The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 65, July 1961 - April, 1962 Page: 496
663 p. : ill., maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
only a few years since and all the teamsters strapped up to the wagon
wheels and burned alive. One of our Seminole Indians of the Escort
tells me he was the first man who visited the scene of the outrage and
that the sight was sickening. We are now camped on the ground of
this massacre and I have just found an old rusty knife under my
bed which probably belonged to one of the murdered greasers. The
last serious fight that occurred here was in 1872 between a company
of the 9th U. S. Cavalry and the Indians. The former were in pos-
session of the well and the Indians attacked and drove them off.
Thursday, Jan. 15. We ascended the canon of Howard's Wells
some miles and then emerged upon the open table land which is
everywhere dotted with cedar shrubs. Made a dry camp. Saw our
first antelope today and two or three deer. This is our tenth day out
of Fort Clark and we have made 163 miles. The expedition is miser-
ably managed. There is a total lack of economy and order.
Friday, Jan. 16. Too much salt food, bacon and beans and bad
bread have not agreed with me and I am almost on the sick list.
Took medicine last night and if it has the desired effect, expect to be
all right again tomorrow. We descended into a canon leading down
to old Fort Lancaster12 on Live Oak creek and thence to the Pecos.
Here there is a cattle ranche owned by one Tarde, and nearby is old
Fort Lancaster, deserted and in ruins. Four miles brought us to the
Pecos river, a rapid, though smoothly gliding stream, very crooked,
flowing through an alluvial valley perhaps a mile in width, between
banks 8 and to feet high. The water is muddy and strongly alkaline.
I should judge the average width of the stream to be 45 feet, and
quite deep with a current of four miles an hour.
Saturday, Jan. 17. After going about 18 miles today made camp
on the bank of the Pecos known in the vernacular as "The Riffles."
Bullis, his Seminole negroes 8e train joined us soon after. These
negroes have, as is usual with their race, the religious element highly
developed. Every night they have a sort of camp meeting, singing,
prayer and reading the Bible, which among these lonely hills sounds
weird and peculiar. Hot discussion tonight between Fessenden and
Harris as to whether the Pecos water would or would not cook beans.
Bet of five dollars. I am referee and am now engaged in testing the
matter by watching the pot. The "frijoles" have been on nearly two
hours, merrily boiling and yet they are as hard as brickbats. Had a
shooting match after dinner. I and my "Express" rifle bore off the
honors. Bullis considers this country now perfectly safe for stockmen.
Quien sabe? I am now able to state that Pecos water will not cook
beans soft. Boiled them ten hours. They were edible but by no
means choice.
12Fort Lancaster, a federal military post a half-mile up the Pecos from Live Oak
Creek, abandoned during the Civil War after Twiggs' surrender in 1861, was occu-
pied for a short time later, in 1868.496
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 65, July 1961 - April, 1962, periodical, 1962; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101195/m1/556/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.