A Walk Across Texas

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine We saw many unusual things As we walked from the west Like in Miami, Texas They have a cow-calling contest. Walk across Texas With its wonderful sights. Walk across Texas With its beautiful nights. With the wind hitting twenty miles an hour and the temperature hovering near forty degrees, we did not have a hard time deciding to take the day off and make a side trip to Miami, home of the National Cow Calling Contest since 1949. I had called Barbara Alexander who handles the planning for the annual event and she sounded excited that we would visit the city of about 600 people. We drove through the rolling plains covered with tall native grasses and mesquite and live oak trees. Numerous little creeks drained into the Canadian River and its tributaries. Plains Apaches once roamed this area until they were pushed out by the Comanches, who hunted the immense herds of buffalo until Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie and his federal troops defeated the Indians in the Red River War of 1874–1875. Miami, the seat of Roberts County, supposedly derives its name from an Indian word meaning sweetheart. The city uses the name in its advertisements , calling itself the sweetheart of the plains. We stopped in the downtown area at the old Miami Railroad Depot, erected in 1888. The site, which once had a tent hotel, has several old railroad luggage carts sitting outside, looking like they could still be piled with huge stacks of luggage and rolled to waiting trains. After a few minutes, we retreated to the car and started the heater. “I think the temperature must have dropped to the thirties,” said Norm as he blew onto his hands for warmth. We waited until Barbara Alexander arrived and she invited us into the senior citizens’ center to talk about the cow calling contest and Miami. “We’re just a little town but we have a lot of fun during the contest, which is held every June,” she said. William Jackson, who owns a garage in the downtown area, agreed. “The contest is just a big old hollering match,” he said. “It’s a reunion time for family members who have moved off to come back and see their families and friends. A couple of local ranchers usually win it. They’re not big men but they are loud and can really belt out a cattle call.” Jackson helps with the weekend of entertainment by dressing up like a woman with several of his buddies and doing skits on Friday night. “Last year we did a take off on ‘Hee-Haw.’ Folks seemed to get a kick out of us,” he said. “But, enter the cow calling contest . . . no sir, I don’t do that. I may get up on the stage all dressed up like a woman and act silly but I am not going to get up in front of a bunch of people and start calling cows.” Alexander laughed at her friend. He may not have the courage to get up and call cattle in front of people but there are lots of other folks who like to enter the contest. “We had a man come in from Utah last year to call,” she said. “We have events for men, women, and children. The first place winners get $50. But, it’s mainly for fun.” Jackson said the judges are stationed two blocks away. The contestants are told to face the direction in which the judges are sitting and then start calling. “They cup their hands over their mouths and just belt it out until they turn red in the face,” he said. As we talked, Leslie D. Espinosa, publisher and editor of the local newspaper, the Miami Chief, walked inside and introduced herself. She said she has owned the paper, which is more than a hundred years old, for about a month. Before that she worked as an assistant to the county judge and county attorney. “And, one of my hobbies is taking pictures,” she said. “So when the woman who owned the Chief decided she wanted to sell it, she told me that there was nobody else better suited to buy it. So I bought it and I like putting it out.” We said our good-byes and drove toward Clarendon, our next stop. We passed through Alanreed, a tiny community with several vacant buildings including an old Phillip’s 66 Service Station. We looked at the old...