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".

[Shakey Jake]

Sure, B.B. King made it famous, but Roy Hawkins wrote it and recorded it first, in 1951. Roy Theodore Hawkins was born in Jefferson, Texas, on Feb. 3, 1903. Not much is known about his early life. Later he went to California and started a band for which he played piano and wrote much of the music. He was somewhat successful in the Oakland-San Francisco area and moved to Los Angeles after signing a recording contract. He wrote "The Thrill is Gone" and recorded it in 1951.
B.B.King heard this and recognized that it was a great song so, in 1970, he recorded it, made it a huge hit, and turned it into his signature song. Meanwhile Roy Hawkins continued to write other popular songs for the blues-loving public including "Why Do Everything Happen To Me" and "Highway 59'." He achieved a bit of fame during this time. Sadly, a car accident ruined his right arm, ending his career. He died in Compton, California, in 1974 while working as a furniture salesman. His grave has no stone at the present time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS1GxPi_zlk

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1928, the future television star Dan Blocker was born in DeKalb, Texas. When he was six years old the family moved to O'Donnell, in Lynn County, where his father operated a general store. Dan attended Texas Military Institute in San Antonio and Hardin-Simmons University before entering Sul Ross State Teachers College in Alpine in 1947. After graduating with a B.A. degree in speech and drama, he refused offers of professional careers in both football and boxing. He was drafted for combat duty in Korea, where he served as an infantry sergeant. In 1952 he returned to Sul Ross, where he earned an M.A. degree, and then taught school in Sonora, Texas, and Carlsbad, New Mexico, before moving to California in 1956 to work on a Ph.D. degree at the University of California at Los Angeles. During this time he also worked as a substitute teacher and began his career as a professional actor in Los Angeles. He played the role of Hoss Cartwright for thirteen seasons, from 1959 until his death in 1972 from complications following an operation, on NBC's "Bonanza," one of the longest-running and most popular TV series in history. A monument in Blocker's memory stands in a park in downtown O'Donnell, across the street from a museum which displays memorabilia from his career.

[markiver54]

Was always a fan of Hoss. I'm glad they honor him in O'Donnell.

[Hatchdog]

That’s amazing the history on Hoss. As soon as I opened your post I saw the picture and said, that’s Hoss. Loved Bonanza back in the day and to this day I find myself humming the intro song once in a while.

[Shakey Jake]

Just how big is Texas? Have a look see:

[Rifletom]

Dan Blocker was also involved in car racing. Just don't recall what class tho.

Edit: American Road Racing and Can-Am. Part owner from what I found.

[Shakey Jake]

Blondie, a pet lioness owned by oilman Charles Hipp (who was quite a character from all I can gather) takes a ride in a Chris Craft Continental inboard motorboat on Possum Kingdom Lake back in 1955. This was taken by LIFE photographer Joseph Scherschel, who had made a career photographing everyone from JFK to Che Guevara, Blondie appears to be having fun!

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1835, the Red Rovers, a volunteer military company, left their camp in Alabama to join the Texas Revolution. The company was organized by its captain, Jack Shackelford, at Courtland, Alabama, in November 1835 and named for the fact that its members were uniformed in red jeans. The seventy members of the company were equipped with rifles and military supplies from the Alabama state arsenal. After being inspected by Stephen F. Austin and Nicholas Adolphus Sterne in New Orleans, the company reached Texas on January 19, 1836. They were sent on to Goliad, where they were assigned to the Lafayette Battalion under the command of James Fannin. During the Goliad Campaign of 1836 they were sent on several local expeditions. At the battle of Coleto the Red Rovers occupied the extreme right of the front side of the square and acquitted themselves like veterans. The unit was surrendered with Fannin's command, and most of the men sustained a common fate in the Goliad Massacre.
https://redrovers.org/

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1777, Luis Antonio Andry and a crew of thirteen sailed on the schooner Señor de la Yedra from New Orleans on a mapping expedition. Andry, a French engineer in the pay of Spain, was chosen by Louisiana governor Bernardo de Gálvez to map the Gulf of Mexico coast from the Mississippi River to Matagorda Bay. Andry's survey ship reached Matagorda Bay by early March 1778; its work essentially complete. Shortly thereafter, it fell victim to the trickery of apostate Karankawas from the Texas missions. According to the lone survivor of the crew, the expedition sought aid from Karankawa brothers Joseph María and Mateo who, feigning friendship, claimed to be soldiers from La Bahía. After first disposing of two parties sent ashore to obtain provisions, the renegade brothers brought their companions on board the ship, seized the crew's unguarded weapons, and murdered the rest of the crew with a single exception, whom they held as a slave. After removing the guns and other useful gear from the ship, they burned the vessel and with it perhaps the most detailed Spanish map of the Texas-Louisiana coast to that time.

[Shakey Jake]

Okay, here's a little known fact about my avatar and where it comes from:
PERRY, CICERO RUFUS (1822–1898).Cicero Rufus (Old Rufe) Perry, Texas Ranger, was born in Alabama on August 23, 1822. In 1833 he moved with his parents to Bastrop, then in Washington County. He participated in the siege of Bexar, served from July 1 to October 1, 1836, in Capt. William W. Hill's company of Texas Rangers, and was involved in an Indian fight on Yegua Creek. He was wounded on February 12, 1839, while serving under John H. Moore. In 1841 he served under Samuel Highsmith and Thomas Green and scouted for Edward Burleson and Mark B. Lewis. He was also a member of the Somervell expedition. He joined John Coffee Hays's ranger company in 1844 and participated in many of his Indian fights, including the battle of Walker's Creek. In August 1844 he was severely wounded in a fight with the Comanches on the Nueces River, and he and Christopher Acklin were left for dead by their two companions. With three wounds, Perry walked 120 miles, from near Uvalde to San Antonio, unarmed and without food or water. In 1873 in the battle of Deer Creek he came to the assistance of a party led by Dan W. Roberts. In 1874 Perry was appointed captain of Company D of the Frontier Battalion. Roberts served as his first lieutenant and later as his successor.
Perry died at Johnson City on October 7, 1898. Described by John Holland Jenkins as having been "tall, muscular, erect-a perfect specimen of the strong and brave in young manhood," Perry had black hair and "dark eyes, bright with the fires of intelligence and enthusiasm." It was said that in his career as a volunteer soldier and Texas Ranger he had sustained twenty wounds from bullet, arrow, and lance.