Traces of Tx (today)

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1870, black rodeo cowboy Bill Pickett was born in the Jenks-Branch community in Travis County. After observing dogs subduing huge steers by biting their upper lips, the young Pickett found he could do the same thing. In 1888 he performed at the first fair in Taylor, his family's new hometown. As the "Dusky Deamon," Pickett performed at rodeos and fairs throughout Texas and the West. Capitalizing on his fame, he contracted in 1905 to perform at the 101 Ranch in Oklahoma. By 1907 he had become a full-time employee of the ranch, where he worked as a cowboy and performed with the 101 Ranch Wild West Show. He entertained millions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, and England, and was featured in several motion pictures, the first black cowboy star. Pickett died in 1932 after being kicked in the head by a horse. His friend Will Rogers commented on his radio show: "Bill Pickett never had an enemy, even the steers wouldn't hurt old Bill." In 1972 Pickett became the first black honoree in the National Rodeo Hall of Fame. In 1994 the United States Post Office issued a stamp in his honor, though the stamp accidentally showed one of Pickett's brothers.

[Shakey Jake]

To add to the C.G. Cromwell story here is an entry from Traces of Texas. (note: I have been posting some entries from the Texas State Historical Association such as the previous C.G. Cromwell entry).
In 1876, the Texas Constitution set aside 2.1 million acres of land, mostly in West Texas, to support The University of Texas and Texas A&M systems of higher education. That wasn't too big of a deal until May 28, 1923 when the oil well known as Santa Rita #1, shown here, blew in. It was the discovery that proved that oil existed out in the Permian Basin and that has since led to billions of dollars of oil revenues being generated for the UT and Texas A&M systems. The well produced for 67 years. One pretty interesting fact is that the driller, Carl Cromwell, and his tool dresser, Dee Locklin, pounded their cable-tool rig for 646 days at the site, averaging 4.7 feet of progress per day when, finally, late on May 27, 1923, the bit drilled into the dolomitic sands, called "Big Lime," just above the 3,050-foot level. Cromwell shut down the well when he saw gas bubbles escaping from the casinghead. Cromwell and Locklin were convinced they had an oil well and left the site to lease surrounding mineral acreage while the discovery was still unknown. Early on May 28, with no further drilling, the Santa Rita roared to life, sprayed oil over the top of the derrick, and covered a 250-yard area around the site.
And the rest, as they say, is history.

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1889, Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederate States of America, died in New Orleans. Davis, born in Kentucky in 1808 but later a senator from Mississippi, was first in Texas as an army officer during the Mexican War in 1847 with Zachary Taylor's force on the Rio Grande. In 1854, while Davis was United States secretary of war, he recommended the Texas or thirty-second-parallel route for construction of a railroad to the Pacific Ocean, and in 1856 he sent camels to Camp Verde to test the animals' suitability as military transportation. After Reconstruction a movement was launched in Dallas to purchase a homestead for Davis and invite him to move to Texas. In 1875 he was offered the presidency of the newly established Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. In declining the appointment, he wrote of his hopes of revisiting Texas, but he never did so.

[Shakey Jake]

Y'all remember in Lonesome Dove when Joshua Deets dies and the Woodrow Call/Tommy Lee Jones character carves a wooden sign for his grave that reads "JOSH DEETS SERVED WITH ME 30 YEARS. FOUGHT IN 21 ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE COMMANCHE AND KIOWA. CHERFUL IN ALL WEATHERS, NEVER SHERKED A TASK. SPLENDID BEHAVIOUR?"
Well, Larry McMurtry modeled Josh Deets after a real life person, a man named Bose Ikard, who is pictured here. And it was 91 years sgo that Bose Ikard passed away in Austin. Ikard had been born a slave, freed after the civil war, and had ridden with famed cattleman Charles Goodnight. He was Goodnight's most trusted aide. When Bose died, Goodnight, who was in his 90's himself, had the following words put on his tombstone, which you can find in the Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford, Texas:
"Bose Ikard served with me four years on the Goodnight-Loving Trail, never shirked a duty or disobeyed an order, rode with me in many stampedes, participated in three engagements with Comanches, splendid behavior."
For more about Bose Ikard, read here:
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/onli ... cles/fik03

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Texas native Doris Miller responded courageously to the assault. He was serving as a mess steward on the USS West Virginia. When the ship was attacked he went on deck and manned an unattended deck gun. It was Miller's first experience firing such a weapon because black sailors serving in the segregated steward's branch of the navy were not given gunnery training. Although later news stories credited Miller with downing from two to five airplanes, these accounts have never been verified and are almost certainly apocryphal. Miller himself told navy officials he thought he hit one of the planes. The navy awarded him the Navy Cross for bravery in battle. He died on November 24, 1943, when his ship, the aircraft carrier Liscome Bay, was torpedoed and sunk.

