Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

When an area has a natural resource in abundance it will naturally attract visitors. This was the case with Saint Jo, a small town in North Texas. Before the name was changed to Saint Jo, it was commonly known as Head of Elm, due to its being the headwaters of the Trinity River, a vital water source for Dallas and its surrounding area.

All during the time the United States was expanding, growing, and exploring the land beyond the horizon west, the pure water of the springs around this small village, became an important stop over for the cattle in their drives to Kansas and the U.S. Army’s surveyors, even during the time Spain, and then later Mexico considered this to be part of the country they owned.

Not only were there ample pure water springs, but the countryside was home of a large quantity of game, buffalo, deer, and antelope. Probably, during this time this stop was visited by junior officers of the U.S. Army, such as Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and others, long before they played their part in Civil War.

After this war, officers of the Confederacy returned home, and then moved west for greater opportunities. One of those was Head of Elm. This was the last stop within what was considered civilization for trail herds of longhorn cattle driven to market at the railroads in Kansas. One of these was Captain Boggess, who purchased a large plot of land, later to have a portion surveyed and became the Saint Jo Township. It was less than 15-20 miles from Indian Territory.

As proof, one of these was a dugout on the top of escarpment. It had been used by the Native Americans who had dug steps up to the top, where a shallow caver had been dug and allowed protection of the elements but with the panoramic view for possible attacks of hostile tribes.

Little is now known about the size of the population, but it could have been sizeable, given the fertility of the Red River basin. Between the Comanche, Kiowa, and Tao Vaya tribes there was a strong trading relationship. Together, they also had a strong defense around a fort they had built on the Red River. They defeated a strong Spanish force sent to punish them for a presumed raid and destruction of a Spanish Mission in or around San Saba, Texas. Because there was no person left, the American settlers assumed it was Spanish.

Early American settlers who ventured this far west in the early, mid 1800’s, found fierce opposition by both Comanche and Kiowa tribes. There were a lot of atrocities committed in and around Saint Jo, in Montague County.

The final name of Saint Jo has been one of controversy but has remained in place. The story goes that the former Confederate officers surveying and laying out streets would regularly return to the town’s square for refreshment of moonshine whiskey. Because one of this group refused to partake in hard liquor, the sobriquet of Saint Jo was made, probably just as a joke. So, the joke of this name stuck. Today the town’s name, as well as population has remained around 1,200. The fluctuation as the result of ‘boom or bust’ cycles of new oil wells being discovered or being depleted.

Captain Boggess had a trading post in Spanish Fort. He chose to have the door of his post made of Bois D Arc. He said it would not crack or shatter when hit by bullets. Later, when he built a new home in Saint Jo, he had this door removed from Sanish Fort and installed at his new home. Even later, at his death, he had requested his coffin be covered by this door! Just Sayin…RJS

FixorFish Loc: SW Oregon

Another interesting story RJS, thanks !

And yes, that wood, aka "Osage Orange" or "hedgeapple".....as Kansas cattlemen called it, is phenomenal in its characteristics.
I once warned a buddy of mine not to load his new woodstove solely with "hedge", as it would be waaaay too hot . The fool ignored my advice and MELTED TO DISTORTION his brand new Vermont Castings stove !!! Called me a couple of days later to apologize for not heeding my words.....hehehe.

Have no idea what ever happened to it, but I recall my Dad helping me make a bow from hedge. The first try, I (at 13 or 14yo) couldn't possibly draw it, and spent at least a couple more days trying, and eventually succeeded, to pare it down enough....and evenly, that I was able to draw it. Damn sturdy stuff in the wood world !

PS....and as boys, we used the nasty thorns, lashed on with dental floss, on our crude arrows and spears as "deadly points"....hehehe.

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

Whether true or fable, Bois D Arc stock for bows was favored by Indian tribes far removed from the source, so they were valuable trading items. It was rumored that a good bow was worth a bride! The original location was a 50 mile wide strip, running roughly from Waco up to the corner of Oklahoma to Arkansas. Just Sayin...RJS-

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

Oh! I forgot to mention that I am a high school graduate of Saint Jo High School. Just Sayin...RJS

FixorFish Loc: SW Oregon

Strip of "Bois d'Arc" ? Must've been widely transported then....clear up to the Flint Hills of Kansas.
My Great Grandfather "fenced" in his cattle in with it over several hundreds of acres of pastureland since the 1870s. Finally replaced with barbed wire by my Grandfather about the turn of the century, using what few "straight-ish" limbs for fenceposts (not a lot of choices on the near tree-less prairies of Kansas) he could. While some of our pastureland had already had the posts replaced by steel posts over the decades since, my Dad and I replaced a long stretch of perimeter fencing on one pasture, in the mid-60s, that still had "hedge posts". Gnarly as they were, most had NOT ROTTED OFF (!) as Dad had expected they would be. Absolutely a b*tch pulling the old staples to free the rusty barbed wire to be coiled and rid of. Certainly had my goatskin gloves on, and kept up on my tetanus shots, those years !

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

You are absolutely correct about the lifetime of a Bois D Arc fence post, or for that matter a foundation of a barn, or log cabin. The saying about Bois D Arc trees, which were used as hedge rows, they would be "Horse high, Bull tough, and Hog proof"! Some say this was the idea for barbed wire! When there was a crying need, the first, best solution here was a Bois D Arc tree. Just Sayin...RJS

FixorFish Loc: SW Oregon

And as a kid, those "hedge apples" were great "ammo" to throw at one another....just don't get hit in the face with one ! Will certainly bloody your nose....been there, done that !

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

Yes, they were fun. Once we were visiting friends in Dallas. These friends lived on a street where the house was much higher than the city street. We would roll 'Hedge Apples' down the driveway in front of passing cars. The drivers would try to avoid this sudden item crossing the street, but it was jolly fun for us.

You might 'google' the anti-insect properties often given to the 'hedge' apples they were reputed to have. Just Sayin...RJS

FixorFish Loc: SW Oregon

👍