Julia Lee Sinks' Quarry Branch

Julia Lee Sinks, author and historian, was an early settler to Austin, arriving in the spring of 1840. Before meeting and marrying George Sinks, chief clerk of the Post Office Department of the republic of Texas, she lived on West Pecan, present day 6^th street, and later wrote “Our home was on the beaten track of the Indians into town from the pass of Mount Bonnell. The knolls beyond the quarry branch were interspersed with timber, and sometimes though not often, we would see galloping past the open spaces beyond the blanketed Indian. The path along the quarry branch, secluded as it was, became their main inlet to the town. It was a sheltered road, never traveled at night by whites, so the Indians claimed right of way, and all full moons brought moccasin tracks in abundance”.[1]

One question I have: What "quarry" and "branch" is she referring to? Possibilities ..

• Is it related to Johnson Branch somehow?
• Is it related to the quarry from which the Johnson House was built? The history marker says " Erected 1858 by Chas. Johnson, near the WM. McGill Ford on the Colorado River. Built by fellow Swedes, of native stone from his own quarry and lime kiln"
• Is it related to Quarry Road north of Enfield (15th?)

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[1] Kerr, Jeffrey, and Ray Spivey. The Republic of Austin. AUSTIN, TEXAS: WATERLOO, 2010. Kerr is quoting materials from the Julia Lee Sinks Papers, 1817, [ca. 1840]-1904, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

Indian Springs of Travis County

This article is a compendium of information on springs in Travis County with prehistoric or historic links to Texas Indians. Information is based primarily on Gunnar Brune’s report to the Texas Water Development Board, “Major and Historical Springs of Texas”[1], and his book, Springs of Texas[2]. Additional sources are cited with associated springs.

As Brune noted in his report to the Texas Water Development Board, “Springs have been very important to Texas from the time of its first inhabitants. Many battles were fought between the pioneers and Indians for possession of springs”. Understanding these springs is important to understanding Travis County from the perspective of those first inhabitants, the Texas Indians: where they camped, the trails they used.

Springs are listed alphabetically.

Barton Springs. At least five groups of springs, including Upper, Main, Upper Left Bank, Lower Left Bank, and Old Mill or Walsh Spring; the farthest downstream. This was a gathering place for the Caddo, Tonkawa, Apache, and Comanche Indians. An old Comanche Indian trail from Bandera County to Nacogdoches passed here. The early settlers had a trading post at the springs. Early Spanish explorers wrote that in 1714 wild horses were numerous. Three Spanish missions were located here from 1730 to 1731. Early in the 1880's a fort was located at the springs. This was also a stop on the Chisholm Cattle Trail from 1867 to 1895.  Located at 2201 Barton Springs Rd. Austin, TX. (30.2638194, -97.7713947)

Cold and Deep Eddy Springs. Brune’s report says at least seven springs. Many Indian projectile points and tools have been found at the springs and in Bat Cave downstream and Bee Cave just upstream. An old Comanche Indian trail from Bandera to Nacogdoches passed the springs. Only two springs are now above the level of Town Lake. Brune says the springs are near Valley Springs Road in Austin (30.2799298,- 97.7800062).

Coleman Springs. These were the springs located at Fort Colorado, also known as Coleman’s Fort. Brune’s book states soldiers from the fort used the water from the spring between 1836 and 1838, and was also a favorite Indian campground in earlier days. A historical marker located near the springs was erected by the State of Texas in 1936 and reads: “Site of Fort Colorado (Also called Coleman’s Fort) June, 1836 - November, 1838. Established and first commanded by Colonel Robert M. Coleman. Succeeded by Capt. Michael Andrews And Capt. William M. Eastland. An extreme frontier outpost occupied by Texas Rangers to protect Anglo-American civilization from savage Indians in this vicinity”. The springs are now located on land associated with the Austin Wildlife Rescue, at 5401 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Austin, TX. (30.285276,-97.674621).

