Friend andfellow poet Linda Kirkpatrick of the great state of Texas sent the abovepicture to me a while back. It looks, does it not, like a typical old-timephoto of a band of cowboys.

But it’snot. The photo is of men from her part of Texas who were “Hog Drovers.”

Well,having had some experience with pigs in my youth (Utah State Junior LivestockShow Fitting and Showmanship Champion in the pig division, 1970) it piqued mycuriosity. It makes perfect sense, but it had not occupied much of my mind,that in days gone by, before railroads and trucking came along, hogs—likecattle (and sheep, goats, ducks, geese, turkeys, horses, and mules)—had to bedriven to market.

Tennesseeand Kentucky were big pig-raising states, and the fattened animals would bedriven through the mountains to eastern markets. In 1847 alone, 51,753 hogspassed through a single tollgate in North Carolina. As many as 100,000 hogswere driven from Kentucky to Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and otherpoints east in any given year. Hog drives were common throughout the country.

Porkers couldmove along on their trotters about ten miles a day, led by a horseback droverand herded by other drovers, about one for every 100 hogs in the herd. Herdsizes ranged from a few hundred to a thousand pigs. “Wagon stands” along theway would corral, feed, and water the hogs overnight. 

There’s abetter than even chance that the photo Linda sent may inspire a future novelfeaturing the adventures and antics of our friend Rawhide Robinson. We’ll see ifthat pig can fly.