History, "Corrales de lena"

Cousin Tom Poth sent this article and picture to me. It is interesting reading. Corrales de lena refers to the mesquite log cattle pens that were common in South Texas when we were kids. The idea other than being good corrales was that cattle weren't going to try jumping out of something they couldn't see on the other side of. It worked great except that it wasn't easy for you to escape wild cattle from inside them either.

Rancho San JoseAround the 1860s, when the López family lived in Mexico, Chico Reyna, a cousin of Antonio’s, made trips hauling wool from Cadereyta, Nuevo León, through General Bravo, Nuevo León, and on to Corpus Christi, Texas. On his way through, he stopped to rest and visit with Antonio in San Pedro. Chico hauled his wool in a cart train, or tren de carretas, consisting of three two-wheeled carts. A strong lead rope made of rawhide held the carts together as they traveled. Oxen pulled the carts, which had bowed wooden arches covered with canvas. The oxen were fed, watered, and rested for the night at Antonio’s ranch so they would be ready to go the next morning.On one of these trips, Francisco López, Antonio’s oldest son, joined his uncle for the trip, little realizing the adventure that awaited him. The experience proved unforgettable for Francisco because there were so many new places to see. He later described the trip to his son, Francisco Jr. He found the speed of travel very slow and boring but steady. The oxen would keep on going and going. Francisco would walk for a while and then ride on the carts for a while. Occasionally, Chico prodded the oxen with a fancy decorated stick, a garrocha. The cart trails were sandy in places and rocky in others, making a rough ride. Francisco observed that his uncle knew where to stop to rest, to eat, and to water the oxen at the lagoons and creeks alongside the trail.Along the way they passed through some isolated ranches. Most consisted of sillar houses with one or two jacales nearby. His uncle knew most of the people living at the ranches, and he stopped briefly to talk to them. All of the ranches had names and served as landmarks in the area. Years later Francisco drove along the road in a vehicle and remembered the sillar homes. When new roads bypassed the old homes, their names as landmarks were no longer known. A few of the houses can still be seen in ruins alongside the road from El Sauz to Rancho Randado. A few of the old ranches had two or three of these sillar homes. On the small ranches, the stock consisted mainly of sheep and goats, a few cattle, and one or two horses to pull the buggy and provide transportation.Francisco remembered the largest ranch was Rancho Randado, which had several of the sillar houses and many jacales.The jacales housed the working ranch hands known as peones.Francisco saw earthen dams called presas. The ranchers made the presas by blocking the water flow of a creek with a ridge of dirt, un bordo de tierra. In some of the presas, an excavation was dug into the side wall and the dirt was used to build a ledge, giving it more depth so it would hold more water and form a small lake to provide water for a longer time for the livestock.These large ranches had cattle pens of mesquite logs, corrales de leña.A few ranches today have preserved this type of corral. Another ranch that Francisco remembered very well was San Lorenzo. Later, though it’s not known why, the name of this ranch was changed to Las Latas. His uncle usually made a late sleep stop there. Francisco came to know the owners, Albino and Crisanto Vela, well. They were very friendly, and he developed a good relationship with them. At that time it was a very busy ranch, a landmark in the community. It included some sillar houses and many jacales. From the 1860s to about the 1920s, this ranch was a thriving community. There is nothing left of Las Latas today except a nearby cemetery with the names of the early pioneer families engraved on the tombstones. The cemetery is southeast of Alice on Highway 665.