Travis County’s Other Pilot Knob

The name “Pilot Knob” is a common name given to a peak, hill or mountain that was used as a navigational landmark. If European settlers used them for navigation you can bet the Native Americans did as well.

Per the USGS, there are hundreds of Pilot Knobs across the United States. Some over time take on another, less generic name. Mount Gabriel near the ghost town of Gabriel Mills is also known as Pilot Knob, the highest spot in Williamson County. It is atop Pilot Knob Comanches watched the progress of the Webster party

Travis County’s best-known Pilot Knob is no doubt the old volcano near McKinney Falls State Park. But there’s another one in Travis County to the north. It is probably best-known today for the very large water tank that sits atop: Martin Hill Reservoir Water Tank. Lit up at night it looks like a huge UFO landing! But old maps show it as Pilot Knob. It was an important enough a landmark that it was the only geographical peak called out on the map of “City of Austin and Vicinity” in 1839 with a road leading to it, no doubt the general route of today’s MoPac along the Balcones Escarpment.[1]

Near Pilot Knob is the Merrilltown Cemetery, one of the few reminders of the community that grew up near Pilot Knob. Merrilltown was named for Texas Ranger Capt. Nelson Merrell[2], who settled there in 1837 and later operated a store and post office. From the City of Round Rock’s FLICKR page[3]:

Captain Nelson Merrell (1810-1879) was a central figure in the settlement of Travis and Williamson Counties. He came to Texas a year after independence and served in a company of Rangers that helped capture the Flores- Córdova gang ... He began visiting Kenney Fort for hunting trips, and later purchased land from Kenney and built a hunting cabin on Chandler’s Branch ... Although he controlled the fort, his home was on Walnut Creek near a stagecoach line, where he established a settlement still referred to as Merrelltown (near Wells Branch). While there he was also active in Austin, where he served as a Travis County commissioner, assisted the construction of Congress Avenue, and was director of the state lunatic asylum (sic).”

“Flores- Córdova gang” is a reference to the Córdova Rebellion, a plot discovered in 1838, and rooted in unrest in Nacogdoches, to rebel against the new Republic of Texas. One of the incidents in this was the "Flores Fight". Quoting the Handbook of Texas: "On May 18, 1839, a group of Texas Rangers defeated a party of Mexicans and Indians, including some Cherokees from [Chief] Bowl's village. On the body of Manuel Flores [killed in the fight], the group's leader, were found documents encouraging Indians to follow a campaign of harassment against Texans. Included were letters from Mexican officials addressed to Córdova and Bowl.”

Following the “Flores Fight”, on the San Gabriel west of today’s Georgetown, it was atop Pilot Knob that Ranger forces rendezvoused enroute back to Austin.[4]^,[5],[6] A landmark on the road to Austin, just as shown on the 1839 map of Austin and vicinity.

The Brushy Creek crossing of the Chisholm Trail in Round Rock, at the actual round rock, is just a few miles north of Pilot Knob. Driving south on I-35, the general route of the Chisholm Trail, Pilot Knob is visible for miles away. Pilot Knob was surely known to the cattle drives of the Chisholm Trail and its predecessors like the Shawnee Trail.[7]

If you are out for a quick daytrip into history start at the Katherine Fleischer Park just off Merrilltown Road and visit the Gault Homestead with its historic home and outbuildings, part of the community that was Merrilltown; from there it’s about a mile to the Merrilltown Cemetery via Merrilltown Road where both Captain Nelson Merrell and John Gault are buried, and a great place to get a get look at Travis County’s other Pilot Knob.

City of Austin and Vicinity, 1839, showing trail north to Pilot Knob.

USGS 1896 topo showing Pilot Knob (north) and Merrilltown

References

[1] City of Austin and Vicinity, W.H. Sandusky, Draughtsman, [for] City of Austin, 1839

[2] There are two spellings used for both the person and settlement, “Merrell” and “Merrill”, “Merrelltown” and “Merrilltown”.

[3] Citing Thompson & DiGesualdo “Historical Round Rock, Texas” pg. 132-138, 202-208

[4] Wilbarger, Indian Depredations of Texas, p. 165

[5] Frank Brown. Annals of Travis County and of the City of Austin, Volume 3: The Portal to Texas History https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth841236/m1/75/zoom/?q=Pilot%20Knob&resolution=2&lat=2902.5&lon=750

[6] Handbook of Texas. San Gabriels (sic), Battle of the. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/san-gabriels-battle-of-the

[7] Handbook of Texas. Shawnee Trail. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/shawnee-trail

What does Bull Creek Road have to do with Bull Creek? Updated.

Bull Creek ca. 1920. Old Model-T parked near today's Lakewood Dr.

There is a question that Austinites – new and old – sometimes perplex over: why is there a road named Bull Creek Road that is nowhere close to Bull Creek? Go to Google Maps and type in “Bull Creek Road, Austin, TX”. It will likely drop you near the intersection of Bull Creek Road and 45th Street. Close to Shoal Creek; miles from Bull Creek.

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 [1963] 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 [at the base of Mt Bonnell on the Colorado River] washed away". Yes, there were water powered mills on Bull Creek, but that’s another story.

Back in the day, before roads had numbers (Loop 360, US 183), folks named roads for where they went; their destination. If you were living in early Austin and someone built a road that took you out to Bull Creek, what would you name it? Bull Creek Road! That naming convention had flaws[1] which eventually led to the modern convention of road numbers. But Bull Creek Road is an old road based on that old convention from the early days of Austin.

