"An Unborn Empire" - Robert E. Howard's Texas

[linefacedscrivener]

“The prosperity of Dallas is founded on the rich agricultural lands and timber lands of East Texas, while Ft. Worth owes her very existence to her packing-plants and stockyards - in a word, to the cattle men of the West. Her slogan of “Where the West Begins” is not an idle saying.”

        —Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, September and October 1933


Howard visited Fort Worth several times and seemed to speak highly of the city. The Fort Worth Stockyards is a fun historic district to visit. They feature a cattle drive through the streets several times a day. They have an old fashion train ride. There is the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame to go visit. The nightly rodeo show is fun to go see. And you can't beat the steaks! 

Here is The Texas Bucket List take on the the Fort Worth Stockyards:

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"We spent the night at Van Horn, a little old town built on a flat with the Van Horn, Eagle and Davis Mountains towering about it at distances from five to thirty miles; next day we whirled on through historical old Fort Stockton, paused only long enough to have a flat fixed and to admire Comanche Spring, which flows 65,000,000 gallons of water a day and makes human life possible in the vicinity, and then we rushed on . . ."
        -Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, July 1934

If you ever say "in the middle of nowhere" you have to be talking about Fort Stockton, Texas. it is out there!

As you can read from Howard's letter, about all he did was "whirl" through the historical area and had a flat. My family, on a trip west, whirled through Fort Stockton ourselves with, fortunately, no flat tire. The historic district is interesting, especially the historic fort and, because I teach criminal justice, I found the jail museum of interest. Fort Stockton is probably not a destination of intent, but if you happen to be driving along I-10, take your own whirl through the town.

Here is a short video on The Texas Bucket List's visit to Fort Stockton:

[charleshelm]

I see more abandoned and broken down windmills than pumping ones these days. I guess it's a combination of silting up, shifting water tables, and scarcity of parts and competent repairmen. They certainly make a difference. Nowadays the solar electric pump has replaced them in the developing world from what I have seen.

[linefacedscrivener]

Sept 5, 2020 11:30:32 GMT -5 charleshelm said:

I see more abandoned and broken down windmills than pumping ones these days. I guess it's a combination of silting up, shifting water tables, and scarcity of parts and competent repairmen. They certainly make a difference. Nowadays the solar electric pump has replaced them in the developing world from what I have seen.

I agree. Most of them do look abandoned these days. Still, even abandoned, there is something about them that is more alluring than the solar powered ones.

[linefacedscrivener]

"Cross Plains is a small town of – well, I guess at present the population is about 1800. It varies; during oil booms the town has had a population of six or seven thousand. It has an elevation of 1715 feet, situated as it is on the ridge of the Callahan divide."
        -Robert E. Howard to August Derleth, December 29, 1932

I love maps. Poring over historic maps can often give you interesting insights into life in the past. The map above is one of the old Sanborn Fire maps, created to allow fire insurance companies the ability to assess how much of a town they had insured. Eventually, these maps became the go to maps of small towns and cities in the early 20th century. Now, they are the go to maps for historical information.

In the above map, you can see the location of the Cross Plains Public School. After moving to Cross Plains in 1919, this is the school he attended until he had to move temporarily to Brownwood for his final year of high school. You can also see the importance of Gins in Cross Plains in 1929. 

The Sanborn Company made a four sheet map of Cross Plains in 1921, and returned in 1939 to create a three sheet map of the town. Here is the link to the other maps:

texashistory.unt.edu/search/?q=cross+plains&t=fulltext&q1=&t1=dc_title&q2=&t2=dc_description&q3=&t3=untl_agent&q4=&t4=dc_publisher&q5=%22Sanborn+maps%22&t5=dc_subject&q6=&t6=dc_coverage&q7=&t7=dc_identifier&q8=&t8=page&q9=&t9=&searchType=advanced&sort=&fq=&fq=

[linefacedscrivener]

"Why, by the time I was nine years old I’d lived in the Palo Pinto hills of Central Texas; in a small town only fifty miles from the Coast; on a ranch in Atascosa County; in San Antonio; on the South Plains close to the New Mexican line; in the Wichita Falls country up next to Oklahoma; and in the piney woods of Red River over next to Arkansaw, if you’ll glance at a map of Texas you’ll note that covers considerable distance, altogether, and I didn’t mention a few short stays in Missouri and Oklahoma."
        -Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, October 1930

Howard did not live in Wichita Falls for very long, but just a short time in 1912. He was six years old, so how much he actually remembered is questionable. In a September 1931 letter to Talman he mentioned living in a cattle town near the Oklahoma line and to Lovecraft in March of 1933 he also mentioned that he had a horse run away from him, throwing him out of a buggy. He said after that, he was afraid of horses for a long time. That most likely took place in Wichita Falls, or rather, Byers, near Wichita Falls in Clay County. 

