See the turkeys in the grass? This is what the Comanches saw when they lived here and what the soldiers saw when they came to protect the settlers from the Comanche raids.
This is
Fort Richardson outside Jacksboro, Texas, in North Central Texas. Wikipedia tells us: "
It was one installation in a system of forts along the Texas frontier to protect and encourage settlement in north central and west Texas. Other forts in the frontier fort system were Forts Griffin, Concho, Belknap, Chadbourne, Fort Stockton, Fort Davis, Fort Bliss, McKavett, Clark, Fort McIntosh, Fort Inge and Phantom Hill in Texas, and Fort Sill in Oklahoma.
There were "sub posts or intermediate stations" including Bothwick's
Station on Salt Creek between Fort Richardson and Fort Belknap, Camp
Wichita near Buffalo Springs between Fort Richardson and Red River Station, and Mountain Pass between Fort Concho and Fort Griffin."
Much of the landscape looks as it might have looked when
Fort Richardson was established in 1867. However, the mesquite trees and prickly pear cactus were not nearly as abundant - the mesquite not being native to this area, but brought here when the monks first came to Christianize Texas. They fed mesquite beans to their mules who planted them along the way from Mexico.
After a nice outing in the sun, we went into Jacksboro to eat at the best hamburger joint in Texas -
Herd's. Best burgers I have eaten!
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