[1] Bolton, H. E., Athanase de Mézières, II, 33–34; see also p. 47; also, Vol. I, p. 104. [↑]
[2] Shipman, Daniel, Frontier Life: 58 Years in Texas, 1879, pp. 23–26. [↑]
[3] Edward, David B., History of Texas, Cincinnati, 1836, pp. 44–45. [↑]
LOST LEAD MINE ON THE BRAZOS, KING COUNTY
By L. D. Bertillion
Thirty-five years ago, at some horse corrals on Chickamauga Creek, just west of Dalton, Georgia, I heard Thomas Longest tell of having discovered a ledge of lead on the Salt Fork of the Brazos. I do not know whether this story is popularly told or not. Longest did not, I think, leave a way-bill to the mine.
In 1886, Thomas Longest of New York City decided to travel southwestward in search of a basis for horse dealing. He settled in Dalton, Georgia, forming a partnership with Luke Callaway, and established a livery, feed, and sale stable. In 1887, horses went up in price, and the partners came to Texas to buy five carloads of horses. They bought the horses; and then Longest remained to look over the country.
On the east side of the Brazos River at a point where the Double Mountain Fork intersects with the Salt Fork, Longest saw a steer with a very fancy head of horns. He desired to have the horns removed from the animal that he might send them to a friend in New York. Upon learning what he wanted, however, the cowboy who was with him told him that these horns [[78]]were little compared to what might be found a day’s ride to the northwest. Longest promptly set out to make the ride, the cowboy going with him only far enough to show him a crossing safe from the quicksands, and telling him the general direction of trails to what he designated as the Croton Creek.