ttt

Luv reading this stuff....remember Hidalgo Falls from the 80's

Sugarloaf Mountain?

Yep, pull out a Roads of Texas, and scan out 485 west of Hearne.

There's a long lump of leftover material along the Little River just before the confluence with the Brazos. Because of the elevation change, it's only really visible from the 485 side. If you come from the FM 2000/Gause side, it's almost invisible, being just a lump at the edge of the higher elevation on that side.

A sugarloaf is an old baked confection resembling a short bagette loaf.

All of this is pretty dramatic from the east side of the Little River.

In the early to mid 80s we would hang out at Millican Falls. It was a bend in the Brazos where this farmer would let you park on his land for $1. When the river was low you could tube through about 500 yards of "rapids". Good Times

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In the early to mid 80s we would hang out at Millican Falls. It was a bend in the Brazos where this farmer would let you park on his land for $1.

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We still did in the late 90's. The sign to turn onto his road was a faded Bud Light 12 pack box on a stake and we would tuck a couple dollars into a mailbox for each vehicle. Float a cooler out to the rocks and climb on up to stretch out and bask in the sun for the rest of the afternoon like drunken dogs. Glorious.

Harry,

Man two bucks per vehicle. Talk about inflation.

About 10 years ago there were several threads on the general board talking about how Northgate had changed over the years and it got me to thinking about Millican Falls and I wondered if it was still going on, so I posted a thread asking if anyone heard or remembered it. I got a few people that remembered it. When I asked it you could still go out there, someone claimed it was shut down because of a drowning. Not sure if that's true or not but it sure was fun while it lasted.

[This message has been edited by whasty (edited 9/6/2013 1:01p).]

Don't know either, but very sad if true.

I wish there was something like it within driving distance of where I live now.

Yep, that's it. Cool pic.

In one of my geography classes at A&M, we did a historical transportation survey of Brazos county. I can confirm that the location where present-day Hopes Creek Road dead ends at the river was the location of Koppe Bridge. That portion of Hopes Creek Road from the intersection of Koppe Bridge Road is also named incorrectly. We did attempt to correct this with the Brazos County Commissioners Court, but it has persisted.

There was once also a bridge just upstream from the present FM 60 bridge. I believe some of those piers still stand.

At one time there had been a system of levees constructed to prevent flooding of the bottom lands. A remnant can still be seen beside FM 50 a few miles south of the Intersection with Hwy 21. The oxbow lake portion of the old river here is known as Moehlman Slough. From what I recall, it was the flooding caused by the catastrophic failure of these levees that doomed the whole system.

For more infor about the Brazos River steamboat days, see this book review:

http://www.houstoncanoeclub.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=496051&module_id=102772&sl=212086257#

- John Rich


[This message has been edited by JohnRich (edited 9/28/2013 3:45p).]

Since John's article was linked and I've known him for some time (from skydiving), I sent him the link to this thread. I can verify that he is the guy who wrote the article and the book.

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Since John's article was linked and I've known him for some time (from skydiving), I sent him the link to this thread. I can verify that he is the guy who wrote the article and the book.

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Hi Dave! Minor correction: I wrote the book review, but not the book.

Was thinking about wandering down to this crossing today to do some shooting-figured I'd research the legality of it-and ran into this old thread so thought id bump it. There is some really cool history here I had never ran into before!

I'm sure this could spark a lot of debate but I'm curious If anyone has discharged a few rounds down here before? Not looking to do anything to serious. Just wanted to fire my new gun a few times.

Before a few floats down the Brazos I have talked to fish and game who said as long as I was standing on the ground (not actively floating) that If I were to see pigs/deer whatever in season then I could discharge a fire arm essentially on the river. Furthermore that the bullet would technically need to land no further than the banks of the river.

They also specified (admittedly that it was a gray area) that the land was still considered part of the river up until the shore turned from aquatic river like terrain (sand, water plants and such) to terrestrial (where it became the land owners).

At any rate this would make me think that target practice on the river bank would technically be illegal while "hunting" would be more within the grounds of the law?

Not looking to get berrated here, just a few questions. I have seen countless people down there shootin. Kind of just wondering if they ever get in trouble or what-and if one were to get "caught" what's the worst thing that could happen If you immediately stood down and packed up and went home.

Where exactly was Millican Falls at?

This has been a cool read. I, unfortunately, never visited any of these spots when in school. Kind of feel like I missed out on a right of passage.

can't help with directions to Millican Falls but back in the mid 80's there was a peace sign sign as I recall that marked the turn off. And the rocks were always covered in slime which made for some awesome drunk watching!

"Where exactly was Millican Falls at?"

Memory fades after 30 years but you took Wellborn south to I think 159 just north of Millican Tx. You went west on 159 and you followed the road for awhile until you saw the Aggie painted barn. Now it gets really fuzzy, you take a right just after the barn, then the property was marked with a hand painted sign.

