I need an outlet to combine everything I love to do into one medium …. photography, video, music, writing, travel …. thus begins our foray into the art of the vlog (video blog)
Author: jscruggs
Hartley County, Texas – Towns, Sites and a little history
Hartley County, Texas
Organized in 1891 and named for Oliver C. Hartley and his brother, Rufus K. Hartley, two early Texas legislators and lawyers.
Towns located in Hartley County, Texas
Channing (County Seat)
Hartley (Original County Seat from 1891 to about 1896)
Dalhart (Straddles the counties of Hartley and Dallam)
State and National Parks within Hartley County, Texas
None
Rita Blanca Lake and Park Managed Jointly by Hartley and Dallam County is just south of the town of Dalhart in the northern area of the county.
Hartley County Courthouse and Grounds
The county seat was originally the town of Hartley from 1891 to about 1896. The original county Jail Structure, built in 1892 and use discontinued by 1903, still stands in the town of Hartley. The original courthouse was loaded on wagons and moved to Channing. The Current Courthouse, in Channing, was constructed in 1906. Next door is the old county Jail, currently used as the Sherriff’s office, also constructed in 1906. According to our tour guide, the jail was built around a navy ship’s jail. The Currently used county Jail is in the town of Dalhart and is Joint Hartley and Dallam County Jail. We have been to Channing twice in 2012 and 2016. 2012 we were there after hours and 2015 we were there when the courtroom was in use. One day we must get back and photograph the courtroom. Since the courthouse was in use the day we were there in 2015, we took just a few pictures of the interior common areas.
XIT General Office
Also within the town of Channing is what was the XIT Ranch General Office. The location where general business transactions for the legendary ranch were performed. Restoration activities are underway and we were given a tour of the grounds as well as the building while we were in town. One simply must notice the “XIT General Office” sign on the east side of US Hwy 54 just south of town. This tour of the general office was eye opening …. we had always heard of the legendary XIT whenever we were in the panhandle, seeing things up close and personal drove home just how legendary this ranch really was.
Dallam County, Texas – Towns, Sites and a little History
Dallam County, Texas
Dallam County, Texas was Formed in 1876 and named for James Wilmer Dallam 1818 – 1847, a lawyer and newspaper publisher. Matter of fact, he is the lawyer that created the first digest of Texas laws, Digest of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas, 1845.
Towns located in Dallam County, Texas
Dalhart (County Seat)
Texline
Unincorporated Settlements:
Chamberlin
Conlen
Perico
Kerrick
State and National Parks within Dallam County, Texas
Rita Blanca National Grassland
Dallam County Courthouse and Grounds
Dallam County has had a total of two county seats and 3 structural courthouses. The first county seat when the county was organized was the town of Texline, the only town in the county at the time located on a Fort Worth and Denver City Rail line. Texline was a railroad repair station and yard complete with a small roundhouse, a portion of which still stands in 2015. Rock Island Railroad brought a line through the county that crossed the existing Fort Worth and Denver Line southeast of Texline. The town that sprouted up at this crossing was named Dalhart. The town of Dalhart actually Straddles two counties … Dallam and Hartley. The first few letters of each of the 2 county names make up the name of the town. In 1903 the County seat of Dallam was moved to the much larger Dalhart. The first courthouse, a two story wood structure, was built in 1891 in Texline. I have never personally seen any photographs nor renderings of the 1891 structure. The second was built in Dalhart along with a small Jail Building in 1903 and replaced in 1923 in Dalhart. The only remaining structure is the 1923 Courthouse and there are photos around of the 1903 building. Last Time I was personally in Dalhart was in early 2012. We are going back, this year and we will be looking to see some of the things we know exist and for a few things we aren’t sure about. For now, please enjoy what we have, now.
Surprising Memorial to a Dallam County Texas Son – James R. Fox Jr.
To say surprising, at least to me, is beyond an understatement. To date through over 100 Texas counties, I have seen nothing else that compares. It seems the Chinese Government, in 2002, felt so Grateful to an American Pilot during WWII that they sent a Memorial to his home in far northeast Texas, which is displayed on the grounds of the county courthouse. Coincidentally, the memorial was produced to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of his arrival in China. If there is a significance to the 60 year mark, I am not sure what it might be. The front of the sculpture is memorialized in the Chinese Language above and English Translation below, signed by the President of The People’s Republic of China. On the back is the description of the reason the sculpture was made and by who it was made. I photographed both the front and the back and the photos are attached, below.
