The people of Custer County were enjoying the warm temperatures of September 1959, as were the nearly 10,000 head of cattle that were the primary source of income for the roughly 1,200 citizens. Ranchers were working at sorting and weaning calves and finishing up putting up hay for the winter. Only a few ranches had started to drive the herds out of the Valley along the three routes of Texas Creek, the Oak Creek Grade, or the Hardscrabble Pass. Sheep ranchers had mostly brought down their grazing flocks from above treeline in the Sangre de Cristos and were in the process of sorting the sellable animals from the rest of the flock. For all intents and purposes, the autumn season had been bountiful. It was…