Traces of Tx (today)

[Shakey Jake]

The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day is the contents of a receipt for the XIT Ranch's supply order for the spring roundup in 1891.
THE XIT RANCH'S SUPPLY ORDER AS PURCHASED FROM H. HUMPHREY IN CHANNING, TEXAS ON 4/20/1891:
1 ax & handle $1.25
100 lb. flour 2.65
88 lb. bacon 7.92
2 cans B. Powder 2.50
25 LB coffee 5.62
20 lb apples 2.00
20 lb. beans 1.10
2 lb. pepper .50
10 lb. grapes .75
25 lb. sugar 1.38
1 lantern 1.00
1 oil can .50
1 gal oil .30
1 bot lemon extract .75
1 bot vanilla extract 1.00
1 doz boxes matches .25
9 sks salt .25
10 lb. lard .95
12 bars soap .50
1 keg pickles 2.75
Total $43.82

[JEBar]

only 20 lbs of beans .... that order couldn't have lasted them very long ..

[Shakey Jake]

Here's another one from earlier in the month:




The Texas Quote of the Day, written in 1885, finds Texas Ranger John Salmon "Rip" Ford giving tactical advice on how to fight Comanches:
"In the event of being pursued, immediately after the preparation of depredations; the Comanches move day and night, very often not breaking gallop except to exchange horses (which they do several times) and water the caballada, until they deem themselves safe. Under these circumstances they will travel at least 70 miles a day, which is a long distance with the incumbrance of loose animals.
A party of warriors dressed in their trappings - embellished shields, fancy moccasins, long pig tails bedecked with silver, shoulder belts worked with beads and adorned with shells, fine leggings, ornamented cases for bows and arrows - mounted upon spirited horses, singing a war song, and sweeping over a prairie is a beautiful spectacle to a man with plenty of brave fellows to back him.
Their motions are easy and graceful. They sit a horse admirably, and manage one with a master hand. Charge them and they will retreat from you with double your numbers. But beware when pursuing them; keep your men together, well in hand, with at least half their arms loaded, else you will find when it is too late, the flying Comanches will turn on you and charge you to the very teeth.
A Comanche can draw a bow when on horseback, standing or running, with remarkable strength and accuracy. They have been known to kill horses running at full speed over one hundred yards away.
In the commencement of a fight, the yell of defiance is borne to you loud, long, and startling. The war whoop has no romance in it. It thrills even a stout heart with an indescribable sensation. The excitement of battle is quite as evident among these people as among others. Let the tide turn against them, send lead messengers through some of their warriors, and then the mournful wail is heard; its lubrigous notes are borne back to you with uncouth cadence, betokening sorrow, anger, and a determination to revenge.
The dead are usually borne from the field. Nothing but the most imminent danger prevents them from performing the incumbent duty of not leaving the body of a comrade in the hands of an enemy. Over a fallen chief they will make a desperate stand. Their caution seems merged in the determination to risk everything to bear him from the field. To attain this object they will fight furiously, bravely, and often.
If they abandon him, it is usually in despair. Flight is no longer methodical and menacing to the pursuer. Retreat degenerates into route. After this they have seldom if ever been known to resume the offensive. They will hide themselves in the first chapparal affording security against discovery, remain during the day, and visit the dead at night, and if not able to remove them will spread blankets or some covering over them.
The bow is placed horizontally in shooting; a number of arrows are held in the left hand; the bow operates as a rest for the arrows. The distance - the the curve the missile has to describe in reaching the object - is determined by the eye without taking aim. At the distance of 60 yards and over, arrows can be dodged, if but one Indian shoots at you at a time. Under forty yards the six-shooter has little advantage over the bow.
At long distances the angle of elevation is considerable. It requires a quick eye to see the arrow and judge the whereabouts of its descent, a good dodger to move out of the way, and a good rider withal to keep in the saddle. A man is required to keep both eyes engaged in an Indian fight."
---- John Salmon "Rip" Ford gives tactical advice for fighting Indians in "Rip Ford's Texas," 1885. Ford, was a member of the Republic of Texas Congress and later of the State Senate and mayor of Brownsville, Texas. He was also a Texas Ranger, a Confederate colonel, doctor, lawyer, and a journalist and newspaper owner. This photo shows him in (roughly) 1870.

[markiver54]

only 20 lbs of beans .... that order couldn't have lasted them very long ..

20 lbs of apples aint very many either...

[Shakey Jake]

I imagine they had plenty of beef if they wanted.
Jake

[daytime dave]

Jake, these stories are great.

