USA > Texas > Wise County > Pioneer history of Wise County; from red men to railroads-twenty years of intrepid history > Part 8
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Sylvanous Reed and W. P. Russell were appointed here as agents of the Confederacy to receive and transport cattle to the armies. Empowered as they were with confiscatory authority, they could take cattle from whom it pleased them and as many, but in all cases receipts were given which constituted legal claims against the Confederate Treasury
Cattle now roamed at will and multiplied over the country. There were no helpers or tenders since all able bodied citizens had been drawn either into the Confederate Army or the local militia, and the industry was left to fare as best it might, marking and branding being out of the question. Consequently at the elose of the war countless hundreds of ownerless, unmarked and unbranded cattle existed.
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HOME LIFE.
The opportunities now offered for growing instantly and famously rich were abundant. It was an attainable bonanza, only restricted to the need of horses and men to grasp it. He who could bring to his service the greatest number of horses and men obtained the most cattle. "Maverieking" was in its prime and the game lasted until all unidentified cattle were put under proprietorship. By this means many of our best known affluent citizens gained their wealth. Freed from the blight of war the cattle business began again to move forward. Young men re- turning from the war launched into the industry, providing the element necessary to its safe conduct. About this time the Trans-Continental Railroad had built out into Western Kansas, from the terminal points of which buyers came into this country and offered profitable prices for beef cattle. This instituted the practice of overland trailing to Kansas, which was kept up many years. Baxter Springs and Abiline are spoken of as points in Kansas which were patronized. Well known trails were beaten out over which thousands of cattle were driven north- ward in spring and summer and sold at an average price of $36.00 to $40.00 per head.
The old Chisum trail crossing Red River at Red River Station in Montague County and thence up through the Territory was a favorite route, but there were others, continual changes being made in order to keep the trails in advance of the moving line of settlements which speedily destroyed pasturage necessary to the passing herds.
The culmination of this phase of the industry came with the building of railroads approximate to the ranges and the end of this character of cattle business came in Wise County when the enthronging settlers pre-empted the ranges.
HOME LIFE.
We have seen that the early environment was such as to greatly tax the resourcefulness of the people. The bases of supply were remote and almost unreachable and the result was something a little short of home dependence. There were, however, certain articles of farm and household use brought in with a
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regularity, which, in this respect, distinguished the period from the restrictions of the war period which followed closely after. But even these few necessary articles, such as sugar, coffee and one or two others, came at almost prohibitory prices, necessitat- ing occasionally the substitution of cane syrup and parched grains for the staples mentioned. A second burden was the meagre quantity of money in circulation, a condition as pro- duetive of annoyance of this kind as inflexibility of currency produces in financial circles.
The problem was solved by a plan of home production, which, to us of this age of extravagance, is marvelous for its evidences of thrift, economy and independence. Encomiums could be written exalting the character of life which forced the making of all things consumed on the home place, and its results in training minds and hands and all related faculties.
Luxuries had no place in the scheme of existence; the people became habituated to the successful conduct of their lives merely by the aid of absolute necessities, and beyond these, nothing else was expected or yearned for. It was a plain age subsisting on plain foods and appareled in plain clothes. Through it all contentment breathed in the home; each family resolved itself into a co-operative society, and each member contributed something to the welfare of the whole, and were merry and joyous at their appointed tasks. The mothers, upon whose untiring labor and skilled accomplishments the happiness of the household depended, were trained to thrift and the business of home manufacture, leading busy and useful lives.
Should now we turn to a glimpse of the inner aspects of the phase of life of which the housewife was the dominant factor, we will find her (should she have been a very early arrival) living in a square one-room house, built of rough hewn boards or logs, more commonly the latter. Probably there will be two rooms with a hall between, and perhaps a shed room attached. No early home got beyond these dimensions. Frame houses were put togetherwith wooden pins, wire nails being a later invention.
