Charles Goodnight: Father of the Texas Panhandle (review)

Book Reviews Jesús F. de la Teja, Editor Charles Goodnight: Father of the Texas Panhandle. By William T. Hagan. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. Pp. 162. Illustrations, maps, further reading, index. ISBN 9780806138275. $26.95, cloth.) The Texas Panhandle is independent by nature and colorful by design; therefore it is no wonder that the architect of the Panhandle life known today was a man among men —an example for all who followed. Charles Goodnight was an indomitable character who, through sheer determination , turned a hardscrabble land into a ranching empire. In this book (the first written about Goodnight in seventy years), author William T. Hagan examines this colorful subject in his roles from farmer to cattle baron, and also gives insight into the man within the man —one not readily revealed. To write a book about such a complex individual is a great undertaking. But the author has researched well. His book complements the works ofJ. Evetts Haley , Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1949) and Laura V. Hamner, The No-Gun Man of Texas (Amarillo, 1936), thus completing a trilogy about Goodnight—ß. man whose mind was in perpetual motion. Hagan begins with an account of Capt. Randolph B. Marcy's expedition in 1 849 into the dreaded "Laño Estacado" to discover the source of the Red River. In his final report, Marcy describes the area, The great Zahara of North America . It is a region almost as vast and trackless as the ocean—a land where no man, either savage or civilized, permanently abides ... a treeless, desolate waste of uninhabitable solitude, which always has been, and must continue uninhabited forever " (pp. 30-31). But Palo Duro Canyon was only lying in wait for someone like Charles Goodnight. Goodnight's analysis of die Texas Panhandle was quite different from Marcy 's. The author writes, "Litde wonder that Goodnight stated unequivocally, ? wanted that canyon.' The next ten years of his life would be devoted to acquiring as much of it as he could buy or preempt" (p. 33). With financial partners John and Cornelia Adair, Charles Goodnight would create not only a ranch, but an attitude that continues to permeate a twenty-six-county area. In a dispute about the lease of land for a school ("The Children's Grass"), Hagan follows the antics of Goodnight as he straps on a six-shooter, loads $100,000 into a wheelbarrow, and wheels it into the Land Office in Austin. He takes you inside grand jury proceedings as they return seventy-six true bills 8oSouthwestern Historical QuarterlyJuly against Goodnight and other ranchers. Who was the foreman of the grand jury? Charles Goodnight. The author also delves into the successes and failures of Goodnight's attempts at crossbreeding animal and plant life. The man within the man is the personal side of Charles Goodnight. He was a man subject to fears and doubts—uncomfortable with educated people. He was tough and stern in his business dealings, but soft and gentle with his wives. Deeply sympathetic to die Indians, he felt the ranchers had encroached upon their land. Goodnight was a man with so many ideas he would have required several lifetimes to pursue them all. With this book, William T. Hagan weaves a tale about the Panhandle during a time before law and order, when the only transportation was on horseback. He introduces a cast of characters more interesting than any found in fiction, and Col. Charles Goodnight shines in the leading role. Dallas, TexasLana Payne Barnett Murder on the White Sands: The Disappearance ofAlbert and Henry Fountain. By Corey Recko. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2007. Pp. 244. Illustrations , notes, sources, index. ISBN 9781574412246. $24.95, cloth.) Corey Recko's Murder on the White Sands: The Disappearance ofAlbert and Henry Fountain examines the bizarre disappearance of lawyer AlbertJennings Fountain and his young son Henry on their 150-mile journey from Lincoln, New Mexico to their home in Mesillat. Fountain, a New Yorker who in the 1850s moved to northern California where he was introduced to journalism, served as a reporter for the Sacramento Union during filibuster William Walker's expedition to Nicaragua. It was during...