November 3, 2005

I was invited as a guest of Bill Falzett, my Cherokee friend currently living in the Zilla Boy area. Bill lives in this area of the beautiful cross timbers region, that is made up of springs, deep sandy sub-irrigated soil, boulder size iron ore stones. This area can be made into a most attractive area and includes the famous and historical Zilla Boy Mountain.

Notice that I am spelling it Zilla Boy instead of Zilly Boy. Either of the spellings are correct. Bill Falzett has researched documents and found documents filed in the original county name of Fannin in the 1850's, that spell it both ways.

When I am in this area of Zilla Boy, I cannot help but be reminded of many happy hours simply roaming the area. I remember events that happened in my life before I grew into adulthood. I also remember events that occurred after adulthood. I spent many happy hours in this area even after I grew up and until I was fifty-two years old. It was at this time in my life when we sold the land that was becoming a speculator’s dream, and the land in the area was being bought for future investment.

The road for the Butterfield Stage Line and the overland mail came up the hill from the old skeleton bridge to the top of the hill where it made its rest stop for passengers. The drivers of the stage line would switch horses that were fresh and waiting. The rock station built with the brown iron ore native rocks. The native stones made beautifully attractive building. The state coach station was occupied by the Button family about 100 years earlier.

The stagecoach would then go on its way to Pilot Point and them on to the Sherman-Denison stop to the north. The line traveled south, and stopped only a few times in the Onega business district. It then continued on down close to what is now called Rock Hill Road to a shallow rock crossing near where the railroad crosses the Elm Fork of the Trinity. From that creek crossing, it then went to Mingo and Denton.

The most commonly used crossing was at Zilla Boy Mountain. The crossing at this point took the stage line to Sanger. This was part of the line traveled from St. Louis to California.

The livery stable and coach stop was located about 300 yards east of Bill Falzett’s new nome. Bill Falzett’s family lives in one of the gorgeous homes in the Butterfield Junction area.

Bill invited me on a trip to the Isle DuBois State Park this past weekend. Bill was my driver for this trip. I only wish that walking was easier for me. We did however walk on a part of the trail of the lonesome pines where our hog pen was located some forty years ago.

My brother Giles and I with the help of Mr. Eberle, the owner of the property, set out the pine trees and staked them to keep the cows from trampling the sprigs down. Mr. Eberle’s land consisted of 200 acres. I believe that we planted the pine trees in about 1970. We had this land leased for the purpose of grazing our cows. At one point in time we had 1100 acres leased for our 100 head of cattle, in this copperhead snake infested land. We also had 200 hogs that we were keeping on the land where the pine trees were planted. Spring water was available in many different areas of the land.

Bill shared with me that the Indians would pull the sapling trees down to the ground from the top of the tree limbs. It was their method for marking the area for future farming. It was a common practice, and it is interesting to try and figure out why the Indians did this 150 to 200 years ago in this region. So if you see a tree bent over like that you can probably be assured that it was pulled over for a purpose. Most of the time it was used to identify where water could be found.

I thought about Dale Sims and Danny Mohon. Just a couple of days earlier they were talking about the scarcity of hay locally this year due to the drought conditions. It was strange to see the large square bales of hay (coastal bermuda) still out on the ground, freshly baled. The hay was a beautifully green color which indicates that the hay has good food value for the animals. The open small fields with the coastal bermuda on the slopes of the Zilla Boy mountain are good for hay growth during a dry season.

I cannot stop without telling you that the small trail at the park was just barely wide enough for Bill Falzett’s ford pickup to drive on. The trail was lined with a straight row of trees on each side, which indicated that this road had been used in the past by wagons and stage coaches. The row of trees have areas where the soil has eroded is a historical monument within itself. This was the first time ever in my life to ride down the Stage Coach route, and just letting the history of the past unfold within my sight. It is easy to say I just can’t believe what I was seeing.