[Shakey Jake]

A surveying party in Austin posing with typical tools and weapons found on a surveying expedition. 1876. Top row, left to right: Richard P. von Blucher, Grove R. Crafts, Charles F.H. von Blucher, Surveyor in Charge. Bottom row, left to right: George A. von Blucher, Philip Fullerton, Hilario Martinez

[Shakey Jake]

The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:
In 1892, 10 cowboys with the XIT ranch in Channing, Texas drove 2500 cattle from Channing to the confluence of the Yellowstone River and Cedar Creek north of Miles City, Montana. XIT trail boss Ealey Moore recorded the supplies that cook Sam Williamson used along the way. Sam ground and brewed almost two pounds of coffee beans a day, going through three coffee mills. Each day he cooked 10 pounds of bacon. During the 13 week drive, the crew consumed 40 pounds of rice, 160 pounds of beans, 9 gallons of sorghum, almost 300 pounds of fruit, including dried currants and prunes as well as dried, fresh, and canned apples and peaches, 405 pounds of white sugar and 1,750 pounds of white flour.
(Note: Anyone can find these and many more strories on the Traces of Texas Facebook page. The man does a wonderful job posting items of interest in Texas history.)

[Shakey Jake]

Circa 1895, three men in Fredericksburg doing what (I've heard) men in Fredericksburg sometimes do: drinking beer. This photo was sent in by Traces of Texas reader Tammi Tipson, who was browsing the archives of the Jernigan Library at Texas A&M Kingsville (here: https://archives.tamuk.edu/ ) and came up with this photo. A great Friday night in Texas photo.
Thank you, Tammi. I love it when y'all do the heaving lifting. Saves me from having to to it myself!

[Shakey Jake]

I'll keep posting these here for those who don't have Facebook as long as they're appreciated. If not, I'll stop doing it. Here's todays:




The Texas Quote of the Day:
"About Christmas we had a little excitement, chasing some Mexican thieves, who robbed Mr. Pitcher of everything he had in his little Jim Crow store. John and I were absent from our camp, six days on this trip. There were nine of us in the persuing party, headed by Mr. Moore, our boss. We caught the outfit, which consisted of five men, all well armed and three women, two of them being pretty maidens, on the staked plains, headed for Mexico. It was on this trip that I swore off getting drunk, and I have stuck to it--with the exception of once and that was over the election of President Cleveland--It happened thus:
We rode into Tascosa about an hour after dark, having been in the saddle and on a hot trail all day without food or water. Supper being ordered we passed off the time waiting, by sampling Howard and Reinheart's [Saloon] "bug juice."
Supper was called and the boys all rushed to the table--a few sheepskins spread on the dirt floor. When about through they missed one of their crowd ----- me. On searching far and near I was found lying helplessly drunk under my horse, Whisky-peet, who was tied to a rack in front of the store. A few glasses of salty water administered by Mr. Moore brought me to my right mind. Moore then after advising me to remain until morning, not being able to endure an all night ride as he thought, called, "come on, fellers!" And mounting their tired horses they dashed off at almost full speed.
There I stood leaning against the rack not feeling able to move.
Whisky-peet was rearing and prancing in his great anxiety to follow the crowd. I finally climbed into the saddle, the pony still tied to the rack. I had sense enough left to know that I couldn't get on him if loose, in the fix I was in. Then pulling out my bowie knife I cut the rope and hugged the saddle-horn with both hands. I overtook and stayed with the crowd all night, but if ever a mortal suffered it was me. My stomach felt as though it was filled with scorpions, wild cats and lizards. I swore if God would forgive me for getting on that drunk I would never do so again. But the promise was broken, as I stated before, when I received the glorious news of [Grover] Cleveland's election."
----- Charles A. Siringo, "A Texas Cow Boy," 1885. Siringo was born in Matagorda County in 1855 and went on to become a cowboy who did some epic cattle drives before ending up a lawman and a Pinkerton detective. His work as an undercover man while with Pinkerton remain some of the first examples of the use of undercover work in the capture of fugitives. He was also a wonderful writer, and both his accounts of trail drives and the detective fiction he wrote later in life are still available online. He died in Altadena, California on October 18, 1928 and was buried at Inglewood Cemetery, Inglewood California.

[Shakey Jake]

One of the all-time great Texas characters, Robert Hall. Robert, who was an early Texas settler, soldier, and Texas Ranger, was born in South Carolina in 1814 and was taken as a child to Tennessee, where his family built the first house in Memphis. He moved to Texas, probably as a member of the crew of the side-wheeler George Washington, in 1835 and apparently served on the Yellow Stone during the Texas Revolution. He enlisted in the Texas army on June 1, 1836, and remained with the forces until November 7. Later he joined the Texas Rangers under Benjamin McCulloch.
In 1838 Robert and three other rangers secured land and laid out the town of Seguin. Hall married Polly King, one of the daughters of a Colonel King of Gonzales, and in 1841 was issued a second-class certificate for a league and a labor of land for having arrived in Gonzales County after the Texas Declaration of Independence and before August 1836. Hall served for three years with the Confederacy. After that he was among other things, a hunting guide. I've got another phenomenal photo of him as a hunting guide that I'll post later. As an old man, Robert lived with one of his thirteen children at Cotulla, where he died in 1899 and was buried.