Levi Spring. Rock shelter with associated springs along Lick Creek, a tributary of the Pedernales River, near Hamilton Pool and Westcave Springs. Artifacts at this site date to Clovis and Plainview, possibly older, i.e. 10,000+ years old.[3] Located about 1.2 kilometers south of the intersection of Highway 71 and 2322 (30.375187,-98.087891)

Manchaca Springs. Several springs on a small tributary of Onion Creek. The springs were named for Colonel Jose Menchaca of the Army of the Texas Republic. In 1709 the Spanish expedition under Espinosa, Olivares, and Aguirre is believed to have stopped here. That the Spanish were camping at Manchaca Springs is because it was on a branch of the Camino Real leading into Austin before turning east to Nacogdoches.[4] And of course, the Spanish were usually following pre-established Indian trails, and Brune’s book states “Many projectile points have been found here.” Later the springs would be utilized again, this time by the Chisholm Cattle Trail from 1867 to 1895. In 1840, seeking retribution for the Council House Fight of 1840 in San Antonio, a large group of Penateka Comanche mounted the "Great Raid of 1840", said to be the largest raid ever mounted by Indians against cities in the United States, namely Victoria and Linnville, Texas (at the time of course, Texas was still a Republic). James Wilson Nichols account of the raid states that Comanches, enroute to Victoria and Linnville "emerged from the mountains into the prairie near the Manchac (sic) Springs in Hays County"[5] Indians – presumably Comanche – “emerging from the mountains west of the springs” is a theme in other tales about Manchaca Springs. Wilbarger tells of an encounter at the springs between Texans and Indians in 1844 when a “party of Indians .. came down from the Colorado mountains .. where they succeeded in stealing a large number of valuable horses.” On their return to the mountains the Indians “camped for the night at or near a noted watering place known as the Manchaca Springs”. Texans under the command of Captain Wiley Hill attacked their camp the next morning. The Indians were eventually able to make good an escape back to the mountains and the Texans returned to Manchaca Springs where they retrieved their horses, plus the Indian “camp equipage”.[6] John Holland Jenkins recounts another encounter between Texans trying to retrieve stolen horses, led by Captain Gillespie, attacking Indians camped at “Manshak Springs”, “Manshak” being the common pronunciation of Manchaca.[7] Texans didn’t always fare well when encountering Indians at the springs. In 1845 two pioneer German-Texan authors, Friedrich Wilhelm von Wrede Sr. and Oscar von Claren, were killed and scalped by Indians at Manchaca Springs. Both were buried there by United States soldiers, who gave them military honors[8] Brune’s book locates the springs on private property, half a kilometer west of I-35, just north of the Hays County Line. Today County Road 117, Old San Antonio Road, passes near and over part of the spring’s drainage near the Hays and Travis County line (30.101939,-97.814569)

Hamilton Pool. At the writing of Brune’s Springs of Texas, the springs were owned by Eugene Reimer, but are now part of Hamilton Pool Preserve, part of the larger Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, owned and managed by Travis County, Texas. Following archeological studies done in the late 80s, the Hamilton Pool Preserve was designated as a state archeology landmark.[9] The Travis County Parks webpage says cultural remains date back over 8,000 years.[10] Elaine Perkins says that the pool had long been a camping place for Indians and in the early days an old Indian trail led down to the pool. Bernhard “B.J.” Reimer, who “discovered” the Hamilton Pool in 1898, remembered when “Old-timers” said “300 Indians lived here and used this place for a trail post. It was also a fortress against intruders.”[11] Perkins also states that “At the time of the Civil War .. it was still a spiritual meeting place for Indians, as well as a hiding place for Unionists”, i.e. those Texans opposing secession from the Union needing to take refuge from pro-secessionists.[12]. Located at Hamilton Pool Nature Preserve, 24300 Hamilton Pool Rd, Dripping Springs, TX (30.342348,-98.126879).

Hornsby Springs. Brune’s book says “They were the scene of an Indian campsite in prehistoric times. In 1830 Reuben Hornsby built a cabin here, beginning what was later called the Hornsby’s Bend settlement”. Brune locates the springs three kilometers south of Long Lake, which is the general vicinity of the Reuben Hornsby historical marker, on Webberville Road, 0.2 miles east of N Farm to Market Rd, 9737 (30.255071,-97.608478). That marker reads “Reuben Hornsby, 1793-1879, First Settler in Travis County. Surveyor with Stephen F. Austin's Little Colony. He surveyed the site of this settlement in 1830. In July 1832 with his family he established his home at this place, since called Hornsby's Bend”.

Pecan Springs. The springs where Josiah Wilbarger and his surveying party were attacked by Indians in 1833.[13] Location is near 5020 Manor Road, Austin, TX (30.298074,-97.688586).

