The Ozark Trail

(wellingtontx.com) The Ozark Trails had nothing to do with cowboys or Indians, cattle drives or covered wagons. It was a good roads organization in the early days of automobile travel. The Ozark Trails Association was an organization of public-spirited good roads men to promote better roads and mark them for the convenience of travel. It did not make the roads. Businessmen supported the Ozark Trails to encourage tourism through their town knowing that people would stop to buy gasoline, food and other things.
Wellington was actually connected to the Ozark Trails from the east through Altus and Hollis, then Wellington and also from Chickasha, Hobart, Mangum and Vinson. The westward trails were through Amarillo, Tucumcari and Santa Rosa and through Childress, Plainview, Littlefield and Roswell. Continued

Photo: Ozark Trail Marker, Tucumcari, NM (drivetheost.com)

Ozark Trail Marker: Dimmitt

More on the Ozark Trail here.

Was there a real Josie Wales and did he really go to Texas?

(North Texas E-News) The story of Bill Wilson has been told throughout the Ozark Mountains since he began his bloody career in 1861 to the present day. He is a true folk hero. The Ozarks were full of men who took to the bush and waged a single man to a small gang warfare on the union soldiers, red legs, jayhawkers and spies for the Union. Although there were a lot of these men, if someone said, “The Bushwhacker,” “The Great Bushwhacker,” or the “Famous Bushwhacker,” everyone knew that they were talking about Bill Wilson. His daring deeds are still considered miracles due to his never being wounded once. He is remembered for his superior skill with revolvers and clever tactics in surprising his enemies. The writings and movie about Josie Wales are based on the real bushwhacker, Bill Wilson. Continued

Ozark Trail Marker, Tulia, Texas

Was there a real Josie Wales and did he really go to Texas?

 

Bill Wilson, maybe

(North Texas E-News) The story of Bill Wilson has been told throughout the Ozark Mountains since he began his bloody career in 1861 to the present day. He is a true folk hero. The Ozarks were full of men who took to the bush and waged a single man to a small gang warfare on the union soldiers, red legs, jayhawkers and spies for the Union.
Although there were a lot of these men, if someone said, “The Bushwhacker,” “The Great Bushwhacker,” or the “Famous Bushwhacker,” everyone knew that they were talking about Bill Wilson. His daring deeds are still considered miracles due to his never being wounded once. He is remembered for his superior skill with revolvers and clever tactics in surprising his enemies. The writings and movie about Josie Wales are based on the real bushwhacker, Bill Wilson. Continued

Was there a real Josie Wales and did he really go to Texas?

(North Texas E-News) The story of Bill Wilson has been told throughout the Ozark Mountains since he began his bloody career in 1861 to the present day. He is a true folk hero. The Ozarks were full of men who took to the bush and waged a single man to a small gang warfare on the union soldiers, red legs, jayhawkers and spies for the Union. Although there were a lot of these men, if someone said, “The Bushwhacker,” “The Great Bushwhacker,” or the “Famous Bushwhacker,” everyone knew that they were talking about Bill Wilson. His daring deeds are still considered miracles due to his never being wounded once. He is remembered for his superior skill with revolvers and clever tactics in surprising his enemies. The writings and movie about Josie Wales are based on the real bushwhacker, Bill Wilson. Continued

Tucumcari is Burning

 

According to the Quay County Sun, the Tucumcari Motel burned down last night. The motel wasn't constructed like most old motels or tourist courts, so I assume that it was originally a hotel or boarding house. It, quite likely, represented a transition from the railroad days to the automobile era, or perhaps from the Ozark Trail days to the Route 66/54 era.
A lot of things have been burning down in Tucumcari lately: the Tucumcari Animal Hospital, the Federal Building, the Hampton Inn, the Payless Inn & the Tucumcari Motel. 
Many of the tourists who visit Tucumcari aren't just interested in the vintage motels operating on Route 66, they also like the old buildings in town, including the abandoned ones. Especially the abandoned ones.
I remember a conversation I had with a photographer in a large east coast camera store. He was an architectural photographer by profession. "What kind of buildings do you like best?," I asked him. "I love the decrepit stuff," he said with a smile.
I can't say there's millions of people who travel the world looking to document "decrepit stuff," but there are tens of thousands, and many of them travel to Tucumcari to do so. If you don't believe me just do an image search on Google using the term "Tucumcari." What many see as an eyesore is actually part of the town's charm and thus part of its economic base as well.
Because of its unique history, many of the towns in our region (Tucumcari, Clovis, Portales, Santa Rosa to name a few), are like living architectural museums, almost frozen in time, but they won't be if we allow people to burn it all down, piece by piece.

Ozark Trail Marker: Farwell, Texas

This one's a reproduction, still nice though.

