by Carol Mowdy Bond
Photos courtesy of Dove Creek Press and Tillman County Historical and Educational Society
In 1909, Louis (Bud) Abernathy (1899–1979) and his little brother, Temple Abernathy (1904–1986), embarked on remarkable journeys that spanned four years. The scrappy young boys crisscrossed the United States, traveling more than 12,000 miles by horseback, car, and motorcycle. Their intrepid adventures captured public attention, reflecting the American spirits of rugged individualism, entrepreneurialism, and freedom.
These escapades of the Abernathy boys spotlighted an era during which President Theodore Roosevelt inked Okla-
homa into statehood and the state launched into the messy process of moving its capital from Guthrie to Oklahoma City and building a capitol building. Guthrie was Oklahoma Territory’s capital until 1906 and Oklahoma’s state capital from 1907 until 1910. And by 1908, Guthrie enjoyed a reputation as a mushrooming, urban, agricultural, industrial, financial, retail, and rail-service center.
Just five years earlier, the first car trip across the United States took place, part of a national trend in transportation and expansion. That same year, the Wright brothers succeeded in flying at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. U.S. political and societal issues were exploding, highlighted by more than two million children younger than 15 who were employed in industry by 1910.
Famous Father
Bud and Temple’s dad, Jack Abernathy, and their mother, Jessie Pearl Abernathy, snagged a 1901 land run homestead. As a result, the couple molded their Crossroads Ranch near Frederick, Oklahoma Territory. A cattle rancher, Abernathy became a renowned bare-handed wolf catcher known as “Catch ’em Alive Jack.”
Roosevelt wanted to experience the wolf hunts. So in 1905, Abernathy entertained Roosevelt at Crossroads Ranch, where Bud and Temple met Roosevelt. The event forged a lifetime friendship between Abernathy and Roosevelt, who quickly appointed Abernathy as the youngest U.S. marshal at the time. He served from March 1906 until 1910.
Abernathy’s position as marshal re-
quired the family to move from Frederick to Guthrie. But the Abernathys kept their Frederick ranch and returned there often. Unfortunately, the boys’ mother died in 1907, shortly after the move.
Media Sensations
As two of six children, Bud and Temple weren’t strangers to big ideas. In addition, Abernathy read Mark Twain’s Roughing It and Owen Wister’s The Virginian to the boys, and they were smitten by the tales.
In 1909, Abernathy returned from a trip to New Mexico Territory. Bud and Temple clamored to make the same trip, and their father approved the trek without adult chaperones. The boys headed west on their horses, Geronimo and Sam, from Guthrie to Santa Fe. The trip was perilous. But homesteaders and even a group of outlaws helped the boys, who were nine and five years old.
Returning home to Guthrie, Bud and Temple attended school. But they plotted more adventures after the school year finished. In 1910, former President Roosevelt was returning to the United States after travels abroad. Abernathy planned a train trip east to welcome Roosevelt.
At ages six and 10, the boys planned the same trip. They left the Frederick ranch on horseback in 1910 and headed east with no adults. Journalists soon realized what was happening, and Bud and Temple became media sensations, known as the “little cowboys from Oklahoma.” Fans greeted them along the way.
The boys toured the Wright brothers’ aeroplane factory in Dayton, Ohio. They rode on a horse-drawn, steam-powered fire engine in Cincinnati. In Washington D.C., they met President William Howard Taft.
Abernathy met the boys in New York City. Treated like celebrities, Bud and Temple rode in a ticker-tape parade with Roosevelt, his regiment of Rough Riders, and approximately 2,000 more Spanish-American War veterans.
The Runabout
On the lookout for more exploits, Bud and Temple decided to drive a car back to Oklahoma. The boys learned to drive on New York City streets, and no driver’s license was required. They obtained a 1910 red Brush Runabout, made by the Brush Runabout Company of Detroit, Michigan. A small car, the Brush was made of wood, went 30 miles per hour, and had two levers, gas pedal, brake, horn, steering wheel, and fuel pump so it could handle steep terrain and mud. The boys called their Brush the “Wild Cat” because it was reliable and could handle anything.
Abernathy bought a Maxwell touring car and hired a chauffeur to drive back with the boys. They all left on July 6, 1911. Both boys took turns driving the Brush, with Temple sitting on the edge of the driver’s seat and looking through the steering wheel.
The United States had only 100 miles of paved roads at the time. So the Abernathys traveled on 2,500 miles of crude roads.
Bud and Temple managed to scoop up two more adventures. They made a horseback journey from New York City to San Francisco in 1911 and a motorcycle ride from Oklahoma City to New York in 1913.
In later years, Bud became a lawyer and judge. Temple became an oil man.
Temple’s wife, Alta Abernathy,
wrote Bud & Me: The True Adventures of the Abernathy Boys, published by Dove Creek Press, www.budandme.com. Readers might also enjoy Struggles in a New State: The 1910 Journey of the Abernathy Boys as a Framework of the Political Issues and Societal Changes in Oklahoma, by Larry Lewis, published by Oklahoma Heritage Foundation.
The Pioneer Heritage Townsite Museum in Frederick features an Abernathy boys exhibit with an interactive map and an original Brush automobile such as the youngsters drove on their historic trip.
