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With an annual rainfall which averages 11 to 12 inches and a limestone based soil created from a long
ago shallow sea, the land supports various cacti, creosote bushes, sage, sotol, candelilla, gamma grasses, juniper, and the ubiquitous
mesquite. Wild animals living here are the whitetail and mule deer, the javelina, wild turkey, white wing and mourning dove, quail,
and the occasional elk or wild sheep. Predators include the coyote, the grey fox, the bobcat, the raccoon, the ringtailed cat, and
the cougar (mountain lion). Ranching and oil and natural gas are the major income producers in the county. The land supports sheep
and goat grazing and in the wet years cattle can be grazed. Ranches are large and many of them are still actively run by the descendants
of the original settler families.
THE PEOPLE
American Indians (the Comanche, the Apache and their prehistoric ancestors)
are believed to have been the first inhabitants of this area. A largely agrarian tribe called the Jumano were also here but lived
only along the Rio Grande.
The first white men to explore the area were Spanish explorers. It is believed that Cabeza de Vaca
was the first of these in 1538. He and his men had originally landed in what is now Florida but a series of events put them washed
ashore on the Texas coast. Much of the early Spanish exploration was intended to bring back gold and silver to the Spanish treasury.
DeVaca, finally able to get to New Spain (Mexico) told a story of cities of gold and precious gems. Many a Spaniard traveled the southwest
in search of the “Seven Cities of Gold”. Indians were converted and often turned into slaves as they were encountered. The Indians
revolted in the early 1600s, driving the Spaniards out for a time. With horses taken from the Spaniards the Comanche and Apache reached
a new level as warriors and hunters. The Spaniards, Mexicans, and early white settlers came to fear them. There were substantial numbers
of Mexicans who settled here as a result of internal problems in that country.
THE HISTORY
This is not a detailed history
but is intended only as an overview composed of interesting facts, places, events, and people. Dates are given but topics are not
in chronological order.
Founding of Sanderson and Dryden
The towns of Sanderson and Dryden both came into existence because
of the railroad built through the area. Both were started and named in 1882. They remain the only two towns in Terrell County. Charley
Wilson, a former soldier at Fort Concho bought up one square mile of land next to the railroad right-of-way in what is now Sanderson.
He subdivided it and slowly sold it off as its value increased with the railroad’s arrival. He also started the first saloon in town.
Dryden became the headquarters for the Pecos Land and Cattle company which was a huge ranching operation in the 1880s.
Stock pens were constructed in Dryden for holding livestock destined to be shipped on the railroad.
The Judge Meets his Match
Judge
Roy Bean (the law west of the Pecos), although never a lawyer, was appointed as Justice of the Peace for precinct number 6 of Pecos
County by the Pecos County commissioners court on August 2, 1882. He established his court in Langtry in a 14 foot by 20 foot wooden
building which he furnished with a bar and poker tables (and also a jury box).
The judge’s saloon at Langtry was so successful
that he decided to open another one in the growing town of Sanderson in October of 1883. It had billiard and pool tables, poker tables,
champagne, beer, and whiskey. Charley Wilson, the land speculator and saloon owner, didn’t take kindly to the intrusion. He spiked
the judge’s whiskey barrels with kerosene. Shortly after, the judge closed his Sanderson saloon and concentrated his efforts on Langtry.
Sanderson became known as the town too mean for Roy Bean.
Meyers Spring
About 12 miles north of Dryden sits an oasis in
the desert. It is Meyers Spring and its waters have attracted humans since pre-historic times. There are pictographs on the bluff
walls from which the waters flow. They are considered some of the most valued in North America and represent examples of at least
three different time periods. Arrow heads and other workings found at the spring date from pre-historic to historic periods. The Comanche
used it as a base camp for 2 or 3 months out of the year until the late 1870s. The spring was garrisoned by U. S. Army troops out
of Fort Clark in Brackettville from 1881 until 1884. It was known as Camp Meyers Spring. The most well known of its army occupants
were the Black Watch which was comprised of black Seminole Indian scouts led by Lieutenant (later Brigadier General) John Bullis.
Besides fighting the Indians the scouts were instrumental in leading cavalry forces to the Indians. Though small in numbers, three
of them were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for their acts of bravery. Bullis returned to the spring 20 years after relinquishing
command of the Scouts and erected a new water tank there. It still stands today.
