Legends of Texas
LEGENDS OF TEXAS
EDITED BY J. FRANK DOBIE
PUBLICATIONS of the TEXAS FOLK-LORE SOCIETY Number III (SECOND EDITION) PUBLISHED BY THE TEXAS FOLK-LORE SOCIETY AUSTIN, TEXAS, 1924 Copyright, 1924, by J. Frank Dobie, Secretary of the Texas Folk-Lore Society All rights reserved
The assembling of the legends of my own state has been with me no light matter, though it has been a joyful business. Might I as editor spend as much of the next three years as I have spent of the last three in talking with people, in riding on horseback into remote places, in writing letters, in searching through Texas material, the result would no doubt be more satisfactory. The satisfaction, however, would not lie in an increased number of legends, nor in an added variety or worth, for all the widely known legends of Texas are, I think, here presented, and the swelling size of this volume has already ruled out many legends as representative and as interesting as some of those included. The increased satisfaction resulting from further research would lie in the establishment of relationships, in the tracing out of origins, and, most of all, in the fullness of the bibliography. Files of Texas newspapers would come first as a printed source for additional legendary material. These I have but dipped into, my removal to a place in which they are altogether inaccessible having cut short the investigation of them that I had planned. Considerable new material might be gained from original Spanish and Mexican documents. Texas magazines and Texas books of fiction, history, biography, and travel have been fairly well examined. The chief source of legend in a virgin field of folk-lore like that of Texas is the folk themselves; that field is not likely to be exhausted soon.
If the ballads of a nation are as important as its laws, its legends are almost as important as its ballads. Here I must confess a great hope that some man or woman who understands will seize upon these legends and use them as Irving used the legends of the Hudson and the Catskills, as Whittier used the legends of New England. People of Texas soil still have a vast body of folk-lore, and whoever will write of them with fidelity must recognize that lore as surely as Shakespeare recognized the lore of his folk, as surely as Mr. Thomas Hardy has recognized the lore of Wessex.
Unknown
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EDITOR’S PREFACE
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
LEGENDS OF BURIED TREASURE AND LOST MINES
AN INQUIRY INTO THE SOURCES OF TREASURE LEGENDS OF TEXAS
I
II
III
IV
V
THE LEGEND OF THE SAN SABA OR BOWIE MINE
I
II
III
LOST GOLD OF THE LLANO COUNTRY
I
II
LOST MINES OF THE LLANO AND SAN SABA
I
II
TREASURE LEGENDS OF McMULLEN COUNTY
The Rock Pens
A Week Too Late at the Laredo-San Antonio Crossing
The Chest at Rock Crossing on the Nueces
San Caja Mountain Legends
The Mines
Loma de Siete Piedras
The Metate Rocks of Loma Alta
When Two Parallel Lines Intersected
A Lucky Post Hole
LEGENDARY SPANISH FORTS DOWN THE NUECES
Fort Ramirez on the Ramireña
I
II
The Legend of Casa Blanca
Lutzer’s Find at Fort Planticlan
TREASURE CHEST ON THE NUECES
THE BATTLEFIELDS OF PALO ALTO AND RESACA DE LA PALMA IN LEGEND
I
II
HOW DOLLARS TURNED INTO BUMBLE BEES AND OTHER LEGENDS
I
II
III
NATIVE TREASURE TALK UP THE FRIO
THE SILVER LEDGE ON THE FRIO
LOST MINES NEAR SABINAL
I
II
MYSTERIOUS GOLD MINE OF THE GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS
LOST COPPER MINES AND SPANISH GOLD, HASKELL COUNTY
LOST LEAD MINE ON THE BRAZOS, KING COUNTY
THE ACCURSED GOLD IN THE SANTA ANNA MOUNTAINS
THE HOLE OF GOLD NEAR WICHITA FALLS
BURIED TREASURE LEGENDS OF COOKE COUNTY
I
II
III
THE TREASURE CANNON ON THE NECHES
THE DREAM WOMAN AND THE WHITE ROSE BUSH
STEINHEIMER’S MILLIONS
THE SNIVELY LEGEND
I
II
III
BURIED TREASURE LEGENDS OF MILAM COUNTY
I
II
III
THE WAGON-LOAD OF SILVER IN CLEAR FORK CREEK
MORO’S GOLD
LEGENDS OF THE SUPERNATURAL
THE LEGEND OF STAMPEDE MESA
THE WOMAN OF THE WESTERN STAR: A LEGEND OF THE RANGERS
He Cometh!
La Noche Triste
The Day of Events
He Returns
THE LEGEND OF CHEETWAH
THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN IN BLUE
THE HEADLESS SQUATTER
MYSTERIOUS MUSIC IN THE SAN BERNARD RIVER
THE DEATH BELL OF THE BRAZOS
THE LEGEND OF THE SALT MARSHES (SAN LUIS PASS, BRAZORIA COUNTY)
RHYMES OF GALVESTON BAY
THE BOAT THAT NEVER SAILED
BAFFLE POINT
POINT SESENTA
GUMMAN GRO
LEGENDS OF LOVERS
LEGENDS OF LOVERS
THE ENCHANTED ROCK IN LLANO COUNTY
FRANCESCA: A LEGEND OF OLD FORT STOCKTON
LOVER’S RETREAT AND LOVERS’ RETREAT (PALO PINTO)
I
II
III
LOVER’S LEAP IN KIMBLE COUNTY
THE WAITING WOMAN
I
II
III
IV
PIRATES AND PIRATE TREASURE IN LEGEND
LIFE AND LEGENDS OF LAFITTE THE PIRATE
I
II
III
IV
V
THE UNEASY GHOST OF LAFITTE
LAFITTE LORE
LEGENDARY ORIGINS OF TEXAS FLOWERS, NAMES, AND STREAMS
AN INDIAN LEGEND OF THE BLUE BONNET
THE LEGEND OF EAGLE LAKE
THE HOLY SPRING OF FATHER MARGIL AT NACOGDOCHES
HOW MEDICINE MOUNDS OF HARDEMAN COUNTY GOT THEIR NAME
THE NAMING OF METHEGLIN CREEK, BELL COUNTY
HOW DEAD HORSE CANYON GOT ITS NAME
HOW THE BRAZOS RIVER GOT ITS NAME
I
II
III
IV
V
HOW THE BRAZOS AND THE COLORADO ORIGINATED
MISCELLANEOUS LEGENDS
THE WHITE STEED OF THE PRAIRIES
THE WHITE STEED OF THE PRAIRIES
THE LEGEND OF SAM BASS
THE HORN WORSHIPERS
THE CAVE OF MONTEZUMA
THE FIRST CORN CROP IN TEXAS
LA CASA DEL SANTA ANNA
LOST CANYON OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY
I
II
A TRADITION OF LA SALLE’S EXPEDITION INTO TEXAS
BIG FOOT AND LITTLE FOOT
THE WILD WOMAN OF THE NAVIDAD
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TEXAS LEGENDS
TREASURE LEGENDS
CONTRIBUTORS
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NINTH ANNUAL MEETING (1923) OF THE TEXAS FOLK-LORE SOCIETY
I
II
III
MEMBERS OF THE TEXAS FOLK-LORE SOCIETY, 1924
I
II
III
IV
INDEX
PUBLICATIONS OF THE TEXAS FOLK-LORE SOCIETY
MEMBERSHIP IN THE TEXAS FOLK-LORE SOCIETY
Colophon
Availability
Metadata
Revision History
Corrections
