DRIVING THE DOGGIES INTO HISTORY

Wild Hog and Cabrito Cook-offs, the George West Storyfest, and Miss Live Oak County Pageant are but a few of the modern celebratory events that probably would have made George Washington West, trail driver and founder of the south Texas town of George West, proud. West spent most of his younger days driving Longhorns north out of Texas to the Kansas railheads. At nineteen years old, West contracted with the U.S. government to drive 14,000 head of cattle to Montana, just 100 miles short of the Canadian Border. The job may have earned West and his accomplishment the titles of youngest trail boss and longest trail drive in history. West married "Kittie" Elizabeth Searcy four years later and, by 1880, they were settled on a 140,000 acre ranch in Live Oak County. The ranch served as site for the establishment of the town of George West in 1912 and the rest, as they say, is history. The extensive collection of historic artifacts from George West patron Grace Armantrout helps to pull the town's entire legacy together under one roof at the Grace Armantrout Museum.