Life of Tom Candy Ponting

Cattle driving was a major economic activity in the 19th century American West, particularly between 1856 and 1896. Texas Longhorns were a tough breed of cattle, in a tough place—Texas. And tough were the men that drove them. Two such men, though hardly men at all, had a plan. Young Tom Candy Ponting, the son of a farmer from Somerset, England, and his partner, Washington Malone, had heard stories of the availability of cattle in Texas. The durable, hardy Texas cattle were practically running wi