The Weekly Chronicle (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 13, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 3, 1955 Page: 4 of 6
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Page 4
The WEEKtir CHRONICLE
Thursday, November 3, 1955
NO BOND ISSUES
Early Roads Were Costly
By MRS. TOD V3NYARD
Development of roads and high-
ways played as vital a part in the
early history of our state and
county as they do today, and many
times the cost was told in men's
lives rather than in taxes .and bond
issue.
About the earliest road, through
Dallas County was the Central
National Road of the Republic of
Texas, It came near, the present
sites of Waxahachie, Lancaster and
Dallas.
In the fall of 1839, the Texas
government was moved to Austin,
which had been newly founded to
be the capital of the Republic. As
soon as the government was estab-
lished at the new site, Congress
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Also
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Duncanville - Wheatland Rd.
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decided to survey a road from
Austin toward the American settle-
ment northeast to the Red River.
By the following year, September
of 1840, actual surveying of the
route began when Col. William C.
Cook set out with a party of men.
The road was chartered as the
Central National Road of the Re-
public of Texas, and the method
of paying for it, as well as the
engineering specifications, seem,
to say the least, highly unique to-
day. The road was to be financed
by a donation of public lands not
exceeding 160 acres per mile. A
roadbed 30 feet wide was called
for, with bridges to be fifteen feet
in width. There was also a stern
instruction that stumps were not
to be more than twelve inches high.
The country was entirely with-
out settlers in that direction then,
so Cook and his men blazed a
virgin trail with axes through the
wooded land, and staked it with
TU
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John Pelt—Factory Representative
Phone AX8 3841 Free Estimates
poles across the open prairie. On
his way northward, his march led
him through country now built
into the thriving cities and towns
of Hillsboro, Waxahachie, Lancas-
ter, Dallas, Greenville, and on
north to the Red River.
While on this part of the jour-
ney, five men added their lives
to the cost of the roadway, when
they disobeyed orders on a scout-
ing trip in search of water. The
men strayed from the main body,
met fifteen Indians. All five
soldiers were killed, and were
buried near the present-day loca-
tion of Forney.
In 1844, only four years after
Cook began his survey, 75 miles
of the road were opened from the
Red River back toward Dallas. In
1841, John Neely Bryan had built
his cabin on the banks of the
Trinity River to establish a trading
post for Indians. Bryan knew too,
of the survey to run a military
road through Northeast Texas,
crossing the Trinity at that point.
Soon, thousands of immigrants
were pouring into Texas each year
over this road.
About the time Bryan settled in
his camp, several families were
making their way southwest. They
stoped at Bird's Fort late in
November 1841 and decided to
camp there until the winter passed.
Bird's Fort had been built in the
winter of 1840 by a small group of
Texas Rangers under Captain Bird,
at a point on the Trinity River town
six miles north of the present town
of Arlington. It was only a hut,
and the Rangers were there but
a few short weeks, but .they made
this their headquarters, and left
it standing. Following the Rangers,
a band of Texas soldiers in pursuit
of Cherokees crossed what was to
become Dallas County.
Among the families wintering at
Bird's Fort in 1841 were those of
Capt. Mable Gilbert, John Bee-
man and Hamp Rattan, along with
several single men in the party.
Soon a wagon train was started
back to the settlement on the Red
River to obtain more provisions for
the winter.
Six weeks passed, and the wagon
had not returned, so Hamp Rattan,
a brother-in-law of Gov. Throck-
morton, and two of the single men
went out to find it. Crossing Elm
Fork of the Trinity River, on
Christmas day, near the present
Carrollton Dam, they found a bee
tree and proceeded to cut in down.
Their pleasant — and somehow
appropriate to the holiday—chore
was interupted when they were
discovered by a group of Indians,
who succeeded in killing Rattan,
His two companions escaped
after accounting for some of the
Indians before making their way
back through biting cold, with
ice and sleet covering the ground.
From the exposure endured on this
flight, one of the men, Solom Silk-
weed, became ill and died a few
weeks later.