Santa Monica or Sulphur Springs. Brune says these springs were once the basis for Comanche and Tonkawa Indian campgrounds. Gelo called them “a watering place” for the Comanche[14] , and are about 6.6 kilometers south of Comanche Peak and Defeat Hollow, the location of an encounter between Joel Harris, an early settler to Hudson Bend, and Indians, probably Comanche.[15] The springs were also a favorite resort for early Austinites, and the waters were bottled and highly valued for medicinal purposes. It’s worth noting that the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has an incorrect location for the springs, showing them in the Steiner Ranch neighborhood by the lake. The springs were in fact on the edge of the Colorado River, and now beneath Lake Austin, located across from what is now Commons Ford Ranch Metropolitan Park, Austin, TX.[16] (30.343658,-97.88892)

Seiders Springs. At least two springs. Between 1846 and 1865 many Army troops, including those under the command of General Custer and General Lee, camped at the springs. Wilbarger notes “There were quite a number of murders committed in Travis county during the year 1842. Gideon White was another who fell a victim to the preying bands of Indians who were continuously scouring the country around Austin.” Gideon White settled on Seider Springs about 1840, and was killed near the springs in 1842. Wilbarger states “When the Indians made the attack they were on horseback ..  [Gideon White on foot] ran for some distance, but finding the Indians were gaining on him rapidly, he sprang behind a tree, in a thicket, and defended himself as best he could. The Indians, however, finally killed him, in sight of and within a quarter of a mile of his house.” Wilbarger noted that marks of a number of arrows and bullets which hit the tree were visible for many years. Seiders Springs are now in Seider Springs Park, managed by the City of Austin, and located on Shoal Creek Trail, between 34th and 38th , Austin, TX (30.305826,-97.747294).

Spicewood Springs. Brune’s book says these springs are said to have been a stop on an old Indian Trail. Josiah Wilbarger tells a story Indians stopping at the springs in his book Indian Depredations in Texas.[17] In 1842, a Mrs. Simpson living on West Pecan Street, about three blocks west of Congress, in Austin had two children – a daughter 14, a son 12 -- abducted by Indians while the children were in the adjacent Shoal Creek valley. The Indians “seized the children, mounted their horses and made off for the mountains ..  going in the direction of Mt. Bonnell.” A posse was raised and gave pursuit. “At one time the citizens came within sight of the redskins just before reaching Mt. Bonnell, but the Indians, after arriving at the place, passed on just beyond to the top of the mountain, which being rocky, the citizens lost the trail and were never able to find where the savages went down the mountain”. The Simpson girl was killed, but the boy survived and was later “traded off to some Indian traders, who returned him to his mother”. It is because the boy survived and was returned home that we know what happened after the posse lost the trail of the Indians. From Mt. Bonnell they stopped to rest at Spicewood Springs where the Simpson girl was killed. Located near the intersection of Spicewood Springs Road and Ceberry Street in northwest Austin, Texas. (30.362901,-97.747889)

Westcave Springs. At the writing of Brune’s book, Westcave Springs was privately own. The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) acquired the property in 1983 and operates it in partnership with Westcave Preserve Corporation.[18] The springs and setting are similar to Hamilton Pool, and indeed are only 1.6 kilometers south-west of Hamilton Pool, across the Pedernales. Four archeological sites have been recorded in Westcave Preserve, all with prehistoric components.[19] Located at Westcave Preserve, 24814 Hamilton Pool Rd, Round Mountain, TX ‎(30.33626,-98.140882)

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[1] Brune, Gunnar, (1975) “Major and Historical Springs of Texas”, Report 189, Texas Water Development Board. The report is available on the Texas Water Development Board website at www.twdb.texas.gov. The report states “Authorization for use or reproduction of any original material contained in this publication … is freely granted.”

[2] Brune, Gunnar, (2002) Springs of Texas, Volume 1, Texas A&M University Press, 2002. Travis County is covered on pages 430-436

[3] Herbert L. Alexander, Jr., "The Levi Site: A Paleo-Indian Campsite in Central Texas," American Antiquity 28 (April 1963)

[4] McGraw, A. Joaquin, John W. Clark, J.R.; and Elizabeth A. Robbins, Editors. A Texas Legacy, the Old San Antonio Road and El Caminos Reales: A Tricentennial History, 1691-1991. Texas State Department of Highways and Public Transportation. Austin, 1991. This branch is called Camino Real de los Tejas. See page 187

[5] Nichols, James Wilson. Now You Hear My Horn; the Journal of James Wilson Nichols, 1820-1887. Austin: University of Texas, 1968.

[6] Wilbarger, J. W. Indian Depredations in Texas. Austin, TX: Hutchings Printing House, 1889. Print. P 284

[7] John Holland Jenkins, Recollections of Early Texas, ed. John H. Jenkins III (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1958; rpt. 1973)

[8] “Pioneer German authors killed by Indians”, Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/day-by-day/31077

[9] Robinson, David G., and Solveig A. Turpin. Cultural Resource Investigations at Hamilton Pool County Park, Travis County, Texas. Austin, TX: Texas Archeological Survey, University of Texas at Austin, 1986. Print.