It was truly a "word of mouth" sort of thing. My brother (a year older than me) found out about it his Freshmen year from a Senior in his dorm and showed me. I told a bunch of people about it, none of which had heard about it before I told them. It was never very crowded.

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Where exactly was Millican Falls at?

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Head down 159, through the stop, and keep going. After a few miles, you'll cross a 2nd set of tracks and an old cotton gin. Keep going another couple of miles and you'll come to a "40mph" bend in the road -
you'll see another cotton gin about 200 yards down. Take a right on the road that intersects the curve. It's just a dirt road through some crops - you'll come to a locked fence that used to be the entrance to
Millican Falls.


I remember the giant rope swing out at Millican Falls and was always too scared to swing from it. Heard someone got seriously (fatally?) injured on it about a decade or so ago.

Millican Falls?

looks like it

So, if Duck's directions are correct, that has to be it. I do vaguely remember you cross another set of RR tracks on the way. I also remember when you got on the property you drove a little north and you took a hard left at the house. The google map shows that.

I googled Hidalgo Falls and got a fair amount of stuff. Saw no reference to it also being called Millican Falls. Looks like TRPA owns some of the land past that locked gate. If you're a member it sounds like you can get out on the property. They're having some big event on Apr 25th out there.

The guy who wrote the below article is a philosophy prof. at A&M. I'm going to e-mail him and see if he has a definitive answer on whether they are the same place.


http://philosophy.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/hidalgo.html" class="postlink " target="_blank">http://philosophy.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/hidalgo.html">[url=http://philosophy.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/hidalgo.html]http://philosophy.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/hidalgo.html

Yeah, I'm pretty sure "Hidalgo Falls" is the proper name for what we called "Millican Falls."

Is it really restricted exclusively for kayakers so people can't just climb down to play in the water or on the rocks anymore? I don't understand that decision, if true.

I got an e-mail back from Steve at A&M and yes, they are the same place. He said the owner died in 1999 and his family shut it down because things were getting out of hand. (i.e. too much drinking and drugs). In 2001 the TRPA convinced them to sell 10 acres for TRPA access under a set of restrictions. So, it's not open to the general public.

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Millican Falls?

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That is Hidalgo falls. I suppose there could be 2 names for the same place though.

ttt

Interesting thread. I found this 1971 aerial photo of Koppes bridge:
http://historicaerials.com?layer=1971&zoom=17&lat=30.505899867092896&lon=-96.35520458221436

There's another photo from 1960, but it is not as clear. There is also an old 1956 topo map that identifies the bridge.

I love that historical aerial site, but I just realized the default address... 742 Evergreen Terrace, in the toolbar.

Awesome.

Thanks for linking that site, found San Antonio's first auto race track that I've been searching months for.

ttt

That aerial site is a good time killer. Got to see the old ranch where my neighborhood now stands.

Bumping this thread because

1. I've been out there and fished and generally enjoyed the river a few times over the last few years because of it and others on TexAgs

2. I had to find it to make sure which road had the old bridge pilings to make sure I had it right for some data I collected out there for a project

Sugarloaf Mountain Bridge

"The Sugarloaf Bridge is a 234-foot long, pin connected Parker Through Truss bridge located over the Little River near Historic Sugarloaf Mountain in Milam County. The Truss span used for this bridge was originally erected in 1896 over the Brazos River on the Bryan - Caldwell Road in Brazos County. The span was relocated to its present Milam County site in 1940. The original Bridge on the Bryan-Caldwell Road had been constructed at the site of the Pitts Ferry Crossing by the Brazos River Bridge Company as part of a multi-span toll bridge. In 1909 it was purchased by Brazos County and continued in use as a free bridge until 1930, when the Texas Highway Department constructed Highway 21. The bridge was abandoned upon completion of a new Brazos River crossing on SH21. After the Faubion Bridge fell into the river in December of 1937, Milam County hired the Austin Bridge Company to move one of the spans of the old abandoned Brazos River bridge and erect it here near the base of Sugarloaf Mountain. In 2006 this bridge was restored by the Texas Department of Transportation using Federal Highway Administration Transportation Enhancement Funds."

CR227 Through Truss Bridge

"The original Bridge on the Bryan-Caldwell Road had been constructed at the site of the Pitts Ferry Crossing by the Brazos River Bridge Company as part of a multi-span toll bridge. In 1909 it was purchased by Brazos County and continued in use as a free bridge until 1930, when the Texas Highway Department constructed Highway 21. The bridge was abandoned upon completion of a new Brazos River crossing on SH21. After the Faubion Bridge fell, the county moved one of the spans of the old abandoned Brazos River bridge and erect it near the base of Sugarloaf Mountain. This unique peaked chord span is identical to the Sugarloaf and is most likely the second span of the Old Brazos River bridge."