The floor would be the mother's pride; made of clean sand hauled from the creek, packed down and swept clean. A little later a puncheon floor would be substituted; this was made of
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HOME LIFE.
split logs with the split side up. A stick and clay chimney stood at the end of the house and across the jam of the fireplace ran an iron bar from which was supsended a set of pot hooks on which the cooking vessels were hung. Close by stood a large oven for baking purposes. Thorough cooking was accomplished in this way. Vegetables from the garden and wild plants from the bottoms boiled and simmered for hours, and when done were highly palatable and appetizing. Corn-pone constituted the weekday bread, flour bread or biscuit, being reserved for Sunday or the visitation of the circuit rider. Despite the great economy with which both flour and meal were used, a shortage would sometmies occur and a recourse to dried meats would be necessary. Fresh game constituted an important part of the daily diet. Buffalo, bear and deer meat were "cured " or " jerked " by a process of sundrying which kept it sweet and wholesome for long spaces.
In the absence of matches special care was taken to keep fire constantly burning on the premises. Coals were covered with ashes and stumps kept smouldering in the fields. All such pre- cautions would sometimes fail, and then the flint from the gun lock and powder and cotton would be brought into requisition, a spark from the former being struck into the latter.
Fruits also composed a considerable part of the diet, but only of the wild varieties, no factory prepared or cultivated fruits being obtainable. Plums, persimmons and fox grapes existed in abundance and were worked by the skilled housewives into various articles of foodstuffs, the persimmons especially being subjected to different purposes. Dried in the sun, they made excellent substitutes for dried grapes or raisins: taken from the cane juice in which they were preserved, they made excellent pies, and the beverage made from them was delicious. Dried pumpkins was another reliable dependence for pastry. The soda, soap and starch of the household were all of home pro- duction, the first the product of the evaporated lye-water secured from the ash-hopper; the next, starch, being made from potatoes, and the soap being the residuum of meat scraps, bones and other constituents boiled down.
Salt was obtained from the distant markets, but local sources
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
of supply were available and resorted to in cases of famine; one such source was in Parker County where the water in a certain well could be evaporated until salt crystals remained; another existed in a western county where, after long periods of dry weather, the water of certain lakes would evaporate and leave a salt deposit, which would be brought to the settlements in wagon loads.
Axo-handles, plough beams, tables, chairs, cupboards and bedsteads were made by the head of the household from the best timber procurable in the forests, and on sad occasions it was necessary to make coffins before proper burial could occur.
The home was artificially lighted with home-made tallow candles, made in every home where the proper moulds were in possession ; a second means of light being to saturate a woolen string in lard oil and set ablaze. The illumination afforded assistance in reading the Dallas Herald or the Clarksville Stand- ard, the two best-known pioneer papers in circulation.
The sun was the great time-keeper, few families having a clock. A great degree of accuracy was reached by some in judging time by the position of the sun; to others it was neces- sary to mark the slowly advancing shadow, and note at what point it arrived at certain hours.
The one absorbing occupation of the women at evening was carding, spinning and weaving the products of the loom into eloth from which clothing was made for the entire family. Small flocks of sheep were kept for the wool product, from which the coarse outer garments were made; for the finer and softer fabrics cotton was imported and made up, the clothing all being verv serviceable. A peculiar garment of the times was a shoulder blanket for outdoor wear, a woolen cloth with a hole in the center, through which the wearer's head protruded. Blankets and bed coverings were also woven.
The men of this era wore quaint garbs whose art of making was learned from the Indians. A substantial costume consisting of coat and trousers was fashioned from buckskin, which, when supplemented with a fawn-skin vest and a coon-skin cap with tail left dangling behind, composed an attire which made up in durability what was lacking in comfort and elegance. For more
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formal occasions a homespun suit was in reserve. For shoes and gloves the settler again resorted to buckskin.
Cotton growing anticipated the time of gins and factory looms, and it was necessary to pick the lint from the seed by hand, then came the dyeing and weaving process, when the cloth was ready to be made into the finished article.
While resting from field work at noon, the men employed them- selves at plaiting straw, which the women afterwards sewed into shape for hats. The shoes for the gentler sex were made of heavy eloth uppers to which had been attached strong leather soles, held in shape by wooden pegs of home manufacture. The leather was obtained by an original process of tanning, the hides being obtained from both wild and tame animals.