Return to Dallam County in 2015
This trip we spent the night. We specifically wanted to see the “Empty Saddle”, but, the locals told us it was removed and had no idea if it would ever be back. We saw and found a lot of other stuff around the county that we had never seen, before. Planned to see a few more things, however, we ran out of time. We spent the night in our travel trailer at a lovely RV park called “Corral RV Park”. Highly recommend this park. Staff was nice, it was easy to get situated and checked in/out. Nice and quiet.
This trip we toured the inside of the Dallam County Courthouse. We found the Veteran’s Memorial, we photographed the railroad bridge (awesome rail crossroad), We went out to the far reaches of the county and attempted to take a shortcut on a dirt road that abruptly ended at a huge pond in the middle of the Rita Blanca National Grassland. Subsequently we ran out of time to see Buffalo Springs (Part of the XIT Ranch). We made it to Kerrick, Bunker Hill, Texline, and a few other places. Dallam and Hartley counties share in a few things as Dalhart actually does cross the county line. They share at least a common county Jail and a Veteran’s memorial. Additional Photos are now added to this page …. enjoy!!
Enchanted Rock State Park …. Oh how picturesque
I had a little job to do in Fredericksburg, Texas. We planned a trip to Enchanted Rock State Park for a few days around this job. We recently acquired a travel trailer and this little excursion was our firs time to actually use the new camper for an outing. We were not disappointed!! We stayed at Oxford Ranch Campground and listened to a nightly serenade of crickets, bullfrogs and coyotes in a pop out tent on the back of our trailer. We walked the property and marveled at the wildlife in our little rural hamlet.
Finding our way to Enchanted Rock ….
We left Fredericksburg headed toward Enchanted Rock on Ranch Road 965 …. our first glimpse of the featured attraction was just stunning.
We just passed by and went out to set up camp at Oxford Ranch about ten miles away from the park. After setting up camp we returned to find the approach from the east is just as stunning.
Our Time inside Enchanted Rock State Park …..
I wanted a photo, specifically and tactically taken from the view from the west …. hoping to have reflection in Moss Lake to the west of the hill. Depending on how one wishes to get there …. we took Echo Canyon Trail which is fairly strenuous, although shorter than the other alternatives. I got my shots of Enchanted Rock, however … the lake was too choppy for decent reflection the entire time we were there. Made 3 hikes back to Moss lake and each time the chop was in the way. It also remained far too cloudy to make any night exposures of the area. We will plan another trip down at some point in the future when conditions are more favorable to shots I’d like to get …. for now, please enjoy these.
Observations
This is a very nice state park. All we saw was clean and pristine. There were very few people in the park the days we were there starting Sunday afternoon and ending Monday afternoon. Trails were well marked and easy to follow. The views were incredible. Well worth taking the time to visit this park. We totally enjoyed our time, there. We highly recommend using Oxford Ranch Campground as your base of operations while visiting the park … we loved our time there!!
Links
Hill Country Guide – Oxford Ranch
It takes too long to sit down and write a blog post ….
The original intent of this blog was to include the reader on our trips. Map the trip out and show each as a complete blog post. This is proving to be an utterly impossible endeavor. It takes several hours to pour through images and write copy …. if one gets distracted in the middle, it is hard to remember where one was and get the same groove going with the writing.
So, we are going to refocus. Our travels take us all over, often. This year, alone we have hit South Texas, again …. Fort Worth partying …. Oklahoma City …. Branson Missouri and the Ozarks through Arkansas … and Houston. Still to come are the Texas Hill Country, again …. back into Oklahoma …. Then we have plans to spend 3 weeks on the road hitting Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska …. to see places like Yellowstone, Flaming Gorge, Craters of the Moon, Black Hills, Sandhills.
Blog Post
We are going to pick a place we have been and show a few images of that place instead of trying to map out an entire trip for each post. This refocus will help us to post more often, since we are only going to write about one place. Most of our posts will continue to be Texas based, however …. this year has taken us out of our home state several times, already.
This is mostly supposed to be a photo blog, and that will not change. Since 2012 we have been to somewhere in the neighborhood of 85 counties and 25 state parks, a few national parks and we have so many plans to go to so many more areas of this great state …. Thank you all for following along!!
Our last trip out took us into the Ozarks in Arkansas. We drove the Pig Trail Scenic Byway (Arkansas Highway 23) from Beaver Arkansas to Queen Wilhelmina State Park Area. There we many, many photo ops here are a few of our favorites.
