I spent my formative years on acreage my parents acquired in the 60's. A land grant that a fellow named Winters left to his two daughters, actually he abandon them after his wife died in childbirth to roughneck. The sisters...both spinsters... sold the place in their late 70's. Never had indoor plumbing. Eventually I took a job in the big city, retired early and spend all the time I can on the place. My parents were products of the cottonfield and not prone to entertain images of buried treasures, didn't share my enthusiasm for all the neat stuff I amassed over the years. It wasn't until recently I learned the place is special in a strange way. It was a haven for travelers from Amerindians. It's touched on below in the States historical account. Consequently a Butterfield Stage Line, Chisum Trail, Grange Lodge and other entties built on or near. The biggest concentration of mustangs brought Nolan and the Comanches. Mustang Ck gets it's beginning on the place, Nolan's grave is within sight and Buzzard Cave is in walking distance.
THSA
The first traces of human inhabitants in the area that became Hill County date back to A.D. 1300 and were found at Buzzard Cave on the Brazos River near Blum. In the early eighteenth century Waco and Tawakoni groups of the Wichita established small hunting camps of grass huts along Richland and Pin Oak creeks in the northeastern and southeastern portions of the county. Beginning with Spanish expeditions, Europeans entered the region. Pedro Vial, a Frenchman hired by the Spanish to find a route to Santa Fe from San Antonio, was probably the first European to reach what would become Hill County. He reported stopping at a Tawakoni village on the east side of the Brazos River between December 15 and 21, 1786. The first Anglo to reach the area that became Hill County was Philip Nolan, in 1801. He established a camp and three stockade fences northeast of Blum on Battle Creek to hold wild mustangs captured in the area. Nolan was killed by the Spanish in March 1801, after being warned to leave the area. Stephen F. Austin's survey map of 1822 included the Hill County area. A land dispute between Austin and Sterling Clack Robertson began after the Mexican government passed the Law of April 6, 1830. Austin claimed Robertson had not fulfilled his quota of colonists before the execution of the law, but Robertson won the appeal to the Mexican government and received the land that would later include Hill County. William Steele, the land commissioner for Robertson's colony, had issued the first land grant on March 15, 1825, to Peter Fleming, a twenty-nine-year-old Missourian. The land was located between the Brazos River and Aquilla Creek. In 1835 Robertson kept land for himself and gave further grants to John Burgess, Montgomery Shackelford, and John Carr; he gave the largest grant, twenty-four labores, to William McFarlin. Each parcel of land extended eastward from points along the Brazos River.
During the 1820s Comanche and Taovaya (Towash) Indians migrated into the region, concealing their movement by following the Cross Timbers. By 1824 Stephen F. Austin had sent a commission to make a treaty with the Indians of the area. The land dispute between Austin and Robertson continued to frustrate efforts to establish peace with the Indian groups of the area. In the 1830s Hasinai and Anadarko groups left East Texas, and by February 1844, under the leadership of José María, an Anadarko, they had settled in the Hill County area. One of the Torrey Trading Houses was established and served as a focal point for the 150 Indian huts. In an effort to keep watch over Indian activity and intercept Comanche raiding parties, the Texas Rangers established Fort Smith, a temporary camp, on the high ground near White Rock on September 15, 1845. Fort Graham, at the mouth of Bear Creek, was established on March 27, 1849. It served as one of nine permanent outposts constructed on a line from the West Fork of the Trinity River to Eagle Pass. The outpost was abandoned on November 9, 1853, but a town remained in the area. Though 240 Indian raids were recorded in the counties surrounding Hill and Johnson counties, there was no record of such raids in Hill or Johnson. A lieutenant Whiting made the observation that the area that later became Hill County was probably used as a "council-spot" for discussions and making treaties. Safe passage was given to all people through the area.
