West Texas
Sponsored by

Strange West Texas Connections

146,404 Views | 619 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by Fisted Lamb
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
In 1962 I was in Madrid, Spain and in normal tourist fashion visited the famous El Rostro (a Spanish flea market run predominantly by Gypsys for hundreds of years.) One stall contained LP phonograph records so I started thumbing through the stacks hoping to find a good Flamenco or Segovia album .... and darned if I didn't find a US album featuring George Hamilton IV and titled "West Texas Highways." What really got my attention was the cover that showed a west Texas highway scene and a TXDot highway sign that said State Hiway 70 and had arrows pointing up to Sweetwater 12 miles and to the left to Longworth 3 miles. That sign is located two miles from where I grew up and believe it or not across the highway from Doug Browning's old home place. I let out a yell when I saw that album and the Gypsys knew immediately they had underpriced it ... so we haggled and settled for about 50 cents for it. I figure that is about the only copy of that album ever sold (it was baaaad.)
WestTxAg06
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Awesome. And I've seen that sign more than a time or two.

I've got another great strange West Texas connection story, I'll tell it as soon as I have time, just not tonight.
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
For those of you interested in the history of West Texas I recommend you visit the website mapsoftexas.com for foundation materials.

One map available within a set is Pocket Map of the State of Texas (1879.) This map is approx 24 inches square and designed to be folded and placed in the pocket of brave settlers venturing onto the frontier of then virtually uninhabited west Texas. The line of the frontier then was approximately along present I-35 from San Antonio to Oklahoma. The few settlements in existance then are noted, as are forts. It fairly accurate in showing prominent land features, locations of trails, locations of waterholes, rivers and streams ... and the proposed route of the Texas and Pacific Railroad between Marshall and El Paso. A must-have if you are curious about how greatgrandpappy navigated to his roosting spot.

Another great map available is the Railroad and County Map of Texas (1885.) This map is interesting because most of the west Texas counties were not yet organized (it required 150 inhabitants to qualify) but it shows the location of the T&P railroad constructed to El Paso. An interesting note is that the railroad planners were required to name a crossing every 5-10 miles along the route. This meant some poor soul had to get a list of every hero, every historical figure, every relative of a railroad bigwig, etc., to come up with enough names to put on crossings. Those crossing names are on the map and still used by railroads today for identification of sidings, crossings etc.,(you can see them when the tracks are near the highway.) Those crossings later became locations for shipping pens, trading posts, settlements and later towns. Many towns when organized kept those original crossing names. (And you wondered how some of those town names came to be.)(T&P was paid 20 sections of west Texas land per mile of track to build the railroad and survey all west Texas counties ... that explains the reference to "T&P Survey" in the legal description of your west Texas homestead."

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 3/23/2006 12:02a).]
powerbiscuit
How long do you want to ignore this user?
fossil, I gotta say, I really enjoy your unique posts like these and the ones on the football thread about the old west texas football days.

Keep 'em coming.
FishrCoAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
fossil
Which direction from the sign did you live? I am about 18 miles north from there, bound to know some of each others family.
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
FisherCoAg, I grew up about two or three miles north of that sign.

That brings up a funny story. That sign points left to Longworth and Sylvester but to the right a couple of miles is the Busby community. One night back in the 60s I was in the Columbia Hotel in London (a military contract hotel) and was introduced to a young lady in the group as another Texan. Naturally the conversation went to wherabouts. She said west of Ft Worth, I said west of Ft Worth. She said west of Abilene, I said west of Abilene. She said north of Sweetwater, I said how far? She said 14 miles, I said 15 miles. Turns out she was a Busby girl and I knew her pack of brothers who all went to school at Sweetwater, I went to Roby. We had a good laugh over that.
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG

FisherCoAg ... you state you are from Rotan and that brings to mind a strange WT connection that concerns the football history of the Rotan Yellowhammers. I have a confession to make. It involves a game played in Roby in about 1946. Your record books state that Rotan won that game 72-0. For the first time in almost 60 years you are going to hear the truth (or dubious nature) of that score ... (you are free to pass this tale on to folks who witnessed that game if any are still alive.)

This game was an annual event in Fisher County, an intense rivalry typical of two country town eight miles apart. Bragging rights for at least a year were at stake and the entire county seemed to have an interest in the outcome. The Roby field was typical of west Texas, a little buffalo grass and a lot of grass burrs and gravel. A few bleachers were on the north sideline but most folks mostly stood along the side lines and moved up and down the field with the play. The crowd moved to the end zone or as near to it as possible when someone got inside the 20. The crowds were always boisterous and the referee had a lot of help with his game calling, spotting the ball and signalling scores.