The following video offers a pictorial history of Wichita Falls from 1880 to 1980. The video tries to match up music to the time period of the photo--an interesting idea. The time he lived there is within the four minute mark, and by the six minute mark it looks like the time period moves beyond Howard's own lifetime. Interesting to see pictures of the time from its beginning up to Howard's time. 

[linefacedscrivener]

"To hell with the psychologists and city-bred psychoanalists and all the other freaks spawned by our rotting civilization. They've lived between concrete and shingles so long they've forgot their origin. They ought to get out before sun-up and walk through the grass bare-footed some morning, just for an unfamiliar experience."
        -Robert E. Howard to August Derleth, May 9, 1936

The date for this quote is probably more important than the quote itself. Texas celebrated its Centennial anniversary in 1936, a celebration in Dallas that Howard, unfortunately, did not live to see.

Polly Smith, born in 1908, was only a few years younger than Howard. She went to New York City to learn photography in the mid-1930s, and in 1935, she was hired by the Texas Centennial Exposition to take photos of Texas, to be used to promote the upcoming celebration. The photos she took were a snapshot in time--a snapshot of the year Howard died. 

In some ways, Polly did exactly what Howard said the learned and civilized should do - go out and see real people and real things. 

The following video is about the Polly Smith and the photos she took, and despite the too often talking head video, it does display many of the photos she took in late 1935 and 1936.

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"A few months ago I had an opportunity to get the viewpoint of a man from your part of the country. I picked up a hitch-hiker in the edge of San Angelo and carried him about seventeen miles along the Big Spring road. I don’t make a practise of picking up hitch-hikers, because there are too many criminals among them, who don’t hesitate to knock you in the head and take your car - aliens, most of them, from other States, but a few natives gone wrong. But when I saw this fellow, I thought he was a school-boy of the town, and picked him up before I realized my mistake - which I did as soon as he got in the car, for I saw he was much older than I’d thought. As soon as he opened his mouth I knew by his accent he was no Texan. He was better dressed and seemed more intelligent than the general run of hitch-hikers, but I wasn’t disposed to take any chances, so as soon as we were out of the town I drew a pistol and stuck it under my left knee where I could reach it conveniently, at the same time telling him not to be alarmed, that that was merely a precaution that I always took when riding with a stranger. (If I could have got the gun in place without him seeing it, I’d have preferred it, but I couldn’t.) He laughed and said it didn’t frighten him, and presently began talking at a great rate. He said he was from Michigan, and told me his name, which was of old English origin, and he seemed well educated, a college degree at least, I should judge. He spoke casually of his wanderings and apparently he’d been in most regions of the United States. He spoke rather bitterly of the treatment accorded hitch-hiking strangers in the old Southern States, such as Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee and the like and said he wouldn’t go back there, even on a pleasure trip. Then he said: “This is my first visit in Texas, and I’m pleasantly surprized. I’ve always been well treated in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and the other western states, but I’ve been warned repeatedly against Texas. Numbers of fellows have told me it is the toughest State in the Union, and if I came down here I’d get my head shot off. That’s the bunk. I’ve been treated better here than any place I ever went to. I’m heading for California by way of El Paso. I met my first Texan in Little Rock. He was an old fellow who was driving to Dallas, and he wanted somebody to drive his car for him. I volunteered, and he looked me over, and then he pulled out a gun as long as my arm, and said: ‘Do you see this?’ I said: ‘There’s no use holding me up; I haven’t got any money.’ ‘Hold you up, hell!’ he said. ‘I’m just showin’ you this so you won’t try any monkey business with me!’ I drove him to Dallas and we got along fine."
            -Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, May 13, 1936


I was going through some of my Howard stuff and I came across a clipped map made by Rob Roehm that shows the many places in Texas and the surrounding states that Howard visited. I noticed the town of "Big Spring," and could not remember having reading about Howard's exploits in that town. I looked it up and found Howard only really mentioned it once, when he picked up the hitch hiker. I like the anecdote, so I thought I would share it.

What I find funny is, I have a lot of international students who are all told the same thing. "Everyone wears a gun in Texas and they will shoot you if you look at them." Most of them tell me of their fear coming here, but then later say that Texans were some of the nicest people they ever met. Seems nothing ever changes. 

