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| Leanderthal Lady and her people may well have frequented Bull Creek |
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| Tonkawa Camp ca. 1873 near Fort Griffin |
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 Jumanos, perhaps linked to the archeology of the Toyah
culture, may have traveled the area as part of their extensive trade route.
The dominant tribe at Austin's founding were the Comanche. The Preeces were early settlers to Bull Creek. Bull Creek is
said to have been named after the killing of a buffalo by Richard Lincoln Preece,
Republic Era Texas Ranger who fought against the Comanche. Preece family history records their cemetery along West Bull Creek was the "site of a Comanche hunting ground". Janet Long Fish, daughter of Walter E. Long, in 1952
pioneered a walking trail in Austin along the “old
Comanche Trail” along Shoal Creek; today’s Shoal Creek Greenbelt Trail. History
suggests that trail branched west to Mount Bonnell, on to Bull Creek, then on to
Comanche Peak by Lake Travis on the northern edge of the Bull Creek watershed.
Reference
Arnn, John Wesley. Land of the Tejas: Native American
Identity and Interaction in Texas, A.D. 1300 to 1700. Universty of Texas Press,
Austin, 2012.
Bolton, Herbert (1912). The Jumano Indians in Texas,
1650-1771.
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. Also discussed in 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.
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. In that article archeologist Elton
Prewitt describes finding a dart point, "exactly like the one found ..
with the Leanderthal Lady" deposited in a rock shelter on a tributary of
Bull Creek.
Indian Nations of Texas. Texas State Library and Archives
Commission. Retrieved 05-10-2017
https://www.tsl.texas.gov/exhibits/indian/intro/page2.html
Jones, William Kirkland. “Notes on the history and material culture
of the Tonkawa Indians”. Smithsonian
Contributions to Anthropology, Volume 2, Number 5, Smithsonian Press, 1969.
Mauldin, Raymond P. Millican
Bench: A Multicomponent Site in Travis County, Texas. Center for
Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2004.
Mehalchick, Gemma and Douglas Kevin Boyd. Archeological Survey of the Stenis Tract
Hike and Bike Trail, Bull Creek Watershed, Travis County, Texas. Published
by Prewitt and Associates, 2004.
Preece, Richard Lincoln (AKA Dick Preece). University of
Texas’ Briscoe Center for American History is home to the “Richard Lincoln
Preece Papers, 1859-1919”, which comprises correspondence, printed material,
legal and financial documents, etc. pertaining to Dick Preece’s experiences as
a soldier serving in the Civil War and as a rancher following the war. See https://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/02338/cah-02338.html
Preece, Harold (1964). Grandson of Richard Lincoln Preece. "My
Grandfather, Dick Preece". Real West.
VII (38): 22. Story of Richard Lincoln
Preece, AKA Dick Preece, early settler on Bull Creek, Republic of Texas era
Texas Ranger fighting Comanches.
Preece, Hattie Louise. Granddaughter of Richard Lincoln
Preece; sister of Harold Preece. Wrote a history of Preece family that shows up
copied in several places on the internet, including the Genealogy.com website
and on Find A Grave for William Martin Priest (an alternate spelling of Preece)
and for William Martin Preece; same person, same cemetery. See, all retrieved
05-07-2017
Sitton, Thad. Oral history transcript of interview with
Janet Long Fish. July 20, 2000. Austin History Center. Discussion of Bull Creek,
including relationship to Shoal Creek “Comanche Trail”.
Texas Beyond History. Describes several types of high
quality flint just north of Bull Creek, Brushy Creek Black, and Georgetown
Flint.
Texas Beyond History. References to Wilson-Leonard site, and
Leanderthal Lady.
Texas Beyond History. “Who were the Jumano?”
Tonkawa Camp photo. Purchased with permission to publish from; DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, Lawrence T. Jones III Texas Photographs
Tonkawa Indians, The Historic Round Rock Collection: An
Ongoing History. Retrieved 05-07-2017 from from https://www.roundrocktexas.gov/departments/planning-and-development-services/historic-preservation/historic-round-rock-collection/tonkawa-indians/
Wade, Maria F. The
Native Americans of the Texas Edwards Plateau, 1582-1799. University of
Texas Press, 2003.
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