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Downtown
Gause today
TE photos, 2000 |
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History in
a Pecan Shell
At last! A town
named after the pioneering settler and not a railroad official,
brakeman or track-walker. The man was William J. Gause and the year
was 1872. There was a strong railroad connection, however, for Mr.
Gause granted a right-of-way to the Missouri Pacific Railroad and
that was responsible for the town's early and almost immediate prosperity.
Gause was a
shipping point for Milam County farmers who shipped corn, cotton
and cottonseed oil (ginned and processed right there in Gause).
But by the 1920's, the town started into a decline as did many Texas
towns.
The automobile became affordable and the problem of "keeping them
down on the farm" was indeed a reality after World
War I. Being only 16 miles from the county seat, made it easy
for Gausians to spend there income in Cameron.
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A
ghost sign in Gause
TE photos, 2000 |
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| At it's population
high-water mark, there were 1,000 people living in Gause, although
it's hard to imagine that now. The population reached its lowest point
with just over 200 people in the 1970s. The population is experiencing
current growth (est. 400) as many people are escaping the larger towns
that their grandparents found so magnetic. |
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Gause Texas
Forum
Subject: Milam
County Texas
There was a man named Bigfoot Ray or John Bigfoot Ray who was killed
in a bar fight in Rosebud,
Texas. I don't know the year but it was probably in the 1920's.
He was part Native American. He was from Mississippi or Alabama. Someone
said he was buried in an Indian cemetery on the way to Gause, Texas
but I don't know if that is correct. Would anyone have a source that
might make mention of a Bigfoot Ray or a John Bigfoot Ray? Thanks,
Ross Smith, July 19, 2006. rsmith6670@msn.com
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us.
© John Troesser |
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