DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, picture the American cattle industry — one of the biggest enterprises this country had ever seen — bleeding out forty million dollars every single year. Not from drought, not from rustlers, not from bad luck at the card table.
From ticks. Cattle tick fever, to be precise, and it was pushing the whole operation toward ruin. Then, in 1894, somebody cracked the code on a dip that could fight it, and by 1898, a vaccine followed.
But knowing the cure and actually getting it done — well, that's where things got interesting. In 1918, tick eradication began in East Texas, and with it came what folks called 'dipping days.' Every two weeks, spring through fall, cattle were run through vats of the stuff. Compulsory.
Not a suggestion. And if you think Texas ranchers just tipped their hats and said 'yes sir,' you haven't been payin' attention. Some citizens resented the whole arrangement so fiercely they dynamited the vats.
Others held shootouts with the authorities. Actual shootouts. Over tick dipping.
That is a level of conviction you have got to respect, even if you don't exactly recommend it. Now, Van Zandt County alone had fifty of these vats built, and the one standing here is typical of that lot. It sat on the property of G.
M. Hilliard — born 1856, died 1931 — pioneer rancher and merchant. His estate held onto this land for decades after him, and in 1968 sold this very site to the city of Canton.
So what started as a desperate fight against a microscopic menace, enforced at gunpoint more than once, ended up as a public park. Sometimes that's just how Texas works out.
What the marker says
Before discovery of a dip (1894) and vaccine (1898), the American cattle industry faced ruin, as it lost $40 million annually from cattle tick fever. In 1918, tick eradication began in East Texas, with colorful, exciting "dipping days" enforced every two weeks from spring to fall. Sometimes citizens resented the compulsory dipping, and dynamited vats or held shootouts with authorities. This dipping vat is typical of 50 built in Van Zandt County. It was on the property of G. M. Hilliard (1856-1931), pioneer rancher and merchant. His estate in 1968 sold this park site to the city of Canton. (1973)