Texas Gulf Coast – Part 3 – Galveston – Christmas 2012
Texas Gulf Coast – Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas
Headed out of the City of Corpus Christi on our continuing Texas gulf coast vacation, we made our first stop at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. We saw a whooping crane way off in the distance and hiked a trail about a mile in length. We took the auto tour around the backside of the refuge and saw several white tailed deer and a few osprey. The visitors center was awesome and the folks running it were very nice and attentive. There are a couple really photogenic spots, like this massive tree that one cuold easily get lost under. Nice coastline. Lookout tower at the very back overlooking wetland areas. Just a beautiful place to spend some time. Pick a warmer day than we did, though …. lol!!
The highlight of the early leg of the journey was when we ran across a flock of hawks, all redtail as far as I was able to determine, in a group of eight or nine feeding on a raccoon. I have never seen a group of hawks feeding. I have seen two working together, never a flock. As soon as I saw them I pulled over and several scattered into the surrounding trees. One stayed put and continued to tear away at flesh. I was able to inch ever closer, little by little. To the left is the result of a lot of patient approach and a hawk that was determined to continue to feed. Ultimately we departed the area and they all presumably finished dinner, together.
Texas Gulf Coast – Port Lavaca, Texas
After leaving the refuge we drove farther up to Port Lavaca on the Texas gulf coast. We simply took a rest and looked around. Halfmoon Reef Lighthouse was once out in the water to mark the channel into Matagorda Bay. The coast guard sold the structure and it was moved inland to point comfort. Later it was given to the Port Lavaca Historical Board and moved to Port Lavaca where it was restored and still stands today.
The rest of the drive was peaceful and mostly boring untile we got to Freeport, crossed the bridge to the south end of the island. Loving the view of the ocean and the beaches until it got dark. We ambled on in to Galveston, ate and bedded down for the night.
Texas Gulf Coast – Galveston, Texas
Galveston was a really fun city to visit. Downtown is all spruced up and there’s a really nice shopping district. Way better than it was in the 90s when we went down there. We went to the railroad museum in the old rail depot. Nice displays in the buildings to interact with, and our daughter had a blast! There was a PILE of actual rail cars and engines out back, many of which were open to climb right in to touch and feel. Dining Cars, Mail Car, Box Cars, Crane Car, Locomotives. This is a great way for children to feel history. Displays of rail memorabilia, dining car cups, saucers, plates, a model railroad, ticket counter, buttons to press to make signs light up …. it took hours to take it all in. Phenomenal place worth every penny of entry fee, and it wasn’t much.
The Historic Downtown District is shoppers delight. Lots of specialty shops, food, drinks, entertainment and the best part, for me, was the architecture. Well worth taking a few hours and walking about, just to look around and maybe indulge a little. There is something, there, for the entire family. They even have an old style soda fountain!
We also visited a couple city parks, went through several neighborhoods, walked the beaches, the pier was a little disappointing. The fishing pier was partially destroyed by a hurricane and it wasn’t nearly as long as it once was, but was a lot of fun to be out there, nonetheless. We looked at the Pleasure Pier, but in all honesty, it was way too cold to have a good time riding outdoors. We skipped that, this time. We went down to the docks and bought some amazing fresh gulf seafood to bring home with us. We watched the pelicans race for the trash the dockworkers threw out their back doors for quite a while.
The other place we went that really sticks out in my mind was Seawolf Park. We toured two ships, the WWII era submarine USS Cavalla and the WWII Destroyer Escort USS Stewart. What an amazing walk in historical perspective. Being inside the submarine, especially, and the imagination of time spent undersea during a war in that vessel was …. well, sobering. It is really hard to imagine what those folks endured. One gets an up close and personal self guided tour through both vessels with very few areas that are inaccessible. Great family fun and a great real time lesson in history for the little ones.
Another great part of Seawolf Park is just being on the grounds. There was a few spots for wildlife to congregate and nice areas to sit, relax, and take in the view. We learned that ships use the ship channel, often, off the eastern side of the park …. and where there are large ships on the move, there are dolphins having a party. We saw several dolphins at this locatin, as well. They were so much fun to watch. Well woth spending the time to watch the very animated festivities.
Texas Gulf Coast – Sadly, Homeward Bound
We hated to get back home to reality, but we had to. We took the ferry across the ship channel to take the long way around up the Texas gulf coast then back to Houston and hit I-45 headed north. None of us had ever been on a ferry, before, so we had to. The dolphins in the channel swam next to the ferry and our daughter’s eyes were glued to the water as we crossed. Was a nice drive through some pretty country and a relaxing way to leave ….. until next time.
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