10-25-06

The whiskey stills in the Onega village were located in four areas. The area near Wildcat road offered many scrub oaks and larger trees and a natural terrain that provided good cover for the stills. Water was less available in this area; however, there were several springs coming out of the earth that provided water which provided a good grade of whiskey. Some of that area may still have evidence of where the stills were operated. For example, nice sized sandstone iron ore rocks were found arranged in an area where the stills were located. They were formed in small circles about six to eight feet in diameter.

From the area of the Black Jack community over to Isle Du Bois (Zilly Boy) Mountain was well established with whiskey stills. As recent as the past 20 years, when walking in the woods of this area it was not uncommon to run across many steel bands and barrel rings that were used to wrap around the wooden oak kegs. The kegs were 5 and 10 gallon sizes. The smaller barrels or kegs were more easily carried by one man.

L.Z. Harmon, Sr., my cousin, told me how he remembers the corn crib that was filled with the home made product. He said he found the mysterious product that had been made into wine and was left hidden down in the large ears of corn.

Another source of water for the homemade whiskey is Running Branch. Running Branch begins where the new Aubrey Area Library is located. It travels east. The creek makes its way down to Ike Byrom’s farm and then runs south where it joins Bailey Redfearn’s and Charlie Redfearn’s farms. After leaving Bailey Redfearn’s farm, the creek travels south to Mandy Roger’s place and then on to Brown’s land. Running Branch Creek dumps into Pecan Creek just before the lake.

Many of the older people have told how the whiskey stills outnumbered people on Running Branch Creek. Some have said that a still was located about every 150 yards in an effort to take advantage of the excellent spring water coming from the creek.

I would like to comment on the high morals of the founders of Onega. The manufacture of whiskey was an industry that was the means for the good people of the area to provide for their families. The founding Cherokees were involved in the production of the only known medication that served all of their needs. If their illness was not treated with the home brew or the other home remedies that they had available, the people either got well or died. That’s not much of a choice when we compare it to today’s standards.

One time during the late 1800's, a group of our local Cherokees were accused of stealing a large number of horses from a livery stable near the Denton Courthouse on the square. The Comanches were known for stealing large numbers of horses. The law enforcement officials from Denton came to Onega to investigate the horse theft. They were greeted and welcomed by the warm hospitality of the local Cherokees. They soon found themselves involved in a taste testing of the locally produced whiskey. After the warm welcome and generosity of the whiskey tasting, it soon became obvious that the local citizens were not the horse thieves.

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