After a day's strenuous work the family retired early to beds generously supplied with feathers from the family geese; over the beds were spread elaborate and skilfully pieced covers, the products of " quiltings," one of the most popular social functions of the day.
SOCIAL LIFE, AMUSEMENTS AND PLEASURES.
One of the most wholesome traditions of the old settlers is that phase of their strictly social lives which has been bequeathed to modern times. The relationship between neighbors and strangers was warm and sympathetic, no aloofness nor chilling reserve obtaining a foothold, and nothing but open-hearted expressions tolerated. A distinguishing social custom, to which the majority was committed and which none dared ques- tion, was the regular system of hospitable visits which the people paid to each other. In the absence of vehicles, the custom was to ride horseback, and when a visit was made, its duration extended over several days, terminated only by household cares or work of the most pressing importance at home. In order to pay friendly calls, the people, should such be necessary, rode half across the county and sometimes into adjacent counties, the long rides training the women to horsemanship and effecting robust physical health. That which was discussed at such friendly gatherings can only be surmised. In the absence of
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newspapers, it may be assumed that all the county happenings were rehashed and new ways of doing things discussed. Such a state of happy familiarity is one of the pleasant retrospeets of the living pioneers.
Another incident of the social life was the frequency with which families were called upon to provide shelter and enter- tainment for the roving bands of care free cowboys, who at nightfall, sought the nearest habitation of whatever region they happened to oceupy, for the social cheer and conversation which followed. The cowboys, perennialy cheery and jovial, were always welcome guests, and more than one settler's fair daughter dated the loss of her heart from visitations of this kind.
For a quarter of a century Wise County was a theatre of romantic and dramatic action in which there was more of pathos than of play, but there remain traces of enough of the latter to prove the people possessed of a normal love of pleasure which is reassuring of their sanity and optimism of spirit. Pursuing strenuous lives largely out of doors, a robust kind of sport was essential to their animated natures, and this they found in some practices and diversions which have not been transferred to the present time.
One of the practices was horse racing which was prosecuted on several well-known traeks in the vicinity of the county seat, and farther out. A well-known track lay over the flat sweep of ground in the north east part of Decatur before houses were erected thereon ; a second existed beyond the Baptist College in the Halsell Valley; another one was built about a mile southeast of Decatur where now the F. W. & D. Ry. track is built ; a well- known fourth track was laid out in Sandy Creek bottom in the neighborhood of the crossing of the Bridgeport road. Many well-known and well-remembered horses tried their speed on these tracks.
Raeing was the most virile sport of the day, and a large part of the citizenship indulged in it. All days on which large erowds congregated, such as Saturdays, and " first Mondays," or stray sale day, had their regular raee meet, a program for which had been prepared beforehand. This schedule promised usually not more than one or two chief events, but onee the crowd was
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SOCIAL LIFE, AMUSEMENTS AND PLEASURES.
on the ground, race after race would be run until the speed qualities of all the aspiring horses of the county would be tested and ascertained. The betting ranged from barlow knives to large sums of money, taking in hogs, cattle, land, and all material possessions on the way.
The race spirit has long since died out but for many years it retained a hold on the sport loving element of the people, for whom it had undeniable charms. It is not commendatory of the sport to say that it was provocative of the first man-slaughter that occurred in the history of Decatur.
Card playing was another indulgence which was not regarded as specifically immoral by a large number of the masculine gender who found the game of poker agreeable for passing away the time.
These were the days in which the old fashioned barbecues had their inception and when they were most religiously attended. Upon these occasions aspiring orators and office-seekers an- nounced the political views and doctrines then in vogue and which became the faiths and opinions of the hearers. Another inevitable accompaniment of these festivities was dancing. A platform was arranged and the swains danced to their hearts' content by paying a small fee for each set engaged in. The old style square dances were in vogue and the old tunes like "Arkan- sas Traveler," "Champagne Charlie," "Bill in the low ground," etc., were the only ones known. The fiddler was noted for his qualities of endurance and was much in demand on these occa- sions.