Now the day of the big game ... I was about 12 or 13 at the time. I got to the field a few minutes before the game and heard my cousin (same age) call to me from the scoreboard. This was a structure located at the corner of the west end zone and even with the visitor's sideline ... three telephone poles set in the ground with a catwalk for the "scorekeepers" about 7 feet off the ground and a big board labeled Home and Visitors where metal numbers hooked over a couple of nails to show the score. My cousin was a town boy and even at 12 or 13 was able to hustle any action available at the time ... if I happened by he would get me involved somehow. Any way, that is how I ended up on the catwalk with my cousin as official scorekeepers ... another kid named Joe (8 or 9) walked by so we invited him up as our assistant.

So the game began. We had divided up responsibilities before the game ... my cousin would watch the game and tell us of scoring, Joe would pick the numbers out of the stack we called for and I would hook the numbers on the nails. (We did not think to sort the numbers beforehand ... just a big pile to dig through.)

Anyway, Rotan scored early and after a bit of searching we found a six .. or was it a nine .. Joe, I need a six ... oops they got the extra point ... forget the six, give me a seven. Rotan scored again ... you sure they scored Charlie? ... yeah I think so ... the crowd acted like he scored, I couldn't tell about the extra point ... well just give it to 'em, they probably made it. In the first quarter Rotan got about a 30 point lead and the technical staff on the scorekeeper's catwalk were already in meltdown. Even when the play was virtually under us on the west endzone we had trouble with scores because of about 200 men between us and the goal line ... and after each play seemed like everyone raised their arms signalling a touchdown only to have the ref call the play back for a penalty. (Did they score again? ... No they didn't score earlier, it was called back, then they scored. ... but I already posted that first touchdown ... well, take it down and put it up again.) So in addition to much adding we also had to do a lot of subtracting which really stretched the limits of our math skills. So that is how it went for the scorekeepers.

After the game with our score showing 72-0, we scorekeepers bailed off the catwalk and disappeared into the crowd. Half the crowd was deleriously happy and the other half was hostile ... and we were not willing to bet our last nickel on the accuracy of our answer to that two hour math test.

The next day I ran to get our copy of the Abilene Reporter News to see what score they reported. 72-0, same as ours. I was relieved but still felt a twinge of guilt because I suspected the local stringer had just copied the numbers on the scoreboard and called it in.

So that score in the history books is a miracle if it was accidently correct ... but more likely +/- 10 points if I had to report truthfully to St Peter. So now you know the rest of the story.

Edit: Reason for My Discomfort Over the Years for that 72-0 Score: Those were the days of the one-point extra point. Extra points then were normally scored by your biggest back on his best play which was usually following your biggest lineman. Now do the numbers: Rotan had to have scored 11 times (using our count) because 10 times or 12 are not rational when you consider extra points. Now, 11 touchdowns would yield 66 points but it is not reasonable that a team that scores 11 touchdowns would only push across six extra points. So if Rotan wants to challenge that final score after 60 years that is fine with me ... but I doubt anyone else's memory is any better than mine ... It is good enough, however, for another ruckus between Roby and Rotan.

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 3/25/2006 6:09p).]
Teddy KGB
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Fossil,

That was a great story. You have to share more of the same with us. Keep 'em coming!
FishrCoAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Fossil
My dad would remember, but he passed away this past November. He would have been 17 at the time, but I think he graduated in 1946, so would not have played in the game.
3 miles north of the sign, does any of your family still live in Fisher County?
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
FisherCo ... At one time my family was a large clan in Fisher County. But like most of rural west Texas, the combined affects of the Great Depression, WWII, even the GI Bill that presented greater opportunities to veterans, and particularly the "7-year Drought of the 50s -- 1949-1956), scattered our family all over the US. Two members remain - mother and a brother.

Despite the Depression and WWII, the 30s and 40s were the Golden Age of rural west Texas community life. Fisher, I am sure members of your family and mine were acquainted ... maybe even had a few fistfights over the same girlfriends. But in WWII, as in all wars, Roby folks grieved alongside the Rotan neighbors for their losses of sons such as James Hargrove and Shad Ragsdale, and Rotan shared Roby's grief in the losses of such sons as Joe Robert Clark, Marion Hughey and Priesley Paul Cooper. I guess in a way we were all family during hard times.

