|
|
 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Remnants of the town are now protected as the Fort Griffin State Historical
Park. The town was situated between Fort Griffin and the Clear Fork
of the Brazos River, the water source for the facility. Since the
fort held the strategic hilltop, the town became known simply as the
Flat.
The town, even in ruins, retains its hard-won reputation for being
one of Texas’ most lawless communities. Populated (at one time or
another) by many of the more colorful characters of Western legend,
the Flat had no municipal control since Shackelford county had yet
to be organized. The misbehavior in the Flat got so out-of-hand that
the commanding officer of Fort Griffin declared martial law in the
mid 1870s. Undesirables from the Flat were banished to towns that
were short of undesirables. With the riff-raff gone, the county was
organized in 1874.
The roster of trouble-makers included Lottie
Deno, Big
Nose Kate, John
Wesley Hardin, John Selman, John M. Larn. Other famous names included
Pat Garrett, Doc Holiday, and his long-time friend Wyatt Earp.
During the mid 1870s Buffalo hunters used the fort as a supply base.
The Butterfield Stage route passed the Flat (East-West) and cattle
drives passed the town going north.
The town peaked at 1,000 permanent residents – an enviable figure
for the times. Transients added to that number while the buffalo roamed,
but the population declined.
Albany started accommodating the cattle herds that passed by and even
the fort itself had its contingent reduced. The Flat was hit with
a double-whammy in 1881. Washington closed the fort and the Flat was
bypassed by the railroad.
It did manage to hang on as a shadow of its former self (albeit a
well-behaved shadow) into the 20th Century but today the population
consists of park personnel. |
| Fort Griffin
Historical Markers |
| Frontier
Town of Fort Griffin |
| The
Western Cattle Trail Crossings at Fort Griffin |
Fort
Griffin CR188 Low Water Crossing
Above Photos courtesy Barclay
Gibson, February 2008 |
|
A Conversation
With The Family... (of Longhorns)
Photos
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, February 2008
Captions
by someone else
|
| "Tell me
that's not beef jerky I see on your dashboard." |
| Trail drives?
We don't need no stinking trail drives! |
| "...and
then I told him: "if you think I'm working one minue past five,
you're out of your mind." |
| The forlorn
longhorn. Ostracized from the herd for a discouraging word?
|
|
|