[10] https://parks.traviscountytx.gov/find-a-park/hamilton-pool

[11] Perkins, Elaine. A Hill Country Paradise? Travis County and Its Early Settlers, iUniverse publishing, 2012, p 59

[12] Perkins, Elaine. A Hill Country Paradise? Travis County and Its Early Settlers, iUniverse publishing, 2012 p 106

[13] Wilbarger, J. W. Indian Depredations in Texas. Austin, TX: Hutchings Printing House, 1889. Print. pp 7-14. Gelo, Daniel J. ""Comanche Land and Ever Has Been": A Native Geography of the Nineteenth-Century Comanchería." The Southwestern Historical Quarterly 103.3 (2000)

[14] Gelo, Daniel J. ""Comanche Land and Ever Has Been": A Native Geography of the Nineteenth-Century Comanchería." The Southwestern Historical Quarterly 103.3 (2000)

[15] Perkins, Elaine. A Hill Country Paradise? Travis County and Its Early Settlers, iUniverse publishing, 2012, p 70

[16] Hill, Robert Thomas. Geologic Atlas of the United States: Austin Folio, Texas. Reston, VA: U.S. Geological Survey, 1902.

[17] Wilbarger, J. W. Indian Depredations in Texas. Austin, TX: Hutchings Printing House, 1889 p. 139.

[18] http://www.lcra.org/parks/natural-resource-areas/Pages/westcave-preserve.aspx

[19] Balcones Canyonlands Preserve Land Management Plan, Tier III, The Westcave Foundation and LCRA, Westcave Preserve, Pedernales Macrosite, Travis County, 2007

History of Bull Creek: An Overview

This overview was originally written for the Bull Creek Foundation's website, hence the similarity!

On Loop 360 near Bluffstone Drive is a history marker. Here’s a bit from that marker:

Balcones Fault Aids Colonization of Texas. Curving through the center of Texas from Hill County south and west to Uvalde County is the rugged escarpment-fault called Balcones. The abundance of natural resources associated with this geologic formation affected the pattern of colonization in Texas. The numerous springs and wooded hills of the escarpment and adjacent fertile prairies attracted Indian tribes and Spanish colonists before the area was permanently settled by Anglo-American pioneers.

Balcones Fault is a defining geologic feature of Austin, indeed one of the reasons it was selected as the capital of Texas. And arguably one of the most beautiful and unique features of the Balcones Fault in the Austin area is Bull Creek and the valley it has cut flowing to its mouth on the Colorado River. Many advertisements and postcards from the late 1800s touting Austin’s beauty feature photos of Bull Creek.

Native Americans in Prehistoric Times

Archeological investigations of the Bull Creek area show utilization by humans stretching back 9,000  years, maybe longer. The Wilson-Leonard site where “Leanderthal Lady” was found, only 8 miles northwest of the headwaters of Bull Creek, shows a succession of use from Paleoindian cultures 13,000 years ago to Late Prehistoric Toyah cultures. Some artifacts found in digs on Bull Creek are similar to those associated with the Wilson-Leonard site. The canyons of Bull Creek offered the criteria of favored campsites on the Edwards Plateau in prehistoric times: shelter in or near pecan groves (pecan fat content is comparable to bison) along perennial water sources, with proximity to quality flint.

Native Americans in Historic Times

At Austin’s founding, historically recorded tribes included Apache, Comanche, Tonkawa, and Waco (a branch of the Wichita). The Tonkawa were probably the oldest residents of the area at its founding. Earlier yet the Jumanos, perhaps linked to the archeology of the protohistoric Toyah culture, may have travelled the area as part of their extensive trade route.

The dominant tribe at Austin's founding were the Comanche. Janet Long Fish, daughter of Walter E. Long, in 1952 pioneered work on a walking trail (today’s Shoal Creek Greenbelt Hike and Bike Trail) along what she called the “old Comanche Trail” that ran from the shoals in the Colorado River up along Shoal Creek to 34th Street where it crossed the creek and continued west and north into the hills. 34th Street at Shoal Creek Greenbelt is historically significant in that it is the location of Seiders Spring, a spot known to have been visited by Indians in early Austin. West of Seiders Springs 34th turns into 35th street and is the old road west to Mount Bonnell where another Indian trail into and out of Austin was located. In 2000 Janet Long Fish was interviewed about the general history of Bull Creek in which she elaborated on the connection between the Shoal Creek "Comanche Trail", Mount Bonnell, and Bull Creek: “The Shoal Creek Trail tied into the Bull Creek setup. And the Shoal Creek Trail—it’s hard to look at the river now because the lake is covering a lot of what was bottom land, and we forget that you could come right below Mount Bonnell. And this is what the Indians did, they came up Shoal Creek, and they turned left at Thirty-fifth Street. They went below Mount Bonnell, and then they went below Mount Bonnell and on up. Now, how far up Bull Creek they went, I don’t know. I know the Comanche Trail out by Lake Travis is a continuation of the Shoal Creek Trail.”[1]

