Interview
Black Settlement - White Settlement - Interview - Home
Faye Boyles, of Mullen, Nebraska, remembers many interesting events and information from her past with Brownlee. A couple interesting stories that she remembers took place when she was a little girl.
One
of these was the cattle drives that she helped her family with. They would
drive cows and calves approximately 25 miles to the Goose Creek Corrals on
Highway 83. This trip took two days but they would stay the night at her grandma’s
house, which was much more comfortable than sleeping on the ground. After
getting the cattle to the corrals, they would load the calves onto trucks
so they could be shipped off. Then Faye and her family would have to drive
the cows back home. This was a much more difficult task. She said that it
was absolutely necessary to be a good rider. After arriving home with the
cattle, they watched them for many days. They did so by observing them from
the hills to assure that the cattle wouldn’t wander off and try to find
their calves--especially since the majority of the fences were three wire,
not four wire.
Another
event that Faye remembered was going to the Brownlee rodeos almost every Sunday
afternoon. She was unsure of whether the cowboys paid an entry fee and competed
for money, or just wanted to show each other who was best. However, she does
remember the rodeo clown and one particular act that he did to please the
crowd. He had a mule and a bucket. He proceeded to hang the bucket over the
mule’s head behind his ears. Then he would pump the tail on the donkey.
As a result, water would fill the bucket. After the clown did this three times,
Faye’s curiosity finally got the best of her. She asked her mother how
the clown could get water into the bucket just by pumping the tail on a mule.
Her mother informed her that there was a false bottom in the bucket, so water
could be stored in it without being seen. However, this was a favorite crowd
pleaser. The rodeos definitely brought people to the Brownlee area and were
entertaining to watch.