The last Matador wagon— and a few old cowhands

LASTWAGON Cowhands posing in front of the old Matador Ranch chuck wagon at the Burton-Lingo Lumberyard in Matador on Sept. 20, 1964, before it was donated to the Cowboy Hall of Fame were (back row, front right) Brooks Callaway, Albert J. Daffern, Virgil F. Leonard, Emmett H. Gafford, Melvin Dirickson and Ed. D. Smith (i.e., William Earl Smith); (kneeling, front row) Clarence C. Smauley, Walker Leonard and Rosie Deaton. | PHOTO #10536 BY JESS COUCH, MOTLEY COUNTY MUSEUM
LASTWAGON Cowhands posing in front of the old Matador Ranch chuck wagon at the Burton-Lingo Lumberyard in Matador on Sept. 20, 1964, before it was donated to the Cowboy Hall of Fame were (back row, front right) Brooks Callaway, Albert J. Daffern, Virgil F. Leonard, Emmett H. Gafford, Melvin Dirickson and Ed. D. Smith (i.e., William Earl Smith); (kneeling, front row) Clarence C. Smauley, Walker Leonard and Rosie Deaton. | PHOTO #10536 BY JESS COUCH, MOTLEY COUNTY MUSEUM

101ST MOTLEY-DICKENS OLD SETTLERS REUNION & RODEO COMING UP AUG. 22–24

Thelastworkingchuck wagon of the Matador Land & Cattle Company pulled into the Lower Division headquarters at Matador in 1958. That event is part of the lore long shared by those who once worked the vast ranch.

“The Matadors,” cowboys like Ed D. Smith, Melvin Dirickson, Virgil and Walker Leonard, Rosie Deaton, Clarence Sm…