Club members were at Paint Rock June 21st for the Summer Solstice. Chief Enrique Madrid
was present for the ceremony representing the Jumano Apache. The ceremony was part of
the Lady in Blue celebration that was going on in San Angelo this weekend.
Fort Chadbourne Days
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CVAS & Special Military Active & Retired Travel Club excavation of Fort Chadbourne hospital
25 Mar:
Larry Riemenschneider
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The dimensions of the hospital, built in 1853, are 20 x 60 feet and the building is comprised of three rooms (ward, dispensary and store room). Between 1853 and 1856, records concerning buildings at Fort Chadbourne were rare. In 1856, the post commander First Lieutenant Andrew G. Miller describes the hospital as being a stone building with a shingle roof in need of repairs. It had dirt floors and openings for windows that lacked sashes and glass but were covered with canvas when the weather was cold.
Our January event... On Saturday January 17th, thirty members of the CVAS participated in an archeological survey of the 160 acre ranch of Steve and Carla Clark in Coke County. Thanks to our gracious hosts, Steve, Carla and Callan for providing a stew and peach cobbler lunch and the opportunity to conduct the survey. The pedestrian survey included a walk-over of the ranch with three sites being recorded. CR-1 An historic house site and prehistoric procurement area (chert quarry). 1900 house site (house removed). Windmill and portion of rock yard fence remained. Prehistoric procurement site with circular rock feature, tested cobbles, bi-faces, uni-faces and chert flakes. CR-2 Prehistoric procurement area (chert quarry). Two rock features (historic survey markers) tested cobbles, bi-faces, uni-faces, a chert flakes. CR-3 Prehistoric procurement area (chert quarry). Tested cobbles, bi-faces, uni-faces, dart point (Gary ?), chert flakes. Upon completion of the archeological data site forms they will be assigned a trinomial and recorded with the Texas Archeological Research Laboratories at the University of Texas in Austin. Thanks to all who participated in the survey. Job well done. Larry Riemenscheider THE TOWN OF HAYRICK, GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTON Larry Riemenschneider The Clark Ranch, where we will conduct the archeological survey, adjoins the property were the town of Hayrick was established. Early in 1885, Mr. and Mrs. W.A Robbins moved to what at that time was known as Tom Green County and settled near Hayrick Mountain (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txcoke/Churches/HayrickMeth.html). In 1887 the town of Hayrick was established and named for the nearby mountain shaped like a hay mound. In 1887, the town had twenty-five people and a post office. It was designated the county seat when the county was organized in 1889 (Handbook of Texas Online). In 1889, the county’s first newspaper, the Hayrick Democrat, began its publication. By 1890, there were 163 farms and ranches in the county with a population of 2059 people (http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/counties/texas/coke.html). During the years of Hayrick’s existence, several factors contributed to the downfall of the town. A majority of the settlers in the southern part of the county had always opposed Hayrick’s selection as county seat, and two of its courthouses were destroyed by fire (possible arson) (Handbook of Texas Online). The lack of a sufficient supply of water also became a problem. During this time, two prominent ranchers who owned land on both sides of the Colorado River offered free lots to residents of the county seat if they would relocate further south. An election was held and, in 1891, a new town-site (Robert Lee) was created on the north bank of the Colorado River and this became the new county seat (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txcoke/cokehistory.html). One of the first schools in Coke County (built in 1886) was a one-room wooden structure on Mountain Creek one mile west of Hayrick Mountain. The next year the school moved two miles east to be near a good spring which furnished water for the school. After Hayrick was designated the county seat, the school was moved one mile north to Hayrick, where a two room school building was erected. The name was changed to Hayrick School. When the county seat was moved to Robert Lee, 75 to 120 students were enrolled. Hayrick continued to be a thriving farming community for a number of years, and the school remained. In 1910, the one-teacher Hayrick school enrolled 91 students. As Hayrick changed into a ranching area, the number of families decreased and it became difficult to maintain a school. In 1931, Hayrick consolidated with the Bronte school system (http://files.usgwarchives.org/tx/coke/newspapers/schools/learning.txt). Today, after 120 years, all that remains of the town of Hayrick are recorded historical documents that tell about the town and a small cemetery east of Hayrick Mountain. Somewhere in a pasture east of Hayrick Mountain lie the features and artifacts which once were part of this small town, forgotten by many, but living on in the history of Coke County as it first county seat.
Clark Ranch Archeological Survey
