Saturday, 26MAR, we drove a little longer than normal to get to Fort Stockton, TX, before deciding where to head after that? It appears that Fort Stockton’s present claim to fame is a giant Road Runner in the main intersection. We can’t remember staying in Fort Stockton before, but somewhere in our photo collections is a picture of us sitting on the feet of the road runner during our DEC03 RV trip in a rental RV.
As soon as we were settled in the RV park Dan took off to tour Fort Stockton (the fort not the city). There are only three original buildings left of the Fort; but two enlisted barracks have been recreated, & one houses the museum. There are only a few displays, but they are well done & there is a very good 25 minute video. Dan always finds the quotes from those stationed at these desolate outposts very interesting:
“Dr Hall reports to relieve Dr Finley. I am rather glad to be rid of him. He is a poor specimen of a doctor and man. He has a brutal temper and is addicted to liquor.” “Stockton has not changed much except for the worst.” Despite what we all have seen in countless movies & TV shows, most of these forts did not have a fortified wall with towers for defense! That is because half the post was up and around at all times (approximately 125 armed soldiers 24/7), & any group approaching the fort would raise a cloud of dust visible for miles. The displays also showed that the horse was more important than anything to the mounted soldier, half the gear carried by the calvary was for the horse.
A large portion of the museum is dedicated to the “Buffalo Soldiers” (ie African Americans, often newly freed slaves) who were stationed at the Fort after the Civil War. Some time in the recent past one of Fort Stockton’s residents wrote a moving tribute to these Buffalo Soldiers. We won’t bore you with the entire tribute, but just the last paragraph:
“It is for us today, who walk in safety on this ground that they so ably defended, to remember and to honor these men who willingly gave, and sometimes gave all, to protect and defend this frontier. Here, they were willing to form the only line of resistance between a young America and the red man she fought so long and hard to displace. And while we can’t always know their names, nor have clear images of their young faces, we do know that we can leave them wholly in the hands of God. A God who understood their motivation, who knew their every thought and deed and loved them completely; who cared about their hopes and dreams and did as much to satisfy them as He could. He and He alone can be trusted with their valiant souls.”
Trivia – why was the Comanche Moon feared? What is a crupper? When the bugle signals “fatigue call”, what is fatigue duty?
http://www.historicfortstockton.com/ Although the surrounding area was the site of the fourth largest oil field in the USA, the town has long seen its glory days & is another historic part of America long passed-by. The town was originally sited here because of Comanche Springs. This natural spring used to flow at 60 to 80 million gallons a day, but today it only flows briefly during exceptionally wet winters. Why? Because Texas law is based on the old English law principle of the “Rule of Capture”; which basically means that a land owner has the rights to anything they can extract from beneath his or her property. This means if I have a water well at fifty feet & my neighbor later places his well at one hundred feet, I have no recourse when my well runs dry, except to drill deeper. In Fort Stockton’s case, a few big ranches have sucked the natural spring dry & deprived all the residents of the town of their historical water source!
That night we discovered the RV park had a small café called the Road Runner Café, so we checked it out. Only five items on the menu – mesquite smoked pork country style rib, chicken fried steak, chicken nuggets, fried catfish, & fried shrimp. For eight bucks you get an entrée, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, blueberry pound cake, & ice tea. Great price & good home cooking!
As soon as we were settled in the RV park Dan took off to tour Fort Stockton (the fort not the city). There are only three original buildings left of the Fort; but two enlisted barracks have been recreated, & one houses the museum. There are only a few displays, but they are well done & there is a very good 25 minute video. Dan always finds the quotes from those stationed at these desolate outposts very interesting: “Dr Hall reports to relieve Dr Finley. I am rather glad to be rid of him. He is a poor specimen of a doctor and man. He has a brutal temper and is addicted to liquor.” “Stockton has not changed much except for the worst.” Despite what we all have seen in countless movies & TV shows, most of these forts did not have a fortified wall with towers for defense! That is because half the post was up and around at all times (approximately 125 armed soldiers 24/7), & any group approaching the fort would raise a cloud of dust visible for miles. The displays also showed that the horse was more important than anything to the mounted soldier, half the gear carried by the calvary was for the horse.
A large portion of the museum is dedicated to the “Buffalo Soldiers” (ie African Americans, often newly freed slaves) who were stationed at the Fort after the Civil War. Some time in the recent past one of Fort Stockton’s residents wrote a moving tribute to these Buffalo Soldiers. We won’t bore you with the entire tribute, but just the last paragraph: “It is for us today, who walk in safety on this ground that they so ably defended, to remember and to honor these men who willingly gave, and sometimes gave all, to protect and defend this frontier. Here, they were willing to form the only line of resistance between a young America and the red man she fought so long and hard to displace. And while we can’t always know their names, nor have clear images of their young faces, we do know that we can leave them wholly in the hands of God. A God who understood their motivation, who knew their every thought and deed and loved them completely; who cared about their hopes and dreams and did as much to satisfy them as He could. He and He alone can be trusted with their valiant souls.”
Trivia – why was the Comanche Moon feared? What is a crupper? When the bugle signals “fatigue call”, what is fatigue duty? http://www.historicfortstockton.com/ Although the surrounding area was the site of the fourth largest oil field in the USA, the town has long seen its glory days & is another historic part of America long passed-by. The town was originally sited here because of Comanche Springs. This natural spring used to flow at 60 to 80 million gallons a day, but today it only flows briefly during exceptionally wet winters. Why? Because Texas law is based on the old English law principle of the “Rule of Capture”; which basically means that a land owner has the rights to anything they can extract from beneath his or her property. This means if I have a water well at fifty feet & my neighbor later places his well at one hundred feet, I have no recourse when my well runs dry, except to drill deeper. In Fort Stockton’s case, a few big ranches have sucked the natural spring dry & deprived all the residents of the town of their historical water source!
That night we discovered the RV park had a small café called the Road Runner Café, so we checked it out. Only five items on the menu – mesquite smoked pork country style rib, chicken fried steak, chicken nuggets, fried catfish, & fried shrimp. For eight bucks you get an entrée, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, blueberry pound cake, & ice tea. Great price & good home cooking!
No comments:
Post a Comment