between $10 and $20 per month (payable at the END of the drive) guided the herds. Cattle, that outnumbered people 8 to 1 in Texas and sold for $6 a head, brought $40 a head in Kansas. These “ranches in motion” in herds of 2,000 to 3,000 head grazed and watered their way to market or to northern pastures. It was no easy task. It is said that one steer grazed his way all the way to New York—now that’s a pretty high falutin’ steer! (Cowboys History Channel April 19, 2006)
It was just over a year ago when speaking with area artist Carol Ellis about projects for the Centennial that she asked me about a fiberglass animal project...a longhorn steer. It would be painted by area artists with historical scenes of Old Friona. I thought it was a great idea. She mentioned that although she had tried to find one, she hadn’t had much luck with a vendor. So I agreed to try to help.
I began by calling Plainview Chamber of Commerce because they had longhorns (actually hoping that they might have one to spare). They gave me the contact they had used in Nebraska (think about those cattle drives). No luck with the contact—always busy, never an answer. Then I tried calling the Hereford Chamber of Commerce because I knew that their Herefords had been more recent—the manager gave me the same number but also an alternate number to call. Still no luck...
So it was back to the Internet for searching. I kept coming across Prewitt’s Fiberglass Animals and stories about the animals being seen traveling to their destinations. We wanted a “good-looking’’ steer; yes, he had to be a handsome dude. I read about a Bob Prewitt, who was supposed to have been the originator of fiberglass animals since back in the 1950s. Mr. Prewitt manufactured fiberglass trailers and people kept remarking that “they didn’t think the trailers were large enough for full-size animals.” So Mr. Prewitt made some life-size fiberglass animals to prove that the trailers were large enough—and a new business was born! He made all types of animals for all types of people and places including Hollywood. (There were several websites, varied prices and delivery schedules.) One day I called Mr. Prewitt and asked him if he had a longhorn steer. “Yes Ma’am!” “In stock?” I asked. “Yes Ma’am!”
Shipping, now that was another matter—he said it was so expensive to ship that he would be willing to deliver it himself. “To Friona?” “Yes,” he said, “or maybe we could meet halfway or one of us might have someone coming the other’s way.” Not much chance of that, I thought. He could have it there in a week. Whoa! I do not have the funding raised yet. Okay, then I was to let him know. The fundraising began with a gift from Cargill Meat Solutions who encouraged me to contact cattle feedyards in the area because he felt they would want to help.
Soon thanks to Charlie Wilson of Friona Feed Yard, John Nix of New Tex Feed Yard, J. B Douglas of TexZona Feed Yard and Feller Hughs of Paco Feed Yard, we had funding. The folks of the Community Heritage Society (Depot) agreed to help and the artists from the Friona Art Association would lend their expertise to paint the steer. The next time Mr. Prewitt called saying that he had a friend bringing some horses to California who lived back this way that could bring our steer. Done.
His friend was Coral Casey, a very colorful character. She was a longtime horsewoman and cowgirl from way back. Soon she was on her way trekking across four states in a pickup and trailer with no cell phone. She called once on her journey saying that she’d had a fall, but that our steer was in great shape and attracting a lot of attention on their way. She had stopped in Arizona to look up her friend Princess Whitefeather. Okay... She had had vehicle trouble on the way in Needles, California and she would see us soon.
So our steer made his way from Phelan, California to Adrian, Texas and she stopped to call us again. She would be there the next day (but not until after she was stuck in Hereford all day with a repair of the repair). FINALLY, at last, the steer rolled into town and Brenda, Rex and I met her. Rex has a lot of experience with cattle, but this would be his first experience with a fake steer. Boy, was that steer tied into that trailer! He is 8 feet long, 5 feet tall with a span of horns about 6 feet wide. His natural state was a steely-gray color—rather like “Old Blue” the longhorn who led so many of his brothers north. His horns reached each side of the trailer, so it was difficult to get him out of there.
Coral has known Bob Prewitt since she was 12 years old. She said that Mr. Prewitt was 88 years old (that accounted for part of his oneriness). She was quite a knowledgeable old gal—knew horses like the back of her hand. Rex is a horseman and he understood more of what she was referencing, but she was a jewel to listen to her stories. We took lots of pictures, but our technology failed us and we have but one picture of the steer upon his arrival in the trailer and you can’t see him. No picture of Coral either, just memories. I think sometimes life is meant to be that way. Y’all will have to wait for the unveiling in September.
Our steer will be part of the Centennial Plaza Project for the Park. He has already been transformed from his “ghostly gray” to beautiful rich, almost living color by local artist Bobby Wied whose meticulous attention to detail is awesome. The steer is beautiful. I hope you will all be proud.