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excellent reputation. He had performed a number of difficult surgeries and seemed to be the best bet for treating John. So that is where he was taken. The kidney had to be removed and rib bone splinters picked out of his intestines. The doctor did a wonderful job and John fully recovered although he was always bothered by this accident. The doctor returned to Germany when World War I began and no one ever heard from him again.

With the purchase of a cow each month, John had built up quite a herd and needed a better range to graze them on. He found that range in Wills Canyon on top of the Sacramento Mountains. There was a place consisting of 160 acres with seven running springs and plenty of grazing area around it. It would be necessary to take the cattle to the desert each winter but that did not pose a big problem. So in 1911 the move was made to Wills Canyon to a log house on the ranch of Shelby Davis, father of Lola Davis Waldrip.

Sherman Emil Waldrip was born in that log house on March 11, 1912. It is rather ironic to note that Homer Davis and Sherman Waldrip tore down that old log house in 1930 to use the logs for fire wood. Anyway, we built a new frame house on our ranch about a half mile up the canyon from the Davis spread and lived there until 1920 when we moved, with the cattle, to Arizona.

John not only ran his own cattle but worked for the Circle Cross Cattle Company at the same time. The Circle Cross was owned by Oliver Lee who was a legendary figure in New Mexico at that time. He had called the bluff of Pat Garrett, who killed Billy The Kid, when Garrett ordered Lee to report to Federal authorities in El Paso. Lee told Garrett that he would respond to a summons from legally constituted officials but not from Garrett. Lee made his point stick and reported on his own at a later time and was never indicted.