Cattle Drive from Merritt Island through downtown Cocoa over the wooden bridge. Movie goers and television viewers know all about the wild west. Wonder how many of them know about the wars with the cattlemen in the early years of the century, in the wild south? When the National Forest on Merritt Island was opened for settlement nearly 60 years ago, by President William Howard Taft, there were nearly 2,000 head of range cattle feeding on the luscious grasses on the island. None of these cow critters was owned locally. Every year strange outsiders riding on small swamp ponies came to the island for a round-up and calves were branded -- none of the brands were recognized. There were less than 1,000 voters in the county and it wasnt too difficult to pass a no fence, law by the legislature. This law required the cattlemen to fence in their herds and no fencing was needed by the homesteaders. We soon discovered the new law was of no help to us, as we learned the identity of the cattle owners - the cows were owned by the sheriff and his deputies. The cattlemen refused to obey the no-fence law -- and there was no higher enforcement agency to which we could explain our trouble. Soon great fires swept through the forest areas on our homesteads, destroying many huge pine trees some five feet in diameter. The cow men admitted setting the conflagration, stating the fire burned all the brush, permitting the more tender grass to appear which was great for the cattle. They tried to scare us off the land with tales of storms which blew the waves from the Atlantic clear across the island. This we did not believe as there was no evidence. Finally, the fires came closer and closer to the homesteaders houses and then -- three families were burned out. We fought one of the fires until the flames started to burn the shrubbery around my fathers house. We almost gave up hope when a heavy rain came to our assistance. Something must be done -- a meeting was called at one of the settlers homes and settlers all attended. It was a sober, angry crowd and guards were placed where all attending could be screened to keep out any spies. We soon came to a decision. One of the men agreed to take a train at Cocoa and ride as far as Daytona (it wasnt Daytona Beach at that time) and bring back several hundred 22-caliber rifle cartridges. Several days later more than 100 steers were found by the cow men dead all bloated and with their four legs reaching to the Heavens. It seemed a mystery to the sheriff and his men as they could not discover the cause of death. The cattle had been shot in the belly and died of lead poisoning. The first bridge was just completed from Cocoa to the Island and the next day the drive to the bridge was underway. Twenty-five hundred or more beef steers soon crowded their frightened way across the wooden, narrow bridge into the streets and shops of Cocoa. The cattle fled unhalted by the attending cow boys, who cracked their whips harmlessly and with no success. Firing their pistols in the air only caused more fear. The herds were under control after fleeing from town -- but the town of Cocoa was a shambles, a messy, foul-smelling wreck as one can imagine. The sheriff could find no large purchases of rifle cartridges in any store in Brevard County. No more fires on Merritt Island -- and no more barbed wire fences to keep out the roving cattle. No more cattle.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 17:30:29 +0000
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