Hurricane Cows
I think I was about 15 when I made my first photographs on Bolivar, They were images of the cutting pens along the Hwy in High Island. Cattle have been one of the primary industries on Bolivar since the Anglos first started living down there. I refer to them as Hurricane cows, because of the tough nature of their existence; constant winds and storms make this a pretty hard life for cows and cowboys alike. But I always thought of them as a great example of how the development on Bolivar had taken a different turn than other places on the Texas gulf coast. This was a living from the land, not off the fat of the tourists in hotels across the bay. Bolivar’s unique culture stems from the constant battering of storms and the bounty that the land & sea provide.
Hurricane Ike’s storm surge overwhelmed the pastures of Bolivar almost 48hrs ahead of the actual storm. Ranch Hands did their best to get the cattle to higher ground but the storm surge had high water almost all the way back to Stowell. The economic impact and loss of livestock is massive. A few of Cows managed to hang on through the storm surge and saltwater, but trying to get them back to safer pastures and fresh water is no easy task. In these photographs Members from one of the local ranches try to get a cow into the trailer for transport.
No comments:
Post a Comment