Five days after the Indians had
killed Rattan, his body was found
by the returning wagon man.
Hamp's faithful dog was still
watching over him when he was
found. It was when a wagon
was sent to get cedar timber for
Hamp Rattan's grave that a road
was cut, as they went, from the
site near Arlington to where
Dallas is today.
WSCS To Have
Meet Next Week
DUNCANVILLE
Circles of the WSCS of the
Methodist Church will study "Wom-
en and The Church Through the
Cen'uries," at their meetings next
week.
Circle No. 1 and Circle No. 2
will meet at the church next Tues-
day morning at 10:00. Mrs. Lois
Byron will be program leader for
Circle No. 1, and Mrs. Leota Fer-
guson will ha.ve charge of the pro-
gram for Circle No. 2. Following
their circle programs, members of
the two day circles will have a
joint covered dish luncheon in the
church basement
Golden Rule Circle will meet at
the church Tuesday night, with
Mrs. Betty Davis leading the pro-
gram. Star Circle will meet the
following night at the church with
Miss Annie Jo Reeves the program
leader. Hostess will be Frances
Gleason.
All four circles are making plans
for a bazaar for Nov. 12 at the
fire station.
Rev. O. A. Graves
Offers Resignation
DUNCANVILLE
Brother O. A. Graves resigned
last Sunday morning, to be effec-
tive Nov. 27, his pastorate of the
North Side Baptist Church. He will
go to Quincy Valley Baptist
Church, in Quincy, Wash., where he
will assume duties the following
Sunday, Dec. 4, as minister of the
Quincy church.
First Baptist Church
Concludes School
Of Church Music
DUNCANVILLE
Members of the First Baptist
Church have recently concluded
their second annual School of
Church Music.
Courses have been offered in
practical music lessons on the
general rudiments of music us
applied to singing, and in hymn
playing. Instructors were Floyd
McCoy, Dallas, who is associate
state music secretary of the Bap-
tist General Convention of Texas,
and Mrs. V. F. Forderhase, Dallas,
who is wife of the state music
secretary.
Mr. McCoy led the course in
practical music, and Mrs. Forder-
hase taught the class In hymn
playing.
This is the second year that the
church has conducted a school of
church music. Last year the
classes lasted for a whole week,
but only one student worker was
available for instruction. Approx-
imately 45 enrolled this year.
Rusty's
Appliance Repairs
Duncan ville
Off. AX8-3891
Res. AX8-3198
Grady (Pat) Sims
BUILDER-CONTRACTOR
Custom-Built Homes
AX 8 - 3181
DUNCANVILLE
MACHINE SHOP
Welding and
General Repairs
TRAILERS
Cedar Hill
CY9-4201
K. L. Haynes*
Magnolia Service
Station
TIRES 4 BATERIES
AX 8-7781
DuneanTille
CEMENT WORK
Of All Kinds
A. L. GLEASON
AX8-3720
DUNCANVILLE
Friendly. . V
Personal. « •
Service. . .!
Chas. D. Acton
INSURANCE AGENCY <
AX8-3731 AX8-3189
DUNCANVILLE
I *
November Special
3 Blankets
$2.50
Regular Size
LEE'S DRY
CLEANERS
Next to Post Office
DUNCANVILLE
yw 3s
We are happy to welcome
W. E. (Dub) Jones
and his new
Western Auto Associate Store
To Duncan ville
McBRIDE PHARMACY
AX8-337I
DUNCANVILLE
TOYLAND NOW OPEN
At Your WESTERN AUTO Store
IN DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS
Shop Early and Avoid The Hush
Complete Line of Toys, Wheel Goods and
Western Flyer Bicycles
USE OUR LAY-A-WAY PLAN NOWI
WESTERN AUTO ASSOCIATE STORE
W. E. Jones, Owner
Phone AX8-2235 DUNCANVILLE
Wf-SOE
rxN
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Barber, Hildred. The Weekly Chronicle (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 13, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 3, 1955, newspaper, November 3, 1955; Duncanville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth437574/m1/4/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Zula B. Wylie Memorial Library.