That Bull Creek was on a Comanche trail from Mount Bonnell to Comanche Peak jives with oral traditions of some early settlers. Will Preece, wife Elizabeth Gideon, and sons Richard Lincoln Preece (also known as Dick Preece) and Will Jr., were early settlers to the Bull Creek area during the days of the Republic of Texas. Both Dick Preece and Will Jr. served as Texas Rangers before the Civil War. Preece family history records their cemetery along West Bull Creek was the "site of a Comanche hunting ground". In his article, “My Grandfather, Dick Preece”, Harold Preece, grandson of Dick Preece, says “A few miles from the Preece ranch lay the southern terminus of the bloody Comanche Trail” and describes his grandfather's days with the Republic era Texas Rangers combating the Comanche in Texas.

Early Families to Bull Creek

Geographic and cultural similarities between the valley of Bull Creek and Appalachia have been made, and the early families that settled the valley -- like Boatright, Champion, Preece, Thurm, Venable, Waechter and Walden to name a few -- formed a clan-like, close knit community. Early settlers to Bull Creek chose the area for the abundance of springs and rich farm land and perhaps in some cases because it reminded them of the mountains, hills and hollows from which they came. The isolation of Bull Creek from Austin bred a self-reliant, independent people. The isolation meant that old traditions persisted longer than in fast growing Austin. Marriages were often between families in the valley of Bull Creek further preserving the culture. These people often identified themselves as mountain people, a unique culture to the otherwise prairie like culture of Austin. Outsiders often derisively labeled them “hillbillies”.

Ruins from some of these early settlers are still visible along Bull Creek. William Thurm came from Germany in 1850 with his wife, Caroline, and two young daughters; a third soon born in Texas. Arriving in Galveston they were among the first settlers along Bull Creek in 1855 on land purchased from Josiah Fisk, namesake of Fiskville. The family lived in a log cabin at the base of “Thurm Hill”, the steep hill down which today’s Spicewood Springs Road descends east of 360. Additional land purchases from Fisk in 1873 and 1874 expanded holdings to 340 acres along Bull Creek.

The original Thurm homestead was probably located along today’s Old Spicewood Springs Road, east of Loop 360, in what is now Lower Bull Creek Greenbelt. Unfortunately, during construction of Loop 360 the historical significance of what was probably the Thurm homestead was not recognized and the property was razed. But remnants of his daughter and son in law’s homestead – Isaac and Tena Thurm Venable -- are still visible on the hike and bike trails of Bull Creek Greenbelt Upper, with entry just off Old Spicewood Springs Road. These ruins date to the 1870s.

Civil War

During the Civil War, Travis County was one of several counties in Central Texas to vote against secession from the Union, and the caves and hollows of Bull Creek were a base for what one might call Travis County’s own “Free State of Jones”, i.e. a base for Union loyalists resisting the Confederacy. Among Union loyalist fighting the Confederacy were the Preece family, members of what became known as the Mountain Eagles, a Unionist guerilla outfit fighting the Confederacy which culminated in the “Bull Creek Battle” with 40 of the Mountain Eagles holed up in a makeshift fort atop what came to be called “Dead Man’s Peak”.

Cemeteries

The historic Preece cemetery off RM 2222 is the resting place for many of the Preece family, including Republic era Texas Rangers, Dick Preece and Will Jr. Other cemeteries that served Bull Creek were Oak Grove Cemetery on the upper end of Bull Creek East, on what is now Spicewood Springs Road (originally part of Bull Creek Road). Oak Grove Cemetery was said to have been started when five small children who died from an epidemic of some sort were buried in the Oak Grove churchyard.

Before Oak Grove Cemetery some residents of Bull Creek were buried in the nearby Pond Springs Cemetery near Jollyville. Inside the Pond Springs Cemetery there is a section for the Waldens, early pioneer settlers in Bull Creek. This section is often called the Walden Cemetery; a cemetery within a cemetery.