Dancing however, was not confined to the barbecues. It was practiced at all celebrations like weddings and other entertain- ments and indulged in in many of the homes where no religious scruples interfered.
"Play Parties," "Candy Pullings" "Singings" were other forms of pioneer amusement upon which all the gallants of the country attended. Customarily the belle rode behind the beau, who sat upon his best and gentlest horse. At the parties "weav- ily wheat" and "blind man's buff" were favorite games and at the singings the old "do-ra-me" style of singing was engaged in with serious and earnest intent.
"Quilting" and "house-raising" were two remaining social
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
RAN VEASY ("OLD RAN.")
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SOCIAL LIFE, AMUSEMENTS AND PLEASURES.
functions which brought the people together in bonds of intimacy and kept a glow of good feeling alive among them. The average pioneer family made itself a martyr to the comfort and pleasure of its guests, numbers and frequency of visit counting for naught. Self-sacrifice and self-effacement were stoically practiced. Cour- tesy and thoughtfulness were taught the children, and among the remnants of the old home life the effects of this noble training are yet visible. Pen is powerless to describe the profound appeal which is made to the appreciations of those who reverence acts of pure human kindness and love and the bestowal of humble thoughtfulness, such as distinguished the dead of the far period and distinguishes the few living pioneers of the present.
CHAPTER XI.
SUMMING UP FIRST PERIOD.
The first six years of settlement were uneventful. No inter- ruption nor obstacles than those inherent in the situation inter- vened to prevent the peaceful solution of the preliminary problems. But at the end of that time a violent change took place, the character and effect of which will constitute the theme of the next section. But before passing to that it is pertinent to glance briefly at the general conditions prevailing at the time the county passed from the state of tranquil repose into one of violence and turbulence.
In the years 1859 and 1860 which mark the change in condi- tions, life in the county was becoming more varied and abundant ; the period of drouth had been successfully weathered and immi- gration resumed; but no roads or bridges had been built and the county still remained almost the outpost of western civilization.
The statistics of the Texas Almanac for the time will be studied with interest. The population of the surrounding counties was: Cooke, 175; Denton, 1867; Parker, 630; Wise, 357. Land values estimated, $3.00 to $8.00 per acre for improved land and 50 cents to $3.00, unimproved.
Wise County renditions; 40 negro slaves, valued, $23,230.00; 345 horses, $19,800.00; 2792 cattle, $12,460.00. The census gave 370 white people over the age of 18.
Statistics for 1859: acres land rendered 53,438, $118,965.00; negroes, 75, $47,850.00; horses, 2087, $90,229.00; cattle, 11,860, $74,152.00. miscellaneous, $26,266.00; aggregate, $365,660.00; advalorem tax collected, $460.00; poll tax, $183.00. The figures for this year reveal a rapid augmentation in values.
The advalorem tax rate of 1858 was 123 cents; the poll rate 50 cents; the average vote 270.
In 1858 the Overland Southern Pacific Mail Route was estab- lished by the general government. This was a line of stage and mail coaches establishing communication between the east and
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SUMMING UP FIRST PERIOD.
the Pacific Coast, and was better known as the Butterfield Stage Line. It furnished the only means of transportation between the east and the west until superseded at a later date by the trans- . continental railroads. In passing through Wise County it touched originally at a point above Alvord, but at the instigation of Colonel Hunt and a party of Decaturites, the route was changed so as to pass through Decatur, where it permanently remained until suspended at the commencement of the war. In obedience to the obligation imposed by the government before it would consent to change the route, the county seat authorities opened up a traversible road to the Jack County line and put secure bridges across Sandy Creek and West Fork River.
Three stage stations, the first at Brandons on Denton Creek, the next at Decatur and the third near old Bridgeport enabled the stages to make easy and convenient progress through the county. The stage was due to arrive at Decatur at midnight where it deposited mail and occasional passengers at Bishop's store, whence exchanges of teams and drivers were made and the stage continued on its route to California. The coach itself was a great lumbering affair, swinging on leather straps from side to side; in all details it was patterned after the old Concord style. When first established the best of horses were used for motive power, but later, when the Indians grew troublesome small, fleet-footed mules were put on all divisions west of Decatur.
