Caching Around Fort Worth & The Stockyards 5/18/2010

Well we were off into Fort Worth again this morning to do some caching around the art district and the historic stockyards. Our first cache was in a small cemetery in Crowley, TX which really wasn't that old. Next 2 caches were in one of the oldest cemeteries in the city Oakwood Cemetery. Since its founding in 1879 by Fort Worth pioneer John Peter Smith, Oakwood has always been Fort Worth’s resting place for the notable, the notorious and people from all walks of life. The sense of history is strong. With quiet walkways and massive oaks, it is a place of peace and beauty. A part of the proud history of Fort Worth and Tarrant County with a place for everyone within its spacious 62 acres. The cemetery has some lovely views of downtown FW as you can see by the pictures. The first cache wasn't anything special as it was hidden by someones parents headstone. The second was a multi-cache where we had to find a large reddish monument having to do with The Grand Army of the Republic. It was an organization formed by Union Army veterans after the Civil War. Naturally, GAR memorials and grave markers are rather commonplace up north in Ohio but this is the one of the only ones in this area in Texas. Then we had to find "Soldier's Row an area of the cemetery where a Confederate Soldier is standing an eternal watch over the resting places of his comrades. It was established in 1903 for the burial of Confederate Veterans and their wives. Then we had to find the final cache from the information we gathered.

Next it was off to Greenwood Cemetery and a virtual cache there. The site we had to find was Turner Oak. The story goes when the War Between the States broke out, Charles Turner (1822-1875), one of the founders of Fort Worth, opposed the secession of Texas from the Union. However, when the state voted to secede, he abided by the majority decision of his kinsmen. Evidence of his acceptance of the mandate was manifested in his equipping a company of local volunteers out of his own pocket.
But when the Confederacy demanded that its citizens exchange their gold for Confederate notes, Turner chose not to follow the directive. Instead, he buried his gold under a live oak which was growing on the farm he had settled in 1851.
After the War, Turner used his gold to aid in restoring to prosperity the town he had helped found. The oak tree we visited was the tree he buried his gold under.

Then it was off to one of the better neighborhoods in FW and a metal statue of a Chinese Dragon named Alexander. Alexander is the brain-child of Judy-Tkac Sager, a prominent artist and art educator in Fort Worth. One of her many students, Steve Howard, built Alexander to her design. Alexander was planned for the back yard, but due to a family illness, Judy was unable to monitor his progress when he was being built; and by the time she got back to him again, he was too fat to go through the gate! The neighborhood loves him and has asked Judy not to move him elsewhere (see picture).

Then it was on to a small park close by in the Cultural District of FW and a 2 part virtual cache. First part was to visit the statue called "Duty" which was a monument donated to all veterans of all wars by veteran's of WW1. Then we had to walk to the other end of the park to look at a historic marker about Camp Bowie. Camp Bowie was created by the United States War Department in 1917, as America was mobilizing for World War I. Named for Capt. Jim Bowie, one of the defenders of the Alamo, the camp was home to the U.S. Army’s 36th Infantry Division and encompassed more than 2,000 acres. Relations between the camp and its civilian neighbors were cordial from the very beginning. When the 36th went on parade in April 1918, more than 225,000 onlookers lined the route, making the event quite likely the largest such spectacle ever staged in Fort Worth. From Camp Bowie’s opening in August 1917 until November 1918, when the Armistice ending the war was signed, more than 100,000 “doughboys” received their basic training there. After the war, the camp became a demobilization center, processing more than 31,000 men for re-entry into civilian life before it officially closed on August 15, 1919.