But there was yet another Walden Cemetery, this referred to as the Pleasant Valley / Walden / Bull Creek Cemetery. Pleasant Valley (not to be confused with the Pleasant Valley in South Austin) was a name often used for the Bull Creek area. This small cemetery is now located in a front yard of a house in the Lakewood housing development, on the west bank of Bull Creek, about 1/3 mile from what was the site of the Walden mill on Bull Creek.

Schools

Two schools served the valley of Bull Creek, one was Oak Grove School, originally located on what is today Old Lampasas Trail, then relocated near today’s Oak Grove cemetery. The original school at Oak Grove is said to have been started about 1864, a one room school house about 20’x20’, with one teacher. Another school was located near the intersection of today’s 2222 and Loop 360. That school began as a one room log cabin called Bull Creek School, then later replaced (probably in the 1940s) by a larger building and renamed Pleasant Valley School.

Industry: from Mills to Moonshine

Industry of the Bull Creek valley included farming, but the water power of Bull Creek also fueled lumber and grist mills.  Barkley’s The History of Travis County and Austin states "The Mormons are credited with construction, in 1846, of one of Travis County's oldest roads to the northwest, the one that today is a scenic drive along Bull Creek to the Spicewood Springs Road, and which then led to a mill on Bull Creek used after the Mormon Mill washed away". The Mormons were not the only ones to build lumber mills along Bull Creek. Another, the Walden Mill, may well have supplied the lumber for historic homes such as the Zimmerman Home near Fiskville (now part The Settlement Home for Children) and indeed Josiah Fisk of Fiskville bought large quantities of land along Bull Creek which he later sold to settlers, like the Thurms, moving to Bull Creek.

Cedar, abundant in the valley of Bull Creek, proved an important livelihood for many, leading to the derisive label used by outsiders: “cedar choppers”. From 1870 to 1940, cedar logs were in high demand in Austin and Travis County for railroad ties, foundation piers, stove wood, charcoal, and fence posts. And during prohibition the valley of Bull Creek provided the necessary ingredients to produce moonshine: an abundance of spring water, charcoal made from cedar to fuel stills, and the solitude of the hills, valleys and caves to hide production. Headlines from an article that ran in the American Statesman, 1923, proclaimed “Caves In Bull Creek Hills Furnish Safe Retreats For Moonshine Gangs; Officers Get Clue To Nest Of Stills”.

The Transition to Today

By the 1940s, and certainly by the 1960s, as access to the area improved, Bull Creek had begun its transition from from Austin’s version of Appalachia, to a place of recreation, and a highly sought place to live. In interviews on file at the Austin History Center, Janet Fish Long, daughter of Walter E. Long, recalls horseback rides, picnics, and camping in the Bull Creek area as a youth, and even relates its use for recreation for service men, including R.A.F. pilots, during World War II.

In the 1960s the Moore family opened Lakewood Park on land that had been in the Walden family since the 1850s. The pool on Walden land in Bull Creek that had been used by settlers for baptisms was now used as a swimming pool by Austinites escaping to the country. A newspaper article from 1966 about Clementine Walden Jackson, one of the last of the generations of Walden family to reside in the valley of Bull Creek, recalls that where Tom Wooten Boy Scout Camp was located, the community of settlers of Bull Creek would gather for picnics, dancing and folk singing. Now Camp Tom Wooten itself is history, giving way to a housing development with street names that reflect its scouting past. And too the Moore’s Lakewood Park; in 1971 the City of Austin negotiated the purchase of that land to become the "Zilker Park" of the northwest; today's Bull Creek District Park and Bull Creek Greenbelts. Families were now buying land for recreational use; land that had once been the homesteads of pioneer settlers.

References, Notes

Archeological Survey of the Stenis Tract Hike and Bike Trail, Bull Creek Watershed, Travis County, Texas, by Gemma Mehalchick, Douglas Kevin Boyd, Prewitt and Associates, and the Texas Antiquities Committee, published by Prewitt and Associates, 2004. The report which says the “historic farmstead that makes up [this site] is recommended as potentially eligible for listing in the National Register [of Historic Places]”. The report unfortunately did not push the history back to the farmstead back to the original settlers, Isaac and Tena Thurm Venable.

Austin Statesman, January, 14, 1923, p10. “Caves in Bull Creek Hills Furnish Safe Retreats for Moonshine Gangs; Officers Get Clue to Nest of Stills” (author unknown).

Barkley, Mary Starr (1963). History of Travis County and Austin, 1839-1899. Waco, TX: Texian Press. p. 266 discusses early construction of mills by Mormons on Bull Creek.

