DUANE
Duane's take
The way I tell it, I'm leaning on what the official marker has to say — so let's see what it's got. Out here in Young County, there was once a place that travelers couldn't afford to miss. A lone cottonwood tree standing beside a good spring, rising up out of the dry Texas landscape like a promise somebody actually kept.
That was Cottonwood Spring — and in the 19th century, it was as close to an oasis as a road-weary soul was going to find on this stretch of the frontier. You want to know how heavy the traffic was? Head up to the hill to the southwest.
The wagon ruts are still there. Still visible. After all this time, the earth remembers.
The story picks up hard in 1849, when Captain Randolph B. Marcy of the U.S. Army came through and made camp right here at this spring.
He had soldiers with him, and he was doing serious work — mapping a road for gold-seekers headed to California. Think about that. Men bitten by the gold fever, pushing west, and Marcy was out ahead of them drawing the map.
But Marcy wasn't finished with this spring, not by a long shot. He came back in 1851, this time as escort for Colonel W. F.
Belknap, who was en route to establish Fort Belknap — fifteen miles to the southwest. Then Marcy returned again in 1854, this time riding alongside Major Robert S. Neighbors, the two of them exploring for Indian reservation sites.
Three visits. This spring had a way of pulling men back. In 1855, Major Enoch Steen of the 2nd U.S.
Dragoons watered his horses here while platting a route all the way to Fort Riley, Kansas. The spring was doing what good water does — making the impossible routes possible. Then came 1857, and the Leach wagon train rolled through while opening the Butterfield Overland Mail route, following the Preston Road toward the Red River.
History was getting laid down in layers at this little spring, one wagon wheel at a time. Now 1858 — that was a busy year at Cottonwood Spring, and not for peaceful reasons. There were wild Comanche raiders operating north of the Red River, and two separate expeditions stopped here on their way to deal with that threat.
In April, Captain John S. Ford — known to most folks as Rip Ford — camped here with his Rangers. Come fall, Major Earl Van Dorn arrived with U.S.
Cavalry. Two different commands, same spring, same hard purpose. And then August 1859.
Major Neighbors came through again — this time escorting Texas Indians to reservations in what is now Oklahoma. He reached Cottonwood Spring and found it dry. Gone.
Not a drop. After all those years of never failing, the spring had finally run out. But here's the thing — the marker tells us the water returned.
It came back. The spring wasn't finished yet. Cattlemen used it for generations after that, drawing from it season after season.
But mid-20th century, the water table dropped. This time, it dropped permanently. And the cottonwood — that lone tree that had stood over every one of those campsites, every army patrol, every wagon train, every Ranger riding north for a fight — the cottonwood died.
The spring is gone. The tree is gone. But those wagon ruts are still pressed into that hillside to the southwest, and they are not going anywhere.
Some things, the land holds onto.
What the marker says
19th century oasis around a lone cottonwood tree and a good spring. Wagon ruts from heavy traffic attracted here are still visible on hill to the southwest. In 1849, Capt. Randolph B. Marcy, U.S. Army camped with his soldiers at this spring as they mapped a gold-seekers' road to California. Capt. Marcy was to return as escort (1851) for Col. W. F. Belknap, en route to establish Fort Belknap (15 miles southwest), and with Maj. Robert S. Neighbors (1854), exploring for Indian reservation sites. Maj. Enoch Steen of the 2nd U.S. Dragoons was here in 1855, platting a route to Fort Riley, Kan. The Leach wagon train camped here in 1857 while opening the Butterfield Overland Mail route, along the Preston Road to Red River. Riding to the north of Red River to fight wild Comanche raiders, two expeditions camped here in 1858: Capt. John S. ("Rip") Ford with Rangers, in April; Maj. Earl Van Dorn with U.S. Cavalry in the fall. Maj. Neighbors in August 1859, escorting Texas Indians to reservations in present Oklahoma, found the spring dry. Water returned, however. Cattlemen used the spring for generations, until in mid-20th century, the water table dropped permanently and the cottonwood died. (1974)