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 3/26/2006 3:28p).]
FishrCoAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
My dad worked for Shad Ragsdale's dad some, they were very close. You stirred some memories there.
FishrCoAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
fossil
only 2 members left around, that eliminates the Terry's & the Stuart's! What was your occupation before becoming a fossil? Journalism by any chance?
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I am not getting any more personal than this, but I will admit to a journalism degree about 50 years ago (but I chucked that to tour the world for 20 years in Uncle Sam's Air Force.) After that I tried academic life for a few years then private business. Growing up in west Texas was the fun part of my life, although that part of it that involved summer heat in a cotton patch or feeding cows with a blue norther blowing were miserable at best. The best part of those later years was that I found West Texans and a connection to West Texas every place I went.

Edit: Stirring up old memories is what my posts are all about, either reviving tales of those times long past or affirming things told you by your fathers or grandfathers of how life "used to be" (and you may have disregarded as exaggeration.) Never forget the line in to Kill a Mockingbird when Atticus Finch is walking out of the courtroom the reverend says to the daughter Scout, "Stand up, child, your father is passing by."

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 3/26/2006 11:23p).]
FishrCoAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
fossil
Thought I had it figured out, but was wrong! I will quit asking questions, but if you want to email, send it to vburk@bigcountry.net. Would love to hear some more old Fisher County stories, as I am really regretting not having paid more attention to them when my Dad & Grandad used to tell them!
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Strange night sounds in West Texas in the 30s, 40s and 50s. Visitors venturing into that part of the Chihuahua Desert known as West Texas complained of strange and irritating noises that kept them awake at night. Natives of the area who had grown accustomed to the sounds explained that those were pump motors for oil wells somewhere in the distance.

The culprits were Ajax engines, an engineering marvel consisting of a single cylinder with a piston 10-12 inches in diameter and a bull wheel about six feet in diameter and weighing up to a thousand pounds. These ran on gasoline or in most cases well head gas. The real work of running the pump jack was done by the turning bull wheel. A governor on the unit would cause the engine to fire when the wheel slowed down and would cut it off again when it got the wheel up to speed. This is what caused the irregular firing ... sometimes it would fire a couple of times and sometimes three or four times in succession. Up close, one firing of the Ajax sounded like a cannon going off ... but 30 miles away the sound was like the bass thumping of a teenager's car near you at a red light. Now if you lived near a field of 20-100 of these critters it could mean a restless night. (The firing pattern was something like this -- boom boom (pause)boom boom boom (pause)boom boom ....) Ater a while you got used to it and it became just a part of an otherwise quiet starfilled night.

I knew an older gentleman who had one of these units within a quarter mile of his house and I asked him it the noise bothered him. This old feller who had battled nature for years trying to make a living on a dry land farm said No, in fact he found the sound soothing ... he figured if he had a few more of those he could afford to keep on farming.

Oil operators began phasing the Ajaxes out in the 60s probably because of noise complaints but a few are still in use. If one is within 20 to 30 miles you will recognize it on a still night.


[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 5/7/2006 12:18p).]

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 5/7/2006 12:20p).]

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 5/7/2006 12:27p).]
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Another rerun from the West Texas thread 3/21/2004.

quote:

Football was not always the favorite sport in West Texas. In the 30s through 50s, baseball reigned supreme by far in attendance and number of teams. Considering all the towns in Texas, baseball was near saturation point with professional, semi-pro and amateur teams.

The nearest thing to Major League ball was the Ft Worth Cats and for a West Texan getting to watch the Cats was a once in a lifetime thing. We made do with our nearest Class C or D professional team. Abilene, Amarillo and probably El Paso, etc., rated the Class C teams, the rest of the towns with over 20,000 population had a Class D professional team. The Sweetwater Swatters and the Lamesa something-or-other were good examples and always played to full ball parks. The West Texas-New Mexico league was active in the 30s and thrived in the 50s.

(For BCS readers, Bryan Bomber Field located on Carson street is a relic from the Class D team that was here at that time.)

Players for the Class D teams were in transition ... either on their way down or on their way up. A good example was "Stretch" Jackson, a first baseman for Sweetwater, about 45 years old, about 6 foot six, 140 pounds, who had engineered an extension to his first baseman's mit with about 8 inches of chicken wire. Old Stretch never took more than five steps during a game, except when going to and from the dugout (and always looked like he had slept under the stands the night before.) But the hometown fans loved their teams and players.

In addition, in towns with a scattering of big plants or large companies there was great interest in Semi-Pro teams. The Permian Basin with its oil companies, chemical plants, etc., was a perfect location for this. Kermit, Monahans, Seagraves and the like had Semi-Pro teams and towns would claim a team as its own if the plant or business was located nearby. These teams were sometime better than Class D pro teams because plants like Carbon Black would recruit workers known to have baseball skills.

