DUANE
Duane's take
The marker's the one doing the talking here — I'm just the voice it rides in on. Now, the North Fork of the San Gabriel River doesn't ask for much attention. It just flows east across Williamson County, quiet and steady, until it meets up with the Middle and South forks right there at Georgetown.
Part of the Brazos River system. Been doing that a long, long time. Long before there were county lines or crossings or anybody putting names on maps, the fish were thick in that water and the wildlife was thick in those bottomlands, and Indian tribes knew it.
Numerous tribes, the marker says, drawn to the areas along that stream in historic times. You can picture it — the river doing what rivers do, and people following. Then came a Spanish explorer and priest, Fray Isidro Felix Espinosa, who showed up in 1716 and gave the river a name: Rio de San Xavier.
Spanish. Official. Written down.
But names have a way of drifting like water over time, and by the time Williamson County was created in 1848, folks were calling it the San Gabriel River. Anglo settlements moved in along those banks in the 1800s, and out of that came four major crossings — and here's where it gets personal, because each crossing took the name of the family living right there at the site. You had Booty Crossing.
Russell Crossing, which later went by Jenkins. Box Crossing. And Hunt Crossing.
Four families, four crossings, four little worlds strung along that river. And they weren't just crossings in name only. Near those sites, people built homes, mills, schools, churches, cemeteries, postal stations, and a gin.
That's a community. That's several communities, really, stitched together by one river and the families willing to stake their lives on its banks. Now — here's where the water rises in a way nobody planned.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a dam on the North Fork in 1979, part of a flood control measure for the Brazos River system. That dam created Lake Georgetown.
When the lake and its parks and recreational facilities opened in 1981, the water had swallowed something: Booty Crossing, Russell Crossing, and Box Crossing — all three — went under. Inundated by the waters of Lake Georgetown. But Hunt Crossing?
Hunt Crossing remains above the reservoir. Still there. Still above the water line.
Four family names on four crossings, and one of them is still above the surface. The river remembers what it can.
What the marker says
The North Fork of the San Gabriel River, part of the Brazos River system, flows east across Williamson County to join with the Middle and South forks at Georgetown. Abundant fish and wildlife attracted numerous Indian tribes to the areas along the stream in historic times. Named Rio de San Xavier by Spanish explorer and priest Fray Isidro Felix Espinosa in 1716, it was known as the San Gabriel River by the time Williamson County was created in 1848. Anglo settlements along the river in the 1800s led to the establishment of four major crossings which took the names of families living at the sites: Booty, Russell (later Jenkins), Box, and Hunt. Located along the stream near the crossings were homes, mills, schools, churches, cemeteries, postal stations, and a gin. Booty, Russell, and Box Crossings were inundated by the waters of Lake Georgetown, but Hunt Crossing remains above the reservoir. Planned as part of a flood control measure for the Brazos River system, a dam creating Lake Georgetown was completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1979. The lake and adjoining parks and recreational facilities were opened in 1981. (1988)