Texas Almanac, 1968-1969 Page: 88
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Historic Sites
YOUNG COUNTYLarge herds of buffalo attracted both In-
dians and white settlers to the area that now
is Young County. The county was created in
1856 out of Bosque and Fannin Counties; at
that time Young Territory extended to the
New Mexico boundary.
Fort Belknap had been established on
June 24, 1851, as a U.S. Army post, soon
moving to a site near the present town of
Newcastle, where the fort is maintained in a
park today, as shown in the picture. The
town adjoining it, Belknap, became the first
county scat of Young County.
In 1854 Brazos Indian Reservation was
established 12 miles south of Fort Belknap
where the Brazos River makes three largeII ii II +
+* + M ii
F M hr.s r P is I PALO PINTO
bends. It first consisted of 18,576 acres, then
was approximately doubled in size, with the
main building 3 miles east of the present
town of Graham. Some 2,000 Waco, Caddo,
Anadarko and Tonkawa Indians had their
own villages on the reservation. Difficulties
were numerous between Indians and white
settlers and the reservation was abandoned
in 1859.
Soon afterward, unsettled conditions during
the Civil War caused virtual abandonment of
the county by white settlers and the official
records of Young County were moved to
Jacksboro. After the war, it was 1874 before
Young County was reorganized and Belknap,
whose population had dwindled to 67 by 1870,
lost the county seat to Graham.
On Feb. 15-16, 1877, Graham was the site
of a historic meeting of cattle raisers be-
neath an oak tree to form an organization to
protect their interests and fight rustlers. The
Cattle Raisers Association which they or-
ganized became the present Texas and South-
western Cattle Raisers Association, and the
site beneath the oak, which still stands near
the northwest corner of the public square in
Graham, bears a marker.
The pictures show this oak tree, at the
top of the page, Fort Belknap at the bottom,
and above it the Medlan house, built in 1875
by A. B. Median, pioneer farmer-ranchman,
philanthropist and first county treasurer. The
house, still preserved much as it was almost
a century ago, is located about 10 miles south-
west of Graham.
Numbers on the map designate: No. 1,
Fort Belknap; No. 2, site of Brazos Indian
Reservation; No. 3, Graham, where the cat-
tle association was formed.4++ +
k
88
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Texas Almanac, 1968-1969, book, 1967; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth113809/m1/90/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.