The stage route, with its equipments, was typically picturesque of the times, providing that feature of western life which has found extensive description in exciting tales of robbery and Indian attack, and whose history is mixed with the romantic legends of the settlement of the West.
The approach of a stage to a stand was announced by the sounding of a long note on a bugle. Imagine the sleepy little village of Decatur being aroused from its midnight dreams by the shrill and alarming notes of the bugle coming from the far ravines and hilltops.
At the very last of this period the county was granted author- ity by the legislature to vote a special tax with which to build a court house. The contract was let to Joe Head in 1860 or 1861
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
for the erection of a square five room building to be set in the middle of the public plaza at Decatur. The dimensions were forty feet each way with halls running through north and south, east and west, cutting the lower floor into four corner rooms, the top being arranged entire for a court room. A carpenter and woodworkman by the name of Johnson Miller, a bachelor, origi- nally from Michigan, afterwards killed by the Indians, was the principal workman on this, the county's first real temple of justice.
The lumber for this old building which became so generally
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WISE COUNTY'S FIRST REAL COURT HOUSE. (Built in 1860 or 1861-Stood in Middle of Public Square.)
useful and revered, was brought from Wood County at an expense of $70.00 per thousand feet. The heavy frame timber was cut in West Fork bottom.
The surplus of office room left some to be occupied by lawyers and other concerns. The first photograph gallery was opened up here as well as the first newspaper.
The old court house became the scene of many spectacular events and incidents and was burned under suspicious circun- stances on the night of November 26th, 1881.
The dreamy period of pioneer tranquility over which we have
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SUMMING UP FIRST PERIOD.
been passing was brought to a violent close in the year 1859 by a series of atrocious murders committed by the Indians in Jack and Parker Counties, erimes perpetrated in regions so close as to send a shudder of excitement and fear careering throughout the confines of Wise County.
Following on the heels of these came the Civil War in 1861, the local phases and application of which will constitute the next section of this record.
As relates to Wise County the War and Indian depredations were contemporaneous in their beginning, resulting in this county and others of the frontier being brought to live through a prolonged period during which two exterior foes waged a merciless warfare.
The period during which savage attacks were in vogue out- lasted by many years the few years of the continuation of the Civil War, and for this reason has been reserved for treatment in a section following the description of the local war phases and features, the separation being made in the interest of clarity and fullness of description.
A clear comprehension of the life of the two following epochs cannot be gained without the imagination being invoked. From hence on life grows lurid and electric, the peaceful hills and vales are waked with the echoing tread of war and invasion and the even tenor is jarred into a revolutionary state, whereunder prior affairs and problems are forgot and issues of giant and terrific proportions arise in their place. Cold type cannot portray the fearful agony of the times which ensued; is impotent as an in- strument to convey in realistic colors the lurid picture which a seemingly unpiteous fate drew on this far background. There- fore let the seeing faculty behind the eyes penetrate into the depths of the cold facts here related and visualize the conditions in all the sad horrors of their truth.
SECTION TWO.
WAR PERIOD.
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT.
The fates designed Wise County to enjoy only half a dozen years of peaceful life and progress, at the end of which time the smoking and rumbling volcano of political disturbance burst suddenly forth into the fury of war.
By taking up the trend of general events in the year of 1855, we shall see that Texas, at that date, was sharing in the titanic political struggle then in a state of violent fermentation over the nation.
Repeated encroachments on the institution of slavery by the abolitionists who dominated Congress, had aroused the people of the South to such degrees of anger as to make war within a few years the inevitable consequence. The Missouri Compromise had been revoked and the Kansas and Nebraska bill of Senator Douglas substituted in its stead. Confirming the right of slave-holders to immigrate to free territories with the right of slave possession remaining inviolate, the policy had the effect of allaying for a while the fears and excitement of the Southern people. Texas went on record regarding this as a question " fully settled " but evinced further, that any appeal or modifica- tion of the Kansas-Nebraska act would be looked upon by her as "an invasion of the true spirit of the constitution of the United States, as sectional in its character and as a just cause of alarm."
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