DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — William E. Schott, Briscoe County, and a road that changed everything. Now, most people come to a place like the Texas Caprock and they look up at that sheer limestone wall rising out of the plains and they think: that's the end of the road.
William E. Schott looked up at it and thought: that's where I build one. Schott was born in Ohio in 1870.
By 1885, he'd made his way to North Texas — still a young man, still legally a minor when 1890 rolled around and he came to this very area and filed a claim. Not a visitor, not a wanderer. A man staking his ground.
That first claim was just the beginning of what would grow into extensive landholdings across Briscoe County. But here's where the story gets interesting. The Caprock — that great geological barrier that separates the High Plains from everything below — was standing between this region and the town of Silverton.
So in 1891, Schott did something about it. He built the first wagon road to Silverton, cutting through the Caprock barrier and opening a route where none had existed before. You can still find Schott Cap Road about a mile and a half north of here, and when automobiles came along, that road got improved to meet the new era.
And then in 1892, Schott helped organize Briscoe County itself. The marker calls him a major factor in the settlement of this region, and when you add it all up — the land claims, the road through the Caprock, the county organization — that's not an overstatement. He married Tina Kitchen in 1907, and together they had four children.
He supported local education, encouraged improvement of cattle herds, and kept building what he'd started back when he was still too young, by law, to sign a contract. William E. Schott was born in 1870 and died in 1941.
He came to the Caprock country as a minor with a claim and a vision, and he left it with a road, a county, and a name on a marker that drivers still pass today. That's a life that landed.
What the marker says
Briscoe County pioneer William E. Schott (1870-1941) was born in Ohio and moved to North Texas in 1885. Still legally a minor, he came to this area in 1890 and filed a claim for the first of his later extensive landholdings. In 1891 he overcame the Caprock barrier by building the first wagon road to Silverton, where in 1892 he helped organize Briscoe County. A major factor in the settlement of this region, Schott Cap Road (1.5 mi. N) was improved when auto travel began. Schott supported local education and encouraged improvement of cattle herds. He married (1907) Tina Kitchen; they had four children. (1975)