Legends of Texas Page: 44
279 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Texas Folk-Lore Society
called forts made a kind of crescent, and the remainder a long,
almost straight, line, the whole figure resembling an old-fashioned
wagon axle-wrench, or gancho. History, so far as I have read,
has nothing to say about this fine "string of old Spanish forts,"
but its existence is often a premise to legends connected with the
several stations. Of the forts in the string Casa Blanca and
Ramirez seem to be the most fertile in legend. As best I can
gather from oral tradition, Fort Ewell and Fort Merrill were
built about 1840 and used by the early settlers and rangers for
protection against the Indians and Mexicans. Both places are
mentioned by the historian Brown, though he has nothing definite
on the origin of either.' Other not well identified ruins in South-
west Texas are frequently pointed out as the sites of old Spanish
missions or presidios.2
FORT RAMIREZ ON THE RAMIREIA
Fort Ramirez is in the southern part of Live Oak County on
my father's ranch. When I was a boy some of the old rock walls
were ten or twelve feet high, though they were crumbling. As
far back as I can remember or have heard men tell, there were
holes that had been made by treasure seekers all along the walls,
inside the room, and for hundreds of yards out from the place.
When I revisited the location last summer, I found the walls all
down, most of the rock lugged to one side, and indeed a large part
of the foundation dug out. Some of the excavated stones weighed,
I dare say, two hundred pounds. The ruins are on the point of a
hill that overlooks the immense but dry bed of Ramirefia Creek,
which, nevertheless, back in the days of the open range was
nearly always running, men of that time say. A deep but short
gorge called Ramirez Hollow runs up near the hill.
I
There are two distinct legends about the old place: in one it is
1"The company, being six months' men, were discharged at Fort Merrill
on the Nueces, on the 4th day of May, 1851, but reorganized as a new com-
pany for another six months the next day."-Brown, John Henry, History
of Texas, Vol. II, p. 356. See a report to the Secretary of War: Sen. Ex.
Doc. 1, 32d Cong., 1st Session, Serial 611.
2See, for instance, "The Mission de Los Olmos, near Falfurrias," by
Marshall Monroe, reprinted from the Houston Chronicle, in Frontier Times,
January, 1924, pp. 44-45.44
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Legends of Texas (Book)
Collection of popular Texas legends, including tales about buried treasure, the supernatural, pirates, origins of Texas flowers, and other miscellaneous legends. The index begins on page 271.
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Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964. Legends of Texas, book, 1984; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67651/m1/58/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.