Then we drove to the FW Botanic Garden and Conservatory for another 3 part virtual cache. The Fort Worth Botanic Garden (109 acres) is a botanical garden and is open daily. The garden was established in 1934, and describes itself as the oldest botanic garden in Texas, with 2,501 species of native and exotic plants in its 21 specialty gardens. In addition to wooded areas, major garden features include:
* Conservatory (10,000 square feet) - tropical displays of orchids, bromeliads, and trees.
* Four Seasons Garden - Hundreds of iris, daylily, and chrysanthemum varieties.
* Fragrance Garden - small garden with fragrant plants and fountain.
* Fuller Garden - pathways and lawn; site for weddings and garden parties.
* Japanese Garden (7 acres; established 1970) - the Fort Worth Japanese Garden, with three koi ponds, waterfall, bridges, teahouse, pagoda, pavilions, meditation garden.
* Lower Rose Garden - rose garden inspired by Villa Lante (Italy).
* Oval Rose Garden - hundreds of roses; renovated 2002.
* Perennial Garden - perennials with culinary herb collection, as well as ponds and small waterfall.
* Trial Garden - evaluation site for hundreds of species of perennials.
* Water Conservation Garden - demonstration xeriscape garden.
* Water Wise Entrance - entry garden with agave, Texas sage, salvia greggii, Mexican Bush sage, red yucca and Esparanza.
The garden also contains a Begonia Species Bank, established and operated to prevent the loss of begonia species. We did our 3 part cache by finding 3 different statues in the garden and collecting our information.

Then it was on to the FW Museum of Science and History for 4 caches in the area. The Museum is home to more than 175,000 historical and scientific objects with an emphasis on Texas and the Southwest. The science collection consists of many thousands of catalogued specimens that represent the disciplines of botany, entomology, malacology, ornithology, mineralogy, herpetology, mammalogy, invertebrate zoology, meteoritic and paleontology. The herbarium collection of native plants from Texas and the United States dates from the late 1800s to the present. The Museum is involved in ongoing regional paleontological digs for dinosaur fossils and has rich specimens from the Fort Worth region, including five new species of dinosaurs. The history collection encompasses a world-wide scope, ranging from pre-historic artifacts to items from many cultures from the late 1800s to the present. The Museum has hundreds of Pre-Columbian ceramic figures from Central America.
Our first cache was a 2 part virtual where we visited the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame Museum also part of the complex and a statue outside one of the buildings. Next was another virtual where we found a huge statue of a turtle and the other was also a virtual where we had to find a statue of a dinosaur and name what kind it was. The last cache in that area was a multi and had to do with the Scott Theater. Billy Scott is the man behind the Scott Theater in Fort Worth, and some say he was so dedicated to financing the theater that his spirit stuck around even after he succumbed to lung cancer. Some say that when the theater had its grand opening, paintings that came from Billy Scott’s personal collection were hung on the walls. Legend has it that these paintings would shift on their own, as if Scott’s spirit was roaming the halls straightening the pictures from the grave. Employees of the theater often hear other-worldly cackling coming from the theater’s basement and attribute it to the spirit of an actor who once worked in the building. The story goes that the actor, a man named Ken Yandell, hung himself from a pipe in the theater’s basement and now spends his time lurking around the hallways in the basement. We found the info and the final stage easily.