So Bull Creek Road was the way to get to Bull Creek. But how? Go back to Google Maps and this time type in “Old Bull Creek Road, Austin, TX”. What you'll see is a little side road that detours off present day RM 2222. Guess what 2222 used to be called? You got it, Bull Creek Road[2].

Of course as with all roads, tweaks in the route were made over time. Austin’s first dam, "The Great Granite Dam", was completed in 1893[3]. That same year a committee was appointed to investigate reports that Bull Creek Road was impassable. They reported: "We have visited the creek .. the road and crossing known as Bull creek road (sic) has been submerged by the back water from the city's dam .. the pontoon bridge erected by the city at the said crossing has been carried away ..". Rather than replace the pontoon bridge with another, their recommendation was the "erection of a substantial and permanent bridge over Bull creek and the cutting out of a road from said creek to the Mount Bonnell road..".

On some maps 2222 was labeled Bull Creek Road all the way to FM 620[4], but initially it probably just ran to Bull Creek taking a right on what is now Lakewood Drive. That’s right, Lakewood Drive used to be Bull Creek Road. And as described by Barkley, it then ran up the creek to intersect with what is today Old Spicewood Springs Road.

One final twist. What is now Spicewood Springs Road north of Loop 360 was also Bull Creek Road. It was up this stretch of Bull Creek Road the Mormon’s probably built their mill. County road maps from 1898-1902 show it continued on past Oak Grove Cemetery turning left on today’s Old Lampasas Trail, terminating at the the old Oak Grove School.

Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas) · 10 Jul 1894, Tue · Page 4. Notice to contractors describing work to be done on improving Bull Creek Road, iron bridge over the creek, and a "wagon road (hillside cut)" on the side of Cat Mountain.

Snippet from 1933 Austin streets, guide map. Bull Creek Road is called out and originates as a branch off 34th. This road is shown in 1895 USGS maps of Austin (but roads are not labeled).

Bull Creek Road. Travis County Clerk Records: Road Book Precinct 2, 1898/1902, p. 354. Bull Creek as it intersects with Spicewood Springs, then turns left (north) up East Bull Creek. This final section up East Bull Creek is today called Spicewood Springs Rd north of Loop 360, eventually terminating as Old Lampasas Trail.

Bull Creek Road. Travis County Clerk Records: Road Book Precinct 2, 1898/1902, p. 356. Section of Bull Creek that is today Lakewood Drive / Loop 360.

Bull Creek Road. Travis County Clerk Records: Road Book Precinct 2, 1898/1902, p. 358. This segment is today Spicewood Springs north of Loop 360.

Snippet 1959 USGS, Lake Travis Quadrangle. Lakewood Drive appears, RM 2222 up to Four Points is Bull Creek Road

 

1893, The Great Granite Dam on the Colorado River 

As noted above, the completion of the 1893 dam on the Colorado impacted the route of Bull Creed Road. An article from 1880 provides a clue on the previous route as it left Austin: "The new road from Austin to the mouth of Bull creek (sic) is finished as far as Dry creek (sic). This work has been done by the people of Bull creek ... now the county will have a bridge placed across the creek, and complete the road to town. The road follows the river bank from the mouth of Bull creek to Mount Bonnell."

Interestingly, a remnant of that Old (older yet!) Bull Creek Road remains. If you go to Google Earth (not Google Maps as before) and search for "Old Bull Creek Road, Austin, Texas" you'll find a small segment of road, just south of Mt. Bonnell that is an extension of today's 35th street; that sliver of road proceeds straight into Lake Austin. If you also look you will see "Mormon Springs" just to the north; Google Earth is bad about precise spring locations, but this area around Mt. Bonnell is where the Mormon's built that first mill that washed away. The "Mormon Springs" is probably a tie to time.

1880's original route south of Mt. Bonnell

Google Earth shows section of the old (oldest?) Bull Creek Road as it runs into today's Lake Austin

1955, The Austin Memorial Cemetery Re-route

Bull Creek Road got one more re-route sometime after 1955. Whereas the post 1893 dam route (the one shown in the 1898-1902 County road books) previously took a westerly turn at today's intersection of Bull Creed Road and Hancock Drive, the city decided to extend it on the north side of Austin Memorial Cemetery running north to White Horse Trail as it does today [5]. 

Ca. 1955 extension north of Austin Memorial Cemetery.

References, Notes

Photo of Bull Creek ca. 1920 purchased from Austin History Center.

[1] For example, in time there were multiple routes to get from Austin to Burnet, Texas, all named Burnet Road; and folks in Burnet called the same road the Austin road; gets confusing.

[2] RM 2222 was also called Burnet Road at one time or another; another flaw in the old naming scheme: roads have multiple destinations. Throw in the complication that sometimes roads got renamed for famous people, like David Burnet, 1st ad interim president of the Republic of Texas, and you see why they decided to start using the road numbering scheme.

[3] This report is from the Austin Daily Statesman, Oct 18, 1893. As an aside, that dam washed away in 1900.

[4] USGS 1959 Lake Travis Quadrangle is a fairly recent map showing this. In old newspapers article I think this section of road was what was referred to as West Bull Creek Road, i.e. the section of 2222 today north of Loop 360 along West Bull Creek.

[5] see Northwest Park Site Study Set, Austin American, 20 May 1955. Discusses extension north of Austin Memorial Cemetery.