How did the Mavericks get to Colorado

and Little Bend, Texas?

FRAMING STORY

FROM WHO-KNOWS-WHERE

Set in August[1] 1871,[3] Trail West to Fury places Bret Maverick just out of Bent Forks[2], Nebraska[3] as seen in "Point Blank." We know nothing of Bart's back trail at this point.

At the outset of the story, we find the Maverick Brothers and Dandy Jim Buckley sheltered in an abandoned house during a raging flood. The rapidly rising waters were supposedly caused by a downpour conjured out of the sky by a Ute snake dance. Other than that, we know only that they are somewhere on or near the Colorado plains.[1]

The Ute Indians once covered half of Utah and almost all of Colorado. But an 1868 treaty with the U. S. government forced them to remain west of the 107th meridian, confining them to the Rocky Mountains.[4]

COLORADO

In August 1871, the Mavericks and Dandy Jim, being on the plains, must have been east of the Rockies, probably a hundred miles or more from the Ute reservation, and probably in no danger of falling under their influence. But if we choose to believe Bret — that the downpour was caused by a Ute snake dance — we might imagine the location to be somewhere to the east of the confluence of the Arkansas and Fontaine Rivers, where heavy August rains often flooded the countryside.[5] Populated as the area was in those days, the area just east of Pueblo along the Arkansas would have been a likely place for the boys to find refuge during such a deluge. And along a well-established trail into and out of Denver, it was a likely spot to meet up with Dandy Jim.

TO WHO-KNOWS-WHERE

Sometime within the next nine months, the Mavericks' exile from Texas would end. It would be in May 1872 that Bret was able to travel freely and without concern to Gunsight, Texas and beyond.[6] So we may assume an untold story of the Mavericks unfolded during that time: Either the elusive Tall Man was found, or some other evidence came to light to remove Jessie Hayden's accusation of murder from the Mavericks. Back in 1867, the Tall Man was last said to be headed to Colorado.[1] So perhaps while still in the territory, contrary to the Mavericks' wandering intentions, they may have stumbled across him and wound up cleared of the charges against them. Or perhaps it was Dandy Jim who found him on his own and, breaking another promise to the Mavericks, had the Tall Man clear their names. Either way, after Colorado, the Mavericks were apparently free to roam anywhere in the West.

FORT ADOBE

All we know of Fort Adobe's location is that it was in the Arizona Territory. Anywhere in Arizona was well beyond the 500 miles of Comanche country west of Little Bend with which the Mavericks were familiar. Other army forts in central and southern Arizona already raised their own livestock, and would not have needed to pay the exorbitant prices of $40 a head. However, in the days before railroads became commonplace, some markets in the east were offering that price and higher.[11]

The removal of the Navajo Indians from their traditional lands in 1864 gave the Union full run of the vast grazing lands near the New Mexico border. But Fort Defiance, abandoned since 1861, left that region unprotected until its re-establishment in 1868.[12] It would have made sense for the Union Army to establish a military presence in the area and take advantage of the surrounding grazing lands. Therefore, this vicinity would be a reasonable location for Fort Adobe.[3]

Fortunately, the dormant ranching years of the Civil War allowed Texas herds to multiply greatly, so enterprising ranchers of the day had  available livestock. But the sheer distance through hostile Comanche territory seemed like an impossible barrier. Only weeks earlier, the ill-fated 1867 Goodnight-Loving drive up the Pecos River suffered devastating Indian attacks which led to the ultimate death of Oliver Loving himself.[11]

THE MILLER CATTLE DRIVE

In the wake of the Goodnight-Loving drive, a similar endeavor by the Miller Ranch could only have been attempted with hearty and intrepid trail bosses intimately familiar with those dangerous lands. The Mavericks? Just having retired from from two years as Indian fighters in New Mexico, and being Mavericks, they were not so inclined. But ... they needed the money.[1]

Knowing the trail ahead, the Mavericks would have proposed the most direct route through and out of Comanche country. This would have taken them almost due west from Little Bend, across the dry Texas plains, and up the Goodnight-Loving Trail along the Pecos River, into New Mexico Territory. Then out of Comanche territory, turning west at Beck's Ranch (near the modern site of Roswell), through Albuquerque on to Fort Adobe just beyond Arizona border.[4]

Pushed by the threat of Comanches during the hottest and driest time of year, across grazing lands already clipped short by Goodnight and Loving, and with Jessie Hayden's herd right behind,[1] the Miller cattle drive would have traversed the 800-mile trail in about ten and a half weeks, averaging just slightly more than eleven miles a day.[3]

THE SEARCH FOR THE TALL MAN

After Jessie Hayden's deposition against the Mavericks, only finding the Tall Man could have saved them from murder charges. Losing the flip of a coin, Bart drew the assignment of chasing after the wagon train the Tall Man was said to work.

Bret and Bart had learned that the Tall Man left Little Bend the night before to join a wagon train. Bret had the additional information that the Tall Man was heading northeast. This was news to Bart, but having lost the coin toss, he lighted out of town to pick up the trail.

We don't know if the Tall Man was really headed northeast. It may be that he only headed that direction out of town to pick up the established road running northwest from Austin  to Fort Phantom Hill and beyond. But it could also have been very possible that Bret was simply conning his brother to get him out of the way to have more time for himself with Laura Miller.[3]

Either way, eight days later and fifty miles north of Little Bend, Bart caught up to the wagon train as it is attacked by Comanches. Three or four wagons got away and with one of them, the Tall Man.[1]

Apparently, the wagons scattered in different directions, possibly to divide the marauding Comanches in pursuit. Having trailed one of the wagons farther north towards the Texas Panhandle,[3] Bart learned the Tall Man wasn't there. He was told the Tall Man was making his way to Fort Adobe, the same destination as the Miller cattle drive. So Bart took another turn to catch up with the herd and hopefully to find the Tall Man.[1]

Bart finally met the cattle drive about a week away from Fort Adobe. In so doing, he learned  Jessie Hayden was also driving a herd and planned to stop the Miller drive from ever reaching Fort Adobe.[1]

Having delivered the news, Bart rushed ahead to Fort Adobe, once again on the trail of the Tall Man, and also probably to negotiate terms for the incoming herd. But the Tall Man had come and gone, presumably already on his way to Colorado.[1]

TO WHO-KNOWS-WHERE

By the time the Bret arrived at Fort Adobe with the herd, Bart had already taken off towards Colorado on the Tall Man's trail. Bret told Jim and Laura he' would catch up with brother Bart, hopefully with the Tall Man in tow, so they could once again return to Texas.[1]

The most direct trail into Colorado from Fort Adobe would have been back along the cattle trail, turning north at Albuquerque for Santa Fe. But we know from "The Jeweled Gun" that it will not be until 1876 that Bart ever set foot in Santa Fe.[13]

So the trail must have led elsewhere. The Mavericks probably tracked the Tall Man further east before finally turning north. This might have taken them out through Las Vegas, New Mexico, and then up to Fort Union and into Colorado through the Raton Pass.[3]

Whichever trail Bret and Bart took that day, we know the Tall Man was not at the end of it.

ABOVE: Bart, Bret and Dandy Jim wait out a Colorado flood by telling stories.[1]

FLASHBACK STORY