The Outlaw turned Sheriff
David L. Anderson,
also known as Billy Wilson and “Buffalo Billy” was born in Ohio in 1861. He moved with his family to Texas while still a child. As
a young man he began rustling livestock. He changed his name to Billy Wilson and went to Dodge City, Kansas where he hooked up with
Dirty Dave Rudabaugh around 1878. In late 1879 or early 1880 they went to Lincoln, New Mexico and joined up with an outlaw gang called
the Rustlers which was led by Billy the Kid (William Bonney). On December 23, 1880 at a rock house in Stinking Springs, New Mexico
Billy Wilson, Billy the Kid, Dirty Dave Rudabaugh and Tom Pickett were captured by a posse led by Pat Garrett. Convicted of counterfeiting
and robbing the U.S. mail Wilsom was sentenced to serve 7 years. He escaped in 1884 and wound up in Sanderson where he married and
started a family. He also opened a bar. In 1885 he ran into Pat Garrett who was living in Uvalde. Garrett recognized him and after
talking for awhile he became convinced Billy Wilson had become a decent law-abiding citizen. He used his influence to get David Anderson
AKA Billy Wilson a presidential pardon from Grover Cleveland in 1906. Before receiving the pardon Billy Wilson had been elected sheriff
of Terrell County in 1905. He became one of Sanderson’s most beloved citizens. On June 14, 1918 Sheriff Billy Wilson went to the Sanderson
train depot to quell a disturbance. A drunken ranch hand named Ed Valentine, whom Wilson knew, was brandishing his pistol and threatening
to shoot anyone who tried to enter the depot. When he saw Wilson coming he fled to a shed. He shot Wilson in the chest as Wilson tried
to talk him into surrendering. Billy Wilson died within an hour. The enraged town folk captured Valentine and he was hung an hour
later.
The Last Train Robbery in Texas
On the evening of Friday, March 13, 1912 at 12:05 A.M. two masked men attempted
to rob Train #9 of the Southern Pacific GH&SA run.. They had boarded the train at Dryden with one of them working his way up to
the engine compartment as the train neared Baxter’s Curve which is approximately mid-way between Dryden and Sanderson. The robber
in the engine instructed the engineer to stop the train on the bridge at Baxter’s Curve while the other robber had the porter uncouple
the passenger cars and caboose from the front half of the train. The engineer then drove the front half of the train about a mile
past the bridge and stopped. The robber with the engineer was Ole Hobek. The second robber was Ben Kilpatrick who had ridden with
the “Hole in the Wall” gang led by Butch Cassidy. He and the porter went to the mail car where the money was. The porter called to
David Trousdale, the Wells Fargo clerk inside the mail car, to open the door. When Trousdale opened the door Kilpatrick entered the
mail car with his rifle and began opening sacks looking for money. As he was cutting open a package which Trousdale told him was probably
the most valuable on the train Trousdale whacked him on the head with an ice mallet and killed him. Trousdale then waited in the mail
car for the other robber to come back and investigate the delay. Ole Hobek was killed with the rifle Trousdale had taken from the
dead Kilpatrick. The dead train robbers were displayed in Sanderson and then buried in the town’s Cedar Grove cemetery. An irony of
the event was that both Trousdale and Kilpatrick had been born in the same Tennessee county.
The Sanderson Flood of 1965
Our
last story is probably the one which best demonstrates the strength and the character of the people who call Terrell County home.
Even though rainfall is usually sparse over the course of a year there are the occasional desert thunderstorms that can dump over
5 inches of rain in an hour or two.
The town of Sanderson fell victim to the flash flood waters generated by such a storm. The
normally dry Sanderson Creek rampaged out of its banks in the morning hours of June 11, 1965. Houses and commercial buildings were
swept away by the waters. Railroad rails were twisted and broken by the force of the water. Roads and building foundations were swept
away. The majority of the houses destroyed were on the east side of town in an area called El Ranchito . Over half the town of Sanderson
was gone in about 45 minutes. Brave men of Anglo and Mexican heritage risked their lives to save each others families. People who
had reached safety went back into the waters and often lost their lives attempting to save others. After the waters receded the final
death count was 26 people. The bodies were buried in a mass grave in Cedar Grove Cemetery along with those who had been swept from
their graves by the flood waters. It was believed two people were never found.
In true West Texas tradition the other neighboring
communities pitched in with men and resources to help Sanderson recover. The counties of Pecos, Brewster, Val Verde, Upton, Ector,
Crane and Crockett all sent help. Sanderson was rebuilt and a series of 11 dams were completed by the U.S. government in the 1980s
to guard against a future flooding.
EPILOGUE
The people of Terrell County continue their lives in the towns of Dryden and
Sanderson and on the ranches which cover the county. The towns have both gotten smaller. Sanderson lost most of its railroad workers
when steam engines were replaced by diesels and the crew layover was moved to Alpine. Ranching, county services, and the Border Patrol
are the major employers. Tourism is in the process of being promoted as the area has a lively history and the people and wide open
beauty of the land are worth experiencing.
At the Visitors Center in Sanderson there are two source books available for purchase.
The
first is entitled Terrell County Texas: Its Past, Its People. It is a compilation of articles which was edited by Alice Evans Downie.
The
second book is The Sanderson Flood of 1965, written by Russell Ashton Scogin.
Both are highly recommended.
Written by
Bill Hawn