Traces of Texas

[Christians4LessGvt]

Photo of a military funeral procession for a casualty of the Border War (1910-1919) passing the depot in Eagle Pass, Texas. The casket is borne on a horse-drawn artillery caisson. May this soldier RIP.

[Christians4LessGvt]

Here are some little known Texas tidbits.

1. Port Arthur to El Paso: 889 miles. Port Arthur to Chicago: 770 miles

2. Brownsville to Texline (north of Amarillo ): 956 miles. Texline to Canada : 960 miles

3. El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas

4. Texas is the only state to enter the US by TREATY, (known as the Constitution of 1845 by the Republic of Texas to enter the Union)instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas Flag to fly at the same height as the US Flag, and Texas may choose to divide into 5 states.

5. A Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1500 years old.

6. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period in Dr Pepper.

7. The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the US which is taller than the Capitol Building in Washington, DC (by 7 feet).

8. The San Jacinto Monument is the tallest free standing monument in the world and it is taller than the Washington Monument.

9. The State Mascot is the Armadillo. An interesting bit of trivia about the armadillo is they always have four babies. They have one egg, which splits into four, and they either have four males or four females.

10. The Beck family ranch land grant is one days ride by horse (25 miles) in each direction from the headquarters.

11. The name of the XIT ranch in Dalhart Texas stands for "ten in texas". That means 10 counties in Texas.

[Xavier_Onassis]

11. The name of the XIT ranch in Dalhart Texas stands for "ten in texas". That means 10 counties in Texas.

My father grew up in several Panhandle towns: Dalhart, Dumas, Texline, Texhoma, Shamrock and Vernon.

Wikipedia says this about the XIT:

The XIT Ranch had a number of rules, including:

    No employee was allowed to carry any weapons for offense or self-defense.
    Gambling or card-playing of any description was strictly prohibited.
    No liquor or intoxicating beverages were allowed to employees during their time of service.
    No employees were allowed to hunt wild game on any of the XIT horses.
    Employees were not allowed to own any of the horses or cattle on the ranch.

Legacy

In remembrance of the massive ranch, the City of Dalhart hosts the XIT Museum and the annual XIT Rodeo and Reunion held the first Thursday through Sunday of August. The celebration includes three days of junior and professional (PRCA) rodeo events, the world’s largest free barbecue, three nights of live music, a mud bog competition, an antique tractor-pull, and other activities.

Several businesses in the Dalhart area use "XIT" in their names and styles.

In 1961, the historian Joe Bertram Frantz at the University of Texas at Austin, along with Cordelia Sloan Duke, published 6,000 Miles of Fence: Life on the XIT Ranch of Texas.[6]

Get this: NO WEAPONS ALLOWED. All those cowboys were forbidden to exercise their God-given right to carry a side arm. There much have been some terrible shootings, what with all those good guys forbidden to carry guns.
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And this:

According to the XIT Ranch museum website, it covered portions of 10 counties, which apparently helped perpetuate the misbelief that the brand -XIT- stands for "Ten In Texas". The brand, in fact, was originated to thwart rustlers.[5]

There is an XIR=T Museum:

http://xitmuseum.com/history.shtml

Cowboys with nary a gun!  The XIT was a gun-free environment.