Cantell, Floyd (2017). Interview with Mr. Floyd Cantwell. Mr. Cantwell grew up in the Bull Creek area; his mother attended school there; he owned the salvage yard that used to be located at what is now Mesa and Spicewood Springs Road, and he lived on Spicewood Springs Road. The salvage yard was later located to Spicewood Spring Road north of what is now Loop 360. He currently owns Floyd Cantwell Used Cars and Parts, 9800 Ranch Rd 2243, Leander, TX 78641 where I interviewed him April 29^th, 2017. Mr. Cantwell confirmed the location of the Venable home; also that Dorothy Duvall later bought the property.

Cash, Elizabeth A.  and Suzanne B. Deaderick, Austin's Pemberton Heights (Images of America), 2012. Discusses Janet Long Fish’s work in preserving the “Comanche Trail”, today’s Shoal Creek Greenbelt Trail.

Camp Tom Wooten on Bull Creek, 1934 - 1983. From an archival website, retrieved 03/01/2017: “Camp Tom Wooten, overlooking Bull Creek and Lake Austin, will be remembered by thousands of Scouts as their ‘summer camp.’  The land was purchased by Dr. Goodall H. Wooten, an Austin physician, for $5,000, and presented to the Capitol Area Council in 1934 for a Boy Scout Camp.  The original purchase was for 125 acres but he later gave more land.  The council constructed cabins, buildings and a water system.  The camp was named Camp Tom Wooten after Dr. Wooten's only son who had died at the age of 21. The camp was south of FM 2222 just across Bull Creek from the Bull Creek Lodge, a favorite watering hole for hamburgers, drinks, and renting canoes. Bull Creek Lodge is now known as ‘The County Line on the Lake.’

http://westtexasscoutinghistory.net/CTW/index.html

Collins, Karen Sikes, (2011), Rosedale Rambles 1993 through 1999, retrieved 03-16-2017 from http://rosedaleaustin.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Rosedale-Ramble-1999.pdf. Discusses Janet Long Fish’s work in preserving the “Comanche Trail”, today’s Shoal Creek Greenbelt Trail.

Cox, Mike. Bull Creek Battle (2005).  Cox notes “Now covered with spacious, expensive houses, the cedar-studded canyons on the western edge of Austin used to be Central Texas’ version of Appalachia. Remote and hard to reach in the days of horse and wagon travel, the hills west of the Capital City were peopled by scattered families who came from the mountains of Tennessee and Kentucky and settled there because the terrain reminded them of home.” Cox reviews what has been called the Bull Creek Battle, Austin’s version of a “Free State of Jones” (my description) type resistance with Union supporters from Bull Creek fighting against the Confederacy. See also Harold Preece.

http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/267-Bull-Creek-Battle.htm

Cox, Mike. Rock Fences (2008). Retrieved 5/5/2017 from http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/Rock-Fences.htm

Cullick, Robert, “Archeologists open Bull Creek 'history book'”. Austin American Statesman, February 2, 1986, Section A, Page 1. Article about archeological surveys in and around Bull Creek sponsored by Nash Phillips and Clyde Copus in the mid-1980s ahead of planned development which included Schlumberger Oil Well Services research campus, now Concordia University.

Jackson, Clementine (Walden). The Walden home in the valley (book). 1966, Austin, Texas. Copy available in Austin History Center. A history of Bull Creek and the Walden family, early settlers there. See also related newspaper article: “Good Days on Bull Creek”, The American-Statesman, Sunday, April 28, 1963. Memories of Mrs. Clementine Walden Jackson marking the close of an era in the Bull Creek Valley. Also: “She Recalls Bull Creek, Oak Grove of Long Ago!”. The American-Statesman, Sunday, August 14, 1966.

Kerber, Lisa. Fiskville application to the Texas Historical Commission for a historical marker. https://austin.bibliocommons.com/item/show/810414067

Morris, A. R. (1873, Aug 10). REGISTRATION NOTICE. Daily Democratic Statesman (1873-1880) Retrieved from https://www.austinlibrary.com:8443/login?url=http://www.austinlibrary.com:2400/docview/1619645240?accountid=7451

Preece, Harold (1964). "My Grandfather, Dick Preece". Real West. VII (38): 22.  Story of Richard Lincoln Preece, AKA Dick Preece, as a Republic era Texas Ranger fighting Comanches. Later a member of the Mountain Eagles, a Unionist guerilla outfit fighting the Confederacy from Bull Creek. “Time and time again .. Confederate irregulars invaded the hills looking for boys to conscript .. and stock to be requisitioned for [the Confederacy]. Time and time again, Grandfather, the southern-born chieftain of Unionist irregulars, blocked him .. [the Confederates] never conquered that detached, un-surrendering patch of the United States which was Bull Creek”.