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1830, Noah Smithwick was banished from Texas as "a bad citizen." Smithwick, born in North Carolina in 1808, came to Texas in 1827 and eventually settled in San Felipe. When San Felipe authorities ordered a friend of his who was accused of murder chained with leg irons, Smithwick, a blacksmith by trade, provided a file and a gun so he might escape. As a result, the authorities tried Smithwick, declared him "a bad citizen," and banished him from Austin's colony and Texas, providing an escort as far as the Sabine River. Smithwick returned to Matagorda in the fall of 1835 and reached Gonzales the day after the battle of Gonzales. He served in the Texas Revolution, married, and after an unsuccessful stint as a Williamson County cattle rancher established a mill near Marble Falls. With the coming of the Civil War, the Unionist Smithwick received threats and decided to abandon Texas. He sold his property and, with a number of friends, left Burnet County for southern California in 1861. In California, Smithwick gradually lost his eyesight but dictated his memoirs to his daughter. After his death in 1899, she had the manuscript published by Karl H. P. N. Gammel as The Evolution of a State, or Recollections of Old Texas Days.
More about Noah can be found here: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/ent ... hwick-noah

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1755, the stone church at Mission Concepción near San Antonio was dedicated. Its forty-five-inch-thick walls, two towers, latticed windows, and choir loft, among other features, would stand the test of time through years of tumultuous change. The mission was originally founded as Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de los Hainais in 1716 in East Texas, but famine, epidemics among the Caddoans, and French incursions forced the Spanish to retreat. They reestablished the facility in 1721, but had moved it to the Colorado River by 1730. The following year missionaries finally found a more suitable location on the east bank of the San Antonio River and renamed the mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña. Mexican independence in the nineteenth century brought secularization, and the property was sold at auction. During the Texas Revolution the battle of Concepción, in which James Bowie and his men defeated Mexican forces led by Martín Perfecto do Cos, took place on the mission grounds. In 1841 the Republic of Texas gave title of the building and land to the Catholic church, though the church continued to be used as a barn by settlers and, after annexation, as a supply depot by the United States Army. The Concepción church is considered by some historians to be the oldest unrestored church in the United States. The structure is now part of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, and Mass is still celebrated each Sunday.

[Shakey Jake]

Famous Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (at left) stands with veteran Texas Ranger Oscar Latta in 1908, the year they investigated the murder of stockman Aaron Johnson near Geneva, Texas. They outwitted a mob and got the murderer, Robert Wright, convicted and legally hanged. Hamer was assigned to track down the nationally known outlaws Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. After a three-month search, he trapped them near Gibsland, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934, and with the aid of several local policemen shot and killed them. Congress awarded Hamer a special citation for catching the pair. The lawman had been wounded numerous times and had killed an undetermined number of felons. He died in his sleep on July 10, 1955, and was buried in Austin Memorial park. In 1968 Hamer's widow and his son Frank, Jr., sued the producers of the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde for their portrayal of Hamer. They charged defamation of character among other things. In 1971 they were awarded a settlement out of court.

[Shakey Jake]

This post is from Traces of Texas. My, oh my! Look at all the rifles in the background over the bar!
Bain Allen and Bud Henderson behind a counter at the Buckhorn Saloon in Gatesville, Texas circa 1960. The saloon was located on the south side of the courthouse square in Gatesville from the 1930s-1970s. Quite an impressive collection of antlers. And check out the rifles on the wall! Different times, indeed.
Courtesy the fine folks at the Coryell County History Group, which you can find here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/247097818754669/
via The Portal to Texas History

[cooperhawk]

If you are ever in Wall Drug in Wall, SD go have a Bison Burgher and admire all the old Yellow Boys hanging on
their wall. I asked if they were real and was told, "Yes, and not for sale".