Then it was on to the best part of the day and a walk and drive around the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards. For the drovers heading longhorn cattle up the Chisholm Trail to the railheads, Fort Worth was the last major stop for rest and supplies. Beyond Fort Worth they would have to deal with crossing the Red River into Indian Territory. Between 1866 and 1890 more than four million head of cattle were trailed through Fort Worth, which was soon known as “Cowtown.” Cowtown soon had its own disreputable entertainment district several blocks south of the Courthouse area known all over the West as “Hell’s Half Acre”.
When the railroad finally arrived in 1876, Fort Worth became a major shipping point for livestock. This prompted plans in 1887 for the construction of the Union Stockyards about two and one half miles north of the Tarrant County Courthouse. It went into full operation about 1889.
Because the Union Stockyards company lacked the funds to buy enough cattle to attract local ranchers, President Mike C. Hurley invited a wealthy Boston capitalist Greenleif Simpson to Fort Worth in hopes he would invest in the Union Stock Yards. When Simpson arrived on the heels of heavy rains and a railroad strike, more cattle than usual had accumulated in the pens. Seeing this, he decided that Fort Worth represented a good market and made plans to invest. Simpson invited other investors to join him, one of whom was a Boston neighbor, Louville V. Niles whose primary business was meatpacking. On April 27, 1893, Simpson bought the Union Stockyards for $133,333.33 and changed the name to the Fort Worth Stockyards Company.
It soon became apparent that instead of shipping to other markets to process the cattle, it would be much more desirable to keep more of the business in Fort Worth by having local packing plants. A search began to lure major packers to the City. By about 1900, after much work by local businessmen, both Armour & Co. and Swift & Co. were persuaded to build plants adjacent to the Stockyards.
Construction began in 1902, but not until after the exact site of each plant was decided by a flip of the coin. Armour won the toss and selected the northern site and Swift began to build on the southern tract, which was the site of the original Livestock Exchange and Hotel. Swift & Co. received an unexpected financial bonus when a large gravel pit was found on the southern site that was ultimately used in the construction of both plants.
The new Livestock Exchange Building in its present location, as well as the pens and the barns, were also started in 1902. The new building was designed to house the many livestock commission companies, telegraph offices, railroad offices and other support businesses.
While construction was underway, the Fort Worth Stock Yards Company, which now included the two meat packers, incorporated much of the area north of the river adjacent to the Stockyards as North Fort Worth. In 1909 the City of Fort Worth annexed the new city with the exception of the Stockyards and the packing house property.
Business boomed with the opening of the packing houses. Armour and Swift bought 265,279 cattle, 128,934 hogs and 40,160 sheep, which brought over six million dollars into the local economy. A livestock market that drew local farmers and ranchers had finally arrived in Fort Worth.
Because of the success of the Stockyards, the necessity for an indoor show facility became obvious. In 1907 construction began on a grand Coliseum that was completed in just 88 working days, in time for the grand opening of the Feeders & Breeders Show. The Coliseum, which today is known as the Cowtown Coliseum, was the home of the first indoor rodeo. It was used for many cultural, social, agricultural and religious events as well.
The Stockyards continued to prosper in spite of droughts and floods. In 1911, after two disastrous fires that killed a large number of the penned livestock, the yards were rebuilt with an eye toward using as much noninflammable material as possible.
In 1911 a new town, Niles City, was chartered and grew up around the Stockyards and packinghouse properties. Niles City was known as “the richest little city in the world” with a property value of 30 million dollars. In 1923 Fort Worth annexed this area.
At the height of World War I in 1917, the Fort Worth Stockyards was the largest horse and mule market in the world. Military officers from Allied countries came to purchase the animals to support their war efforts. Total sales of all livestock continued to grow during the war years.
During World War II, the Fort Worth Stockyards processed 5,277,496 head of livestock making 1944 the peak year of the entire operation. In later years sales at the Stockyards began to decline and by 1969 had dwindled to a mere 1,045,158 head. By 1986, sales reached an all-time low of 57,181 animals.
Many reasons for the decline of the Fort Worth Stockyards can be stated, but one of the largest factors was the rise of the trucking industry on the newly paved roads after World War II. Because of their lower operating costs and greater flexibility, much of the advantage that railroads had in bulk shipping was lost. The market moved to the shipper with the creation of local livestock auctions and feedlots. It was a completely new way of marketing livestock. Not only was Fort Worth affected, all the major packers in the United States struggled with this new way to market livestock.
Both Armour and Swift had huge outdated plants that were straddled with risings costs, wages and administrative expenses. Armour was the first to close their Fort Worth plant in 1962 with Swift hanging on until 1971. Partial demolition followed over the years after several fires.
The unique Armour office building was lost, but the classic Swift headquarters building was put to use as the home of a popular restaurant during the 1970s.
While local auctions continued to be held in the Stockyards, the volume diminished until it was unprofitable to continue. This vibrant part of Fort Worth history fell on hard times as the Stockyards area continued its decline.
In 1976, the North Fort Worth Historical Society, founded by Charlie and Sue McCafferty, was chartered to ensure Fort Worth's livestock heritage would continue and be preserved. Since then, the Society has worked to promote the history of one of the greatest livestock and meatpacking industries in the country.
The Fort Worth Stockyards National Historical District was also established in 1976 and many of the area’s landmarks have been restored including the Livestock Exchange Building and the Coliseum. Recently, the historic Swift & Co. headquarters building underwent an almost total restoration.
In 1989, the North Fort Worth Historical Society opened the Stockyards Museum in the historic Exchange Building. It now hosts thousands of visitors from all over the world each year. Its facilities and collection are expanding to handle the ever increasing number of visitors.
Weekly livestock auctions ceased many years ago, but the Stockyards continues to host special breed events and sales including Longhorn auctions. Many thousand of head of cattle are still sold in the Stockyards every week via video/satellite sales originating in the Exchange Building. The livestock legacy lives on.