And fueling this craze were towns and communities with their own local teams ... on the order of Pony Leagues today. Even smallest of towns would have a team but instead of a league, games were set up during the week by phone (like challenges) and two teams would show up in a field of sorts at the appointed day and time. There were no rules to speak of in these contests and it was not uncommon to have ages ranging from 14 to 65 on some rural community teams. The only field requirements were that it would be fairly open and flat and hopefully have a backstop. But a lot of West Texas youngsters progressed from that to Class D or the Semi-Pro teams.

And we watched history being made in those days. It was about 1950 and while visiting an uncle in Kermit we went to a Semi-Pro game there. A big crowd had turned out because the visiting team had a player we had not seen before ... a black second baseman. Sure, Jackie Robinson had been with the Brooklyn Dodger since 1947 but nothing like that had happened in West Texas. The amazing thing was that kid put on an exhibition ... great fielding, hitting and stolen bases. But the awesome thing in later innings, he was on second and had started his dash to third when the pitcher released the ball. The batter connected with a hard line drive toward short and that line drive ball hit this kid in the head and caromed clear into the lights. This fellow never missed a stride and came on in to score. The crowd was stunned silent. We honestly did not know if we had seen something superhuman or supernatural. But we all left the ball park than night knowing baseball in West Texas would never again be the same.

I suppose television ended that era. When formerly the only activity for a family on a pleasant evening was a ball game to watch and cheer for, now they stayed home and watched Milton Berle on a five inch screen. Darn, that was some fun in those days.



[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 8/3/2009 1:10p).]
SW AG80
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
fossil_ag, I live in Sweetwater now but grew up in Big Lake---the middle of the oil patch. As I was growing up the closest pump jack to our house was a little over a mile away. I still remember the sound that Ajax engine made at night. When I went to A&M in 1976 I really missed going to sleep to that sound. I still miss it today.
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
A West Texas Boy (Rotan and Roby) and The Zero Hour Bomb Company. Now that is a title to get your attention.

After WWII veterans were coming home. In 1946 fellows we had not seen for 4 or 5 years were appearing in their home towns looking for a place to fit in and restart their lives. Jobs were scarce so finding or making a niche required a great deal of resourcefulness, otherwise they just had to move along to find work. One such fellow was R. D. Hull, a Rotan boy, who took stock of his talents and decided the only business he might succeed at was watch repair. I first met him at Roby in a cubby hole of a shop in 1946.

Now let me tell you about the prevalence of watches in Roby and Rotan. Few people had them and if they had one they rarely wore it because of the eternal sand blowing. Also, watches in that day were not automatic wind so you had to manually wind them every eight hours or so; forget that and you had a watch but not a timepiece. Now if you tried to force a few more minutes of life into it you broke the main spring. And if you handled it roughly you risked breaking the hair spring. That spring, the thickness of a hair, operated a sprocket that gave the watch its tick. So for the most part folks did not bother with watches and just relied on clocks located in the home or business. A watch repair man was a lonely occupation.

But R.D. Hull was resourceful and spent his idle time working on various inventions. One of his interests was a baitcasting reel that would not backlash. One attempt called the "Lashmaster" was unsuccessful and ended up costing his investors about $50,000. But R.D., facing the dilemma of forging ahead or going back to the farm, went to work on a revised version of his reel. The prototype of the new idea was a Folgers coffee can with a hole in both ends. But investors, aware of the previous project, were not to be found. It was desparate times for R.D. and he expanded his search far and wide for some backers.

In 1948, his travels led him to Tulsa, Oklahoma and to a business named the Zero Hour Bomb Company. That company had been in business for about 13 years and the patent for its sole product, a time bomb for fraccing oil wells had run out. That small company needed a product to manufacture ... and took a chance on the gizmo demonstrated to them by the fellow from Rotan, Texas.

And that gizmo, my friends was the Zebco Fishing Reel. It revolutionized the art of fishing ... so simple to use even small kids could use it with no fear of backlash. And the company got its name from the Zero Hour Bomb Company.

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 3/29/2006 10:40a).]

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 3/29/2006 10:54a).]
powerbiscuit
How long do you want to ignore this user?
you gotta be kidding
FishrCoAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
He is not kidding, though I didn't know about the name part. Quite a nice invention.
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
It's all gospel truth, powerbiscuit ... I figured the info about how the Zebco name came about would blow your mind. If in doubt I am sure you can verify be googling Zebco.
TheSheik
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
http://www.zebco.com/catalog/about.html



edited in 2012 to update the website
http://www.zebco.com/common/about.html



[This message has been edited by TheSheik (edited 2/8/2012 12:09p).]
powerbiscuit
How long do you want to ignore this user?
amazing story, I believe you, but it was just so unbelievable...if that makes any sense
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
"Dolly" was born in August 1933 at Longworth, Texas. Now neither the date nor place should be of interest to anyone but me because I was born a couple of months later three miles down the highway. For those of you who did not read my post on another thread, Longworth is about 12 miles north of Sweetwater and a couple of miles east of the Roby-Sweetwater highway (SH70), or two miles east of Doug Brownings scarecrow.

