Things that drew people to Erath County: 1. It is Cross Timbers Country from gravel & Chalk mountains and caves to river bottoms to good black and sandy cotton, corn, and grain land and Post oak, Mesquite, Cedar, Pecan, walnut, Cottonwood. 2. There are patches of sand all over the county, including the large Birdsong peanut mill at Gorman and the surrounding peanut fields west of Stephenville. 3. The Thurber Coal mines on the TP California bound tracks and the Acme (Former TP) Brick plant brought in hundreds of short immigrants to mine the coal. 4. The Desdemona (Hogtown) and Ranger oil boom and Laney gas wells. 5.good fishing. 6.Good hunting-deer, turkey, rabbit, Quail, and before 1890, Bear and alligator in Stephenville City park south and west. 7. Wild fruit, grapes, berries, Polk salad, Walnuts and pecans. Acorns for hogs. 8. Bees and honey. 9. Logs for cabins. 10. Cedar and oak for post. 11, Fair shallow water supply for hand dug wells (Before Dairies) 12. Rock for building. 13. A Crescent shaped buffer of friendly Caddo and other Indian farmers north and west of them who acted as a buffer and warning for Anglo and Black settlers as protection from nomad raiding Comanche and Apache. German Settlers in Fredricksburg- Burnet Area had a wide open frontier without the friendly Indians as neighbors. More "Anglo" and German settlers in Erath County had Eastern Indian roots not obvious or worn as a chip on the shoulder- in fact it was mentioned only to friends. John R. Baylor and his Central Texas Rangers (Sometimes a legal posse- sometime Vigilantes). drove these friendly defenders to Oklahoma- Caddo- Chickasha area via Fort Phantom Hill, Abilene, then went to Arizona and became governor. 14. The Hico Railroad- Texas Central with Walnut Springs roundhouse, shops, college and hospital and adult baseball. before Katy took over and moved HQ to Waco then McKinney.It hauled sheetrock from the Albany area into Waco in the 1960 or 70's. It is now gone except from Dublin to Birdsong Peanut processing Plant at Gorman. 15. Abundant fresh water springs. 16. It was a collection place for Civil War Veterans and people seeking new identities.Early 1900's photos show most older men with foot long white beards which made identification by former enemies hard after 50 years. 17. A wide variety of churches- 2 or 3 kinds of Methodist, & 6 or 8 different types and fellowships of Baptist, depending on point of origin of settlers. 18. As families outgrew the land the Indian threat was vanishing and western counties finally became organized and peacefully settled, providing good dryland for overflow of large families. 19. Erath County once joined Johnson County before Somerville County, Glen Rose, Rainbow, and Nemo were organized or widely known. 20. An early interest in schools and a good College in Stephenville with Academies- Jr. Colleges in Huckaby, Lingleville and possibly another. 21. Tarleton State University- former Junior College. Part of Texas A&M University. It produces more Vocational Agriculture teachers today than any school in the U.S. 22. It has always had outdoor rodeos and in early days, Bear wrestling and wolf- bear fights on the Stephenville square. Today it has more Rodeo cowboy and Equestrian private schools than anycounty in the nation. 23. It had ample rough draws for hiding moonshine stills and Game rooster fights. Roosters were shipped, trained, to the Philipines and other states. Panther Cave - Eulogy area and Whiskey Hollow at West, McLennan County and Somervell County supplied the speakeasy bars in Dallas during national prohibition. Some of these folk did not allow their children to consume the merchandise until they were 21. 24. The live and let live attitude- We never locked our doors before i went to the Army in 1950, My parents and grandparents never locked their doors. We had some turkeys stolen in 1940's . Dad sometimes missed a fist size slab of bacon or ham from our unlocked smokehouse. He said someone was hungry. They never took it all. This came from their Tennesee - Ga. Heritage of frontier survival and is common today in Alaska, where many Texans have migrated to. The tour guide in Dr. J.G.M.Ramsey's home south of Knoxville, Tenn. showed us a candle window by the fireplace where a candle was burning t when the family was home and travellers on the frontier regardless of race could come into the kitchen house, dip some hot soup from the fireplace pot nd sleep on the floor free, but were gone the next day by sunup. Their thefts were nill. Ever hear of the Forty Gallon Baptist Church in West Virginia where some corn farmers pledged 40 gallons of legal homemade whiskey a year to support the church- before the Temperance movement. ? 25. and last but not least- the produce houses with local processing and cheese plant which shipped turkeys and cheese to Fort Worth. Let's see, why was it I moved to Fort Worth & Denton? Oh, yes, Convair and 4 year colleges. Take care Charles Wyly