Our first cache was a virtual having to do with the first black cowboy Bill Pickett. William "Bill" M. Pickett was born on December 5, 1870 at the Jenks-Branch community on the Travis County line near Austin, Texas. His parents, Thomas Jefferson and Virginia Elizabeth Gilbert Pickett, were ex-slaves who had thirteen children. Bill was the second child.
Bill had two cousins who were trail-driving horsemen. They would talk to Bill about protecting their trail crews against buffalo stampedes, roping steer, and breaking ponies. Bill loved to listen to these stories and wanted to learn these skills. One day when Bill was looking at cattle dogs controlling cattle, he saw a bulldog hold a cow's lower lip with its teeth. Bill thought that he could control an animal by using this technique. After this incident, Bill passed a group of Littlefield Cattle Company cowboys on his way home from school. They were having trouble branding their calves. Bill asked if they wanted his help. After the calf was roped and laid on the ground, Bill bit into its lip. He held the calf while the cowboys branded him. This is how Pickett invented this unique way of subduing cattle called bulldogging, also known as steer wrestling. At the age of fifteen, Bill worked as a cowhand on ranches throughout Texas. He learned to lasso and practiced his technique of bulldogging.
To earn extra money, Pickett rode bucking horses and gave demonstrations of his method of bulldogging and would pass the hat for donations. He would leap from a horse, grab the steer by the horns, and pull the head back and bite its upper lip. This would immobilize the animal and cause Pickett to fall to the ground with the animal landing on top of him. The technique, called steer wrestling, is forbidden in bulldogging today. Pickett, who was five feet, seven inches and weighed 145 pounds, would use this technique on steers weighing between 800 to 1,100 pounds. He was frequently injured and subsequently lost all of his teeth as a result of his technique. Throughout his life, it is estimated that he bulldogged about 5,000 animals.
Pickett married Maggie Williams on December 2, 1890 and they had nine children, seven girls, who lived to adulthood, and two sons, who died in infancy. Pickett lived with his family in Taylor, Texas where he was a member of the National Guard and deacon of the Taylor Baptist Church. After his marriage, he worked on farms and ranches and picked cotton to support his family. He eventually tired of this and went on the road, participating in rodeos. He became well known because of his biting technique and stories about him were printed in the Denver Post and the Wyoming Tribune. In the late 1890's he became blind for eleven months. After his sight was restored, he never had any more trouble with his eyes.
Pickett and his brother Tom gave bulldogging exhibitions at the first Taylor county fair in 1888. After that he began to tour and give shows in cities in Texas. In 1900, he began making out-of-state engagements. After performing in the Texas Fort Worth Fat Stock Show, he met Zack Miller, who along with his brothers, owned a profitable ranch called the 101, located near Ponca City, Oklahoma. They also owned a traveling Wild West show, which had ninety cowboys and cowgirls, three hundred animals, and sixteen acts. They asked Pickett to join their show and offered to let his family stay at the 101 Ranch while he was on the road. On June 11, 1905, the Millers staged a wild-west show on their ranch. About 65, 000 people attended the 101 show, which featured Pickett, known as "The Dusky Demon" and "The Bull-Dogger." Another 101 show was held at the ranch in 1906. From 1907 to 1913, Pickett and his show horse, Spradley, toured with the show throughout the world. The crowds stood and cheered at his breathtaking performances, from Madison Square Garden
to the El Toro national building in Mexico City. In 1914, he performed for King George V and Queen Mary in England.
In 1905, Pickett appeared at Madison Square Garden in New York City with the famed humorist Will Rogers as his hazer. The hazer rides beside the steer and leads it into a straight run after it gets a head start on the bulldogger. The steer is often running from 20 to 25 miles per hour. The bulldogger then rides opposite the street, grabs its head by the horns, jumps off his horse, and uses his feet to stop the steer. When the steer stops, he wrestles it to the ground. As soon as the animal is lying on its side and all its legs point the same way, "Time" is called. Good bulldoggers, like Pickett, usually time between five and eight seconds. During this eventual performance at Madison Square Garden, the steer came out of the chute at a fast pace. I ran toward the arena's fence and jumped over. It ran toward the audience who panicked as they tried to run away from the steer's advances. Pickett and Rogers ran after the steer and caught it on the third balcony level. After Rogers turned it, Pickett grabbed its horns and brought it back to the arena. The audience was relieved and grateful.
After years of traveling with the 101 show, Pickett settled on the 101 Ranch where he worked as a cowhand and bulldogged in local rodeos. He also appeared in films, and became the first black cowboy movie star. Throughout his career, he was often identified as an Indian or other ethnic background because blacks were not allowed to compete in many rodeos. In March 1932, a horse kicked Pickett in the head, and he remained in a coma for fourteen days until his death on April 2, 1932. His funeral was held on the main porch of the 101 Ranch. His friend, Will Rogers, announced Pickett's funeral on his radio show. Pickett was buried about three miles from the 101 Ranch near Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Bill Pickett became the first black inducted in the National Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City on December 9, 1971. He was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy at Colorado Springs, Colorado. A bronze statue of him is displayed at the North Fort Worth Historical Society. In March 1994, the Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in his honor. The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo is the only touring black rodeo in the U.S. The profits from this rodeo go to the Bill Pickett Memorial Scholarship fund for students who compete in rodeos and/or are majoring in equine or animal science in college. In 1994, there were 215 living direct descendants of Bill Pickett. Zack Miller, owner of the 101 Ranch said of him, "Bill Pickett was the greatest sweat-and-dirt cowhand that ever lived--bar none."