I doubt if Dolly's parents or mine were particularly overjoyed at our appearance in the middle of the Great Depression and another mouth to feed. I knew and played with Dolly early on because his dad and my mom had graduated together from Longworth High School and there were frequent reunions and church events that put us on the same playground. Now I did not call him Dolly in those days to prevent bloodshed (mine.)

Later on, I went to school in Roby and Longworth kids went to Sweetwater schools. You Sweetwater folks may remember Dolly by the name of Doyle Brunson ... he was All-State in basketball and won State in the mile run. He went on to greater fame in basketball at Hardin-Simmons in Abilene and was drafted by the Minneapolis (now LA) Lakers. But an injury killed the pro career and Dolly (or Doyle) found himself back in Longworth.

Doyle had earned a Masters degree in Education at Hardin-Simmons and planned to teach school but one look at the West Texas teachers pay scale convinced him another line of work was in order.

Now let me tell you about Longworth. It was primarily cotton farming country so it had a gas station, a dry goods store, a school, a couple of churches, a cotton gin (where several residents had lost fingers and limbs to the gin saws), and a gypsom quarry (where several other residents had lost eyes, limbs and digits to blasting.) (Chances are good that some of the sheet rock in your house has gypson from the Longworth quarry.) Most folks in the community made their living at the above trades ... but some others supplemented their income by running poker games on weekends. Longworth had some good poker players ... and my own granddad admitted losing several livestock and bales of cotton in contesting that fact.

So when Dolly (or Doyle) was taking inventory of his alternate skills than teaching, the possibility of making a living at poker was not that far fetched. He had grown up with the best.

So Dolly (or Doyle) became a professional poker player and a successful one. It was not long before Doyle had been permantly endowed with that nickname Dolly ... more frequently "Texas Dolly", in the world class players circuit.

Doyle Brunson, probably the most successful and famous poker player of all time in the US. Ten gold bracelets for appearing in the World Series of Poker at Las Vegas, and two times Champion. He wrote the book that became the Bible of today's poker enthusiasts.

The World Championships of Poker that Doyle won occurred in 1976 and 1977. He started the play in the championship rounds of Texas Hold'em both years with identical 10-2 hands. The 10-2 combination is now known world-wide as the "Doyle Brunson" ... (not unlike but more fortunate than the equally famous aces and eights.)


[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 3/30/2006 3:00p).]
powerbiscuit
How long do you want to ignore this user?
amazing, I'm ready for the next one....

WestTexAG
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
SW AG80,
You grew up in Big Lake. Do you have any family still there. I grew up there, as did my parents. I am sure you graduated with some of my family.
SW AG80
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I graduated from high school in Big Lake in 1976. I was born and raised in Big Lake, so I probably do know some of your family. WesTexAg, you're not a vet in the Lubbock area, are you?
As to Doyle Brunson, when he comes back to Sweetwater--which he does every so often--he arrives in his own private jet. Dolly has done very well for himself.
fossil_ag
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
And when Longworth has a school reunion, which is every couple of years or so, Doyle Brunson is usually the first one you see in the crowd. You have to love someone who places home folks and the hometown high on his priority list.
WestTexAG
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
SW AG80, no I am not a vet. However please email me at

[This message has been edited by WestTexAG (edited 4/7/2010 6:33p).]
Mrs. Goose
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
FishrCoAg - You ever run with any of the Cambell boys?

Oops, logged in as the wife again.

[This message has been edited by Mrs. Goose (edited 4/4/2006 8:51p).]
FishrCoAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Mrs. Goose
I don't really remember any Campbells, at least not in the years I was in jh/hs.
Goose
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
The Campbells ran around with the Terry's some, Danny Terry in particular. Brad Boyd ring any bells?
FishrCoAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Brad was in my place of business yesterday, Danny last week. They are a few years younger than I am. Good folks, both of them.
FishrCoAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Goose
were you from this area?
Goose
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
My dad's family is from Sweetwater and my cousin married Don Campbell (my Roby conneciton) I've drank beer and hunted with those guys off and on since I was old enough to hunt and drink beer. My uncle's place is the J2 Ranch south of Sweetwater on the Lake Road.
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.