The original 'Big Spring" dried up long ago, but they reopened the one pictured above along Comanche Trail. The original "Big Spring" was about the same size and was hotly contested between the Comanche and Pawnee--when you live in the middle of an arid land, even a small spring can be life saving. According to Wikipedia, "Early military scouting reports and pioneer accounts describe the water as cold, clear, and dependable; the spring pool was about 15 ft deep, with the overflow going only a short distance down the draw before it sank beneath the surface."

In World War II, the U.S. Air Force opened up Big Spring Army Air Field, which changed its name in 1952 to Webb Air Force Base. There is a World War II airplane museum in town now called the Hangar 25 Air Museum.

Here is a quick promotional video on Big Springs, Texas, today, if you ever happened to be hitch hiking that way:

[charleshelm]

Also a nice prison out that way...and a state park. Been in the Midland-Big Spring area a lot when I was much younger. Always nice when the tarantulas come out to hunt in the evening.

[linefacedscrivener]

"Thanks very much for the article, 'Afternoon in June'. I got a big kick out of it. I've passed some very interesting moments myself watching ants fight. 'Go to the ant thou sluggard.' Bunk. They’re dumb as hell. A mud-dauber has much more sense. But they're sweet fighters on the bulldog type. I've pulled the head off more than one, trying to make him let go his grip on another critter, and then I had to pry his jaws apart with the point of my bowie knife."
        -Robert E. Howard to August Derleth, July 4, 1935

Rezin P. Bowie is the man for whom the Bowie Knife is named. Bowie was a native of Tennessee, born in Gallatin on September 8, 1793. The Bowie family moved around quite a bit, but ended up in Louisiana in the early 1800s. He answered Jackson's call to fight the British in the Town of New Orleans, though he and his brother arrived too late to participate in the fight (or rather, the rout of the enemy).

Legend has it that while hunting in 1826, Bowie killed a rabbit, and while skinning it, the knife hit bone causing his hand to slip and he cut himself. Not wanting a reoccurrence of that event, he invented a bigger, wider, and sharper knife - the famous Bowie knife. Most authorities on the knife agree that Rezin Bowie invented it, but did not actually make it.

The following year, on September 19, 1827, Rezin's brother, James Bowie, fought a knock down drag out duel with Major Norris Wright, and though Bowie was severely injured, once he pulled his Bowie knife, the fight was all over. The newspapers reported on not only the duel, but the knife as well, and the popularity of the knife began to spread throughout the south. Though Rezin is believed to have invented it, its popularity came through his brother James. His defense of Texas at the Alamo, made the Bowie knife a Texas knife, one that Howard had in his collection.

The following video is the dedication of a Bowie knife being given to The Texas Ranger Museum several years ago. It has some interesting background on the knife. 

 
 

[linefacedscrivener]

Sept 16, 2020 11:58:31 GMT -5 charleshelm said:

Also a nice prison out that way...and a state park. Been in the Midland-Big Spring area a lot when I was much younger. Always nice when the tarantulas come out to hunt in the evening.

Where I live, we have seven prisons in the immediate vicinity. I'm not sure I would describe any of them as nice. Let's just say, I have no plans to visit any prisons.

The state park did look nice, and seeing the tarantulas come out at night would be cool. I remember seeing them one night in Tombstone, AZ. we pulled into the hotel and I noticed the ground was moving. That makes for an interesting sight. 

[charleshelm]

From what I understand the popular Bowie blade profile today does not resemble the original very much. Lots of history there. And yes, the "nice" prison was sarcasm.

[linefacedscrivener]

Sept 17, 2020 11:09:42 GMT -5 charleshelm said:

From what I understand the popular Bowie blade profile today does not resemble the original very much. Lots of history there. And yes, the "nice" prison was sarcasm.

This is the one on display at the Alamo. The blade, as described by Rezin Bowie, according to Mike Cumpston, was 9 1⁄2 inch long, 1⁄4 inch thick and 1 1⁄2 inches wide. It was straight-backed and describe as "a large butcher knife" with no handguard and a simple riveted wood scale handle.

You are right, most seemed to be rather large affairs today, but you know what they say about things in Texas.

[linefacedscrivener]

"He followed Bowie into San Antonio, met him and called him a traitor. Only his quickness saved him when Bowie’s knife flashed from its sheath."
        -Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, April 1933

Howard wrote a number of times about the Bowie knife, and in this letter to Lovecraft he wrote about James Bowie and the "Lost Bowie Mine," which I previously wrote about. Although the quote has to do with the mine, it sounds pretty close to the famous Sandbar Duel, which I mentioned in the last post about the knife. 

Here is a two part video on the history of that famous duel:

[charleshelm]

Most "Bowie" knives now have a clip point unlike the original design. S-guards are very popular too.