Pioneer Thanksgiving

 The Faro Caudill family eating dinner in their dugout, Pie Town, New Mexico 1940 (Russell Lee/Library of Congress)

We don’t have an official pioneer memorial day, but Thanksgiving seems a very appropriate time to think of all those trailblazers who came before us, especially the ones that didn’t make it.

 

So, here’s to the pioneers, the one’s who couldn’t sit still, the visionaries, the utopians, the filibusters, the proto-hippies, the foolhardy, the oddballs, and the merely hungry.

Here’s to the Studebaker company, that made the Conestoga wagons and all the little wagon shops too.

Here’s to the Overland Trail, The Oregon trail, and the Cumberland Gap, not to mention the Ozark Trail where the jalopies first rolled.

Here’s to the Susquehannock, the Sioux, and Comanche, who tried to keep us out.

Here’s to the  captive, the scalped, and the innocents of both sides.

Here’s to the indentured servant and the slave and the immigrant, to the Mexican citizen who suddenly became Hispanic American.

Here’s to the plainsman, the rancher, granger, ploughman, ranger, homesteader, sod buster, husbandman, stockman, pilgrim, and nester.

Here’s to the failures, the burnt out, dusted out, starved out, flat broke and busted.

Here’s to the sickly, the consumptive, and the pioneer mother burying another one too soon.

Here’s to the rebels, Quanah Parker, Delfido Gonzales, and Billy the Kid, who claimed to ride for justice, and probably did.

Here’s to the merchants and the freighters, hauling it all across the Santa Fe Trail and Belen Cutoff.

Here’s to the preachers, giving us hope and burying our dead.

Here’s to the teachers in the sod schools, the dugout schools, lean-to schools, and the dame schools.

Here’s to Bob Wills, Woody Guthrie, and all the fiddle & guitar players who lifted the gloom, if only for awhile.

Here’s to anybody who finds themselves “a stranger in a strange land.”

God bless you all, and finally, thanks.

Pioneer Thanksgiving

 The Faro Caudill family eating dinner in their dugout, Pie Town, New Mexico 1940 (Russell Lee/Library of Congress)

We don’t have an official pioneer memorial day, but Thanksgiving seems a very appropriate time to think of all those trailblazers who came before us, especially the ones that didn’t make it.

 

So, here’s to the pioneers, the one’s who couldn’t sit still, the visionaries, the utopians, the filibusters, the proto-hippies, the foolhardy, the oddballs, and the merely hungry.

Here’s to the Studebaker company, that made the Conestoga wagons and all the little wagon shops too.

Here’s to the Overland Trail, The Oregon trail, and the Cumberland Gap, not to mention the Ozark Trail where the jalopies first rolled.

Here’s to the Susquehannock, the Sioux, and Comanche, who tried to keep us out.

Here’s to the  captive, the scalped, and the innocents of both sides.

Here’s to the indentured servant and the slave and the immigrant, to the Mexican citizen who suddenly became Hispanic American.

Here’s to the plainsman, the rancher, granger, ploughman, ranger, homesteader, sod buster, husbandman, stockman, pilgrim, and nester.

Here’s to the failures, the burnt out, dusted out, starved out, flat broke and busted.

Here’s to the sickly, the consumptive, and the pioneer mother burying another one too soon.

Here’s to the rebels, Quanah Parker, Delfido Gonzales, and Billy the Kid, who claimed to ride for justice, and probably did.

Here’s to the merchants and the freighters, hauling it all across the Santa Fe Trail and Belen Cutoff.

Here’s to the preachers, giving us hope and burying our dead.

Here’s to the teachers in the sod schools, the dugout schools, lean-to schools, and the dame schools.

Here’s to Bob Wills, Woody Guthrie, and all the fiddle & guitar players who lifted the gloom, if only for awhile.

Here’s to anybody who finds themselves “a stranger in a strange land.”

God bless you all, and finally, thanks.

Was there a real Josie Wales and did he really go to Texas?

(North Texas E-News) The story of Bill Wilson has been told throughout the Ozark Mountains since he began his bloody career in 1861 to the present day. He is a true folk hero. The Ozarks were full of men who took to the bush and waged a single man to a small gang warfare on the union soldiers, red legs, jayhawkers and spies for the Union. Although there were a lot of these men, if someone said, “The Bushwhacker,” “The Great Bushwhacker,” or the “Famous Bushwhacker,” everyone knew that they were talking about Bill Wilson. His daring deeds are still considered miracles due to his never being wounded once. He is remembered for his superior skill with revolvers and clever tactics in surprising his enemies. The writings and movie about Josie Wales are based on the real bushwhacker, Bill Wilson. Continued

Ozark Trail: Farwell, Texas

This one's a reproduction, still nice though.