DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, picture Hereford, Texas, mid-1913. The town has just gotten itself some brand-new firefighting equipment, and oh, what a piece of work it was.
A two-wheel fire hose reel — hand-propelled, mind you, meaning somebody had to run with the thing. Though if you happened to be standing nearby with an automobile or a horse, well, there was a five-dollar bonus in it for you if you hauled it to the fire. Five dollars.
That was the deal. The reel itself cost only a hundred and thirty-three dollars, which even then was not a king's ransom, and you could argue the town got exactly what it paid for. Because here's the part that'll make you set down your coffee: in two months — two months — that reel was discarded.
Gone. Done. The town turned right around and bought a motor truck with ladders.
The whole grand experiment lasted about as long as a good thunderstorm. Now, to understand why Hereford was in such a hurry to move on, you've got to back up just a little. Before 1913, the fire wagon in almost every Texas town was drawn by a fine team of horses.
And not just any horses — trained horses. Animals that knew the sound of the fire whistle and trotted into place the moment they heard it. When a fire broke out, that wagon charged down dirt streets with smoke billowing and the horses running at a dead gallop.
There was something to it, no question. But then came the years between 1909 and 1912, and Texas cities started stacking up multi-million dollar fires. One after another.
After losses like that, towns across the state decided they wanted better equipment — something more than a hand-pulled reel, something more than even the finest team of horses. So Hereford's little two-wheel reel was less a solution and more a stepping stone — a hundred-and-thirty-three-dollar bridge between the era of galloping horses and the age of the motor truck. Lasted two months and left its mark on history anyway.
That's Texas for you.
What the marker says
Hereford's mid-1913 equipment to fight fires. Hand-propelled, or (at a $5 bonus) hauled by the auto or horses of a bystander. Reel cost only $133, but in two months was discarded: a motor truck with ladders was bought. Prior to 1913 the fire wagon in almost every Texas town was drawn by a fine team of horses, trained to trot into place at sound of the fire whistle. The fire wagon charged down dirt streets with smoke billowing and horses at a dead gallop. After multi-million dollar fires, 1909-1912, Texas cities wanted better fire equipment. (1967)