FOR GOOD OR BAD
People of the Cimarron Country

SHORTY MURRAY (1897-1993)
     
            Shorty Murray was the quintessential cowboy's cowboy and he probably knew the trails of Colfax County as intimately as anyone who ever rode its mountains, canyons and plains. Shy and unassuming, he was a favorite with everyone. Shorty's story is included as a typical example of a hard working Cimarron cowboy of the twentieth century who used a pistol mainly to shoot rocks.
            Speaking of rocks, the first notice this writer had of Shorty Murray came in 1973 when I was shown a rock in the North Ponil Canyon in which Shorty had pecked his name and the year, 1922. Shorty told me years later that when he rode for the Chase Ranch in the Ponil country during the 1920s, he left several such records as a way to occupy his time while waiting for another rider.