Richards, Cathryn. Valley of Cascade Creek. Written in 1961 but unpublished. Copy at Austin History Center. History of Bull Creek, AKA Cascade Creek, with emphasis on early families.

Sitton, Thad (a) Oral history transcript of interview with children of Matthew Irving Smith and Hazeline Ingram Smith. July 10, 2000. Austin History Center.

Sitton, Thad (b) Oral history transcript of interview with Janet Long Fish. July 20, 2000. Austin History Center.

Travis County Clerk Records: Road Book Precinct 2, book, 1898/1902. Tena Venable home is used as reference in defining Travis County roads. See "Bull Cr & Spicewood Spr Road", p355; "Bull Creek Road", p357.

Upton, Elsie. The Austin Hill Folk. Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964. Texian Stomping Grounds, book, 1941; Dallas, Texas. (texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67663/: accessed February 23, 2017), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press. Upton uses the term “Hill Folks” and “Mountaineers” to describe the early settlers of locals such as Bull Creek: (p.1) In the past hundred years Austin has grown from a village of three or four hundred people into a modem city of 100,000; out in the Hills .. the people depend for their water supply on the natural springs or creeks, speak a mountain dialect, and depend for their education on a short term in a one-room school. Although there has been much interest in recent years in the folk-lore of the mountain folk of the South .. [e.g. Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas] .. these Americans of the oldest stock with their special culture and customs, are to be found also, an intact community, in the Texas hills near Austin. On moonshine, Upton (p.47) says During prohibition days moonshining became a profitable business in the Hills.

Vance, Linda. Eanes: Portrait of a Community, book, 1986; [Dallas,] Texas. (texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth769391/: accessed February 23, 2017), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Westbank Community Library District. On moonshine, Vance notes (p.77) In 1923 one Austin newspaper printed the following news item which confirmed what went on in the hills west of Austin. “The capture of an alleged bootlegger and gallons of white lightning and the discovery of clues are expected to lead to the location of a veritable nest of illicit stills in the Bull Creek hills. It was the achievement of the sheriff's department after an all day search through cedar-studded territory... The hill canyons and the caves honeycombing the limestone cliffs form ideal hiding places as favorable as the wild mountain fastnesses of Kentucky and Tennessee

Views in Austin, Texas. The Daily Graphic on Wednesday, June 30, 1880. Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin. The page features 10 printed sketches of various scenes touting Austin. Of the 10, two are from Bull Creek, illustrating the romance associated with Bull Creek from Austin’s founding.

http://texasartisans.mfah.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15939coll6/id/1295

West Travis County. Article on Austin History Center website. Discusses Union sympathizers known as "mountain eagles" who escaped from Confederate conscription by hiding out in the isolated hills; role of cedar as a means of livelihood; similarities to Appalachia. “Many of these settlers came from Appalachia and brought their mountain culture with them. They scraped a living from the rugged hill country by cutting cedar, building stone walls and fences, and making charcoal and moonshine. Derisively called "cedar choppers" or "charcoal burners," they were a proud, independent, reclusive people who moved from place to place wherever there was work. From 1870 to 1940, the cedar brakes provided work because cedar logs were in high demand for railroad ties, foundation piers, stove wood, charcoal, and fence posts. In 1875 alone, over 30,000 cedar logs were shipped from Austin. Competition for the wood became so intense that between 1870 and 1890 several confrontations called the ‘Cedar Wars’ occurred in the hill country over conflicting territorial claims of cedar brakes.”

http://www.austinlibrary.com/ahc/outside/west.htm

Zelade, Richard (2006). Lone Star Travel Guide to the Texas Hill Country, Sixth Edition. Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 163. Discusses Mormon construction of mills on Bull Creek.

Zimmerman Home, Historic Marker Application. Texas Historical Commission. September 21, 1967; (texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth491775/: accessed February 24, 2017), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission. Edward E. Zimmerman came to Texas, 1844, from Germany. Zimmerman an Texas farmhouse, 1861, of “hand-hewn cream colored rock from nearby hills; lumber from Bull Creek mills.” The mill could well have been the Walden mill.

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[1] “Comanche Trail” by Lake Travis runs by Comanche Peak, the only natural geographic place in Travis County named after a Native American tribe. It sits on the norther edge of the Bull Creek watershed.