Our next cache was right at the stockyard cattle pens. It was an easy one and while we looked for it we saw a "real" cowboy saddling his horse and some of the famous Texas longhorns and are they ever long (see pictures). The horns are so long we saw one of the steers scratching his butt with one end of the horn.

Next was another virtual that had to do with Phil "Oley" O'Neal oilman and rancher in Fort Worth.

Our last cache was a 2 part multi having to do with Miss Molly's Hotel now a B&B. Located in the middle of the Fort Worth Stockyards, Miss Molly’s is the oldest Bed and Breakfast in Fort Worth. Established as a boarding house in 1910 and called the Palace Rooms, it went through the prohibition period being called The Oasis and later as a Bordello in the 1940’s when it was called the Gayatte Hotel. Miss Molly’s is just old enough to have caught a glimpse of the Wild West and all of the time period of America’s speak-easy and bordello days. Its long history as a boarding house has included a vast number of residents. Apparently, some have decided to extend their stay. Perhaps the large amount of antiques and period pieces in the hotel remind them of the bawdy times that they shared there.
The seven themed rooms in the hotel all share stories of paranormal activity, with the Cattlemen’s and Cowboy rooms having some of the more famous sightings of apparitions. Visitations have also occurred in the current owner’s private room’s number eight and nine of a young girl, who is considered a former tenant of the hotel. Most of the sightings have involved the former working girls from the hotel’s days as a bordello.
The phenomena at Miss Molly’s includes full bodied apparitions, unexplained scents, items disappearing and reappearing, toilets flushing on their own, lights turning on and off, cold spots, unlocked doors refusing to open, and a variety of unidentified but entertaining sounds. According to the current owner, Dawn Street-Boyd, one housekeeper quit because she kept finding coins in rooms even though there had been no guests in that room and she had just finished cleaning only to return and find the coins where she had just cleaned.
Miss Molly’s has been visited by a number of paranormal investigation groups and is listed with Texas Christian University’s paranormal activity class, which makes regular visits to record the phenomena. Copies of unusual photos and tape recordings, as well as statements of the investigators and results are kept prominently in the common living area.
The hotel situated above Fort Worth’s Star Café takes visitors up a staircase to another era, period furnishings, furniture, and a number of stories about unexplained happenings provided with first hand accounts by the owner. Miss Molly’s is considered one of the most haunted properties in Fort Worth and one of the most active paranormal sites in Texas.

Well that was it for the day and all in all a very nice and interesting day. It was on back to the coach for the afternoon and evening. Well that's all for today so until tomorrow we love and miss you all.