[Shakey Jake]

Here's todays posting on Facebook. This guy sure spends a lot of time doing this. I appreciate his blogging:
Traces of Texas reader Jonathan Gilbreath kindly sent in this wonderful shot of his great-grandparents, Albert and Karon Gilbreath, in the dining room of the Good Eats Café in Farmers Branch. The address was 13204 Harry Hines Blvd. The photograph was taken in 1947. Albert and Karon ran the Good Eats Cafe for about 22 years, beginning in the late 1940s and ending in about 1970. Albert was renowned amongst his friends and family members for his cooking and baking skills. His pies were regarded as the best pies anyone had ever eaten, and the recipe for his crust remains a secret to this day. Who's hungry for some pie? And HOW GREAT IS THIS?
Thank you, Jonathan. I love it ---- and I want pie!

[Shakey Jake]

A cornet player in the West Texas Military Academy band in San Antonio circa 1900. The West Texas Military Academy was founded in San Antonio, Texas, in 1893, by Bishop James S. Johnston with the aid of gifts from Mrs. Edward Cunningham of San Antonio and Mrs. George P. Andrews of Brooklyn, New York. The first building that opened on October 3, 1893, was located on Grayson Street, not far from Fort Sam Houston. Its most famous alumnus is certainly General Douglas Macarthur, who attended in the late 1890s. While there, he was awarded the gold medal for "scholarship and deportment." He also participated on the school tennis team and played quarterback on the school football team and shortstop on its baseball team. He was also named valedictorian, with a final year average of 97.33 out of 100.

[Shakey Jake]

Goodness gracious .. the things y'all send in! Traces of Texas reader Jan Wilkinson graciously shared this wonderful hand-tinted photo of her great great grandfather, Joshua D. Brown, his wife Sarah, and their son Alonzo, who was Jan's great grandfather. Joshua D. Brown was the founder and creator of Kerrville, Texas.
Joshua D. Brown at age 21 emigrated to the Republic of Texas from Kentucky and received an unconditional certificate for 640 acres dated 8th Nov 1837. Joshua D. began serving in the military during 1839-1842 for the Republic of Texas while living in Gonzales. At the end of service he became a cypress shingle maker and in 1846 moved up the Guadalupe River to Bexar County, where Kerrville is located today.
He was the first settler and founder of Kerrville. Buying all of Survey 116 in May 1856, he offered the Commissioners’ Court four acres and requested to name the town after his cousin and patriot, Captain James Kerr. Joshua donated the original townsite, for public square, all the streets in a town plat, one lot suitable for county use, one lot suitable for public church, one lot suitable for public school house, one lot suitable for public jail buildings and streets in Kerrsville. There was a stipulation in the deed that “water privileges of the river front of said river” belong to the public. He was the first real estate broker and, in fact, the first 88 pages of Book 1 of the Kerr County deed records are for lots for businesses and homes sold by Joshua D. Brown. Although there are no streets or public parks named to honor Joshua D. Brown he was indeed the “Father of Kerrville."
This coming Saturday, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Joshua D. Brown Chapter is having a “Defender” Medallion Ceremony at the Brown-Goss Cemetery in Kerrville, Texas at 10:30 a.m.
You can read more about Joshua as well as dive into Jan's amazing treasure trove of photos at her website, here: https://blog.wilkinsonranch.com/.../joshua-d-brown.../

[markiver54]

HE looks rather placid. Not so sure about her and the young one though. It doesn't appear they were very keen on having their picture taken.

[Shakey Jake]

A vehicle owned by migrant Texas farm workers in California, 1937. They told photographer Dorothea Lange that they were going to seek work in the carrot fields of California's Coachella Valley. Man oh man what an image. Everything they owned, probably, strapped to the hood or in the back.

[cooperhawk]

A vehicle owned by migrant Texas farm workers in California, 1937. They told photographer Dorothea Lange that they were going to seek work in the carrot fields of California's Coachella Valley. Man oh man what an image. Everything they owned, probably, strapped to the hood or in the back.

The first motorhome. I can relate to that.

[Ozarkwoodswalker]

Great great dtories. Thanls for sharing!

[Shakey Jake]

2nd Division Army Band in front of The Alamo in March, 1920. This was sent in by an anonymous Traces of Texas reader and I surely do thank them as I have never seen it before.

[Shakey Jake]

Four sailors from the USS Texas during WW I. All I know is that the man in the center was named Ellsworth. A super shot, indeed!