Nat Barrett

Born on the Grapevine Prairie in 1861, Nat Barrett left home at 16 to work on the big Open Range ranches of South Texas. A young man of good character, he quickly became a top hand cowboy and was invited to join the big cattle drives up the Chisholm Trail to Dodge City, Kansas. He toughened under the harsh conditions of making the long cattle drive many times through extreme weather, uncertain Indian Territory, and with just a light bedroll between him and the ground. He worked hard and saved his money for his dream ranch, but the cattle drives abruptly stopped when railroads began taking cattle directly to Chicago. Out of work, he soon had to depend on his savings. By 1890, having heard that the Cotton Belt train from St. Louis was carrying a $60,000 cash box to the biggest cattle, horse, and mule auction in the Fort Worth Stockyards, he knew the train would have to stop in Grapevine to take on water for the steam locomotive and unload passengers and freight. Bitter against the railroads for putting him out of work and costing him his savings for his ranch, he thought that if he could snatch the cash box during the stop and the commotion of people getting off and the crew taking on water and freight, he could do it without anyone getting hurt, then slip away, buy his big ranch, and never step on the wrong side of the law again.

Grapevine, Texas · United States