October 12, 2005

The Old McKinney Bridge is shown in the photo. This photo was taken about 33 years ago by Noel Goin. The bridge is well over a century old and is near two areas of the river that were natural crossing areas for wagons and stage coaches, when the river was at low levels.

I am not sure if the Butterfield Line ever used the McKinney bridge, but about a mile to the north, I remember the skeletal remains of a bridge that was known as a crossing for early day mail and passengers. In my youth we called the bridge, "The Old Skeleton Bridge." I am not sure if the river has a rock bottom near this bridge as it does at the McKinney bridge crossing.

The area has been preserved since the Denton County Commissioners closed the road and the old bridge. Hunters were using long range and powerful rifles on the bridge as a firing range before it was closed.

The area to the east of the old skeleton bridge has become a very attractive subdivision with very fine homes. To the north and across the new highway 455, is the entrance to the Ray Roberts Park. The tallest hill which lies just to the east of the dam was known as Zilly Boy Mountain and on the south side where the Butterfield Addition is located on some of the slopes of the so-called mountain.

In this area lives Bill Falzett, a Cherokee, who has ancestors that reside in Cherokee County, Texas. Chief D.L. Hicks, Texas Principal Chief of the Texas Cherokee wrote me an email last week telling me of Bill Falzett’s interest in the local history.

This area was a part of the Onega area which covers from this area south to the Sandtown area where Lincoln Park and the Providence Subdivision are now located.

I have many recollections of the two bridges that I have mentioned. The hill just to the north of Zilly Boy Mountain was part of the land that my brother Giles and I owned before the lake was built. Giles and I have walked all over this area. We became very familiar with almost every foot of the land.

One time my Grandpa told a story to me and my cousins about how Sam Bass stole from the banks and railroads and hid out in the Sam Bass Cave. Giles and I both remembered these stories about Sam Bass, so we searched until we found what we thought was the Sam Bass Cave. We think it was the cave used by Sam Bass because it had a lot of iron ore rocks and boulders. We think the cave was used by Indians prior to Sam Bass and the rocks were used for engraving names and initials. When we found the cave, we determined that it could be brought back to use again, but only after a lot of hard work.

A few years before Deck Redfearn passed away, he asked me if I would be interested in going hunting with his Redfearn crew. I took Deck up on the invite. I remember leaving out just before dark with his crew of ten Redfearns, which included his son, Bobby. We began roaming the 1100 acres of land that we had leased, and listening to the dogs as they were communicating with the hunters. I never could tell what the dogs were trying to tell us, but Deck was the perfect interpreter, and every little bit Deck would tell us what the dogs had up a tree.

Then Deck would say, "Come on boys, lets go, they’ve got a big raccoon way up in the tree." It seemed to me that we walked ten miles, but then in about thirty minutes we would arrive at the tree the dogs had surrounded. Sometimes it was a possum, they had treed, but whatever it was, it was a lot of fun. When they got the raccoon down from the tree, they would break its neck with a stick and take the hide off making it easier to carry the hides out of the woods.

Different little episodes like this happened all night long. Then about an hour before the sun came up, Deck would say, "O.K. boys, pick everything up. It is time to head back home." These were some exciting and fun times with these good people.

I will always remember the good times we had up near the Sam Bass cave. We never found any gold, and I believe if it was up there on the Zilly Boy Mountain we would have found it, if it was there.

Perhaps, this will give my new friend, Bill Falzett and me something to look for. Bill’s new home is not far from where the old stagecoach rest stop was located.

Zilly Boy Mountain was the name that most all of us Indians knew it by, but it has a more sophisticated exact pronunciation that I will mention next time. I will have to wait for someone to come in and write it out on a piece of paper. If any of you find the correct spelling of the mountain, let me know, because I think you have to live in or near Pilot Point to know the correct pronunciation.

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