DUANE
Duane's take
Now, what I'm about to tell you comes straight off an official Texas Historical Commission marker — this is my telling of what that stone remembers. Picture a narrow strip of sandy timberland cutting through North Texas like a natural fence nobody asked for but everybody had to reckon with. They called it the Eastern Cross Timbers, and it sat right between the Blackland Prairie and the Grand Prairie, separating those two great open stretches the way a spine holds a body together.
One million acres of it. Just this one strip. And west of the Grand Prairie, there was more — the Western Cross Timbers, covering about two point seven million acres.
Two great wooded corridors, and between them, some of the richest meeting grounds this part of the continent ever knew. Now why would anybody want to set up camp in the Cross Timbers? Well, let me count the reasons.
Mild climate. Good soil. Frequent rains.
The nearby prairies were running heavy with buffalo and horses. There were salt licks and fresh water springs, trees enough for fuel, good grass, and game for food and hides. If you were trying to live off this land, the Cross Timbers had thought of just about everything you needed.
So people came. The Indians camped here, drawn by all of that. And during the 18th century, it was the Wichita Indians — Caddoan stock — who roamed this area.
They weren't alone for long. Southern plains tribes, the Kiowa and the Comanche, often wintered here, and they traded with the Wichita. Cultural exchanges took root.
Trade routes developed between flint sources in the south and tribes coming down from the north. This strip of sandy timberland was, in its own quiet way, a crossroads. By 1720, the French showed up.
Traders, opening posts, bartering with the Indians. Then the Spanish moved through, traveling toward their mission outposts further on. Layer upon layer of peoples passing through or settling in, reading this land as the valuable thing it was.
Then came the 1840s, and with them, Anglo-American settlement. And whenever settlement arrived in Texas, clashes followed. They followed here too.
The turning point — if you're looking for one moment when the balance shifted — came on May 24, 1841. The Battle of Village Creek, just a few miles west of where that marker stands. After that fight, the Indians withdrew to the west, and the land passed to the white settlers.
A million acres of timberland. Centuries of trade and wintering and exchange, of French traders and Spanish travelers and Wichita and Comanche and Kiowa — and then, in one May battle in 1841, the long story of this place turned a corner it never turned back from. The Cross Timbers are still there.
But the world they once held together is gone.
What the marker says
This narrow strip of sandy timberland, called "The Eastern Cross Timbers", separates the Blackland Prairie and the Grand Prairie. It covers about one million acres. Indians camped here because the mild climate, good soil, frequent rains and nearby prairies supported large herds of buffalo and horses. There were salt licks, fresh water springs, trees for fuel, and good grass. They also found game for food and hides. West of the Grand Prairie, covering about 2.7 million acres, is "The Western Cross Timbers". During the 18th century Wichita Indians, of Caddoan stock roamed this area. Southern plains tribes, such as the Kiowa and the Comanche, often wintered here and traded with them. Cultural exchanges occurred here as trade routes developed between flint sources in the south and tribes from the north. By 1720 French traders came. They opened the trading posts and bartered with the Indians. The Spanish moved through, traveling to their Mission outposts. Settlement in the 1840s by Anglo-Americans led to clashes. A turning point came on May 24, 1841, with the battle of Village Creek, a few miles west of this site. The Indians withdrew to the west, leaving the land to the white settlers. (1979)