Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-03-24

10 nothing 1dFlneT west II is TIT
jumping on place. West there i:
nothing-not a postoffice, a grocery
or hotel. 1t is as far west as civ
flization goes.
On your map you will find traced
rather crooked stream from Sonora
er- | drove a mule down it's bed
er. l l drove a mule down it's bed
for over one hundred miles and
do not believe that anywhere on the
course for sixty miles could a damp
stone be found if you dug for fifty
feet. DEVILS River it is indeed, if
it ever rains out here, for this great
draw is the drain for hundred mile!
and when general rains come this
channel is raging, dangerous tor
rent
Your Biographies tell you that ives
Texas is plains country. wish the
man who wrote this misstatement
could follow down dry Devils river
from Sutton county to the Rio Gran
de for west Texas history would then
change.
This great draw, in places two mile
wide, and again narrowing down to
three hundred yards apparently was
once a great river. For over a hun
dred miles it is lined by bare bluffs
as high as the Allegany mountains
| these bluffs running back many miles
| in every direction, and forming can
yons-tributaries to the big draw.
The trip down this dry river is one
traveller will never forget, because
of its weirdness, it's desolation, it's
dryness, its heat, its strangeness.
Shut in this great valley, and looking
up at the walls of rock and sand on
either side, one will occasionally stop
and wonder where he is at-won-
der if he is still in the United States.
These hills are different than any
hills you ever saw. There is
strangeness associated with them
and an awesome feeling comes over
you. 1t seems as if the baked buttes
had been heaved up from below, push
ed up ages ago by some volcanic
action, and had ever since been wait
ing for the moisture that never come
Many Of the hills are as devoid of
hot to ToI,Y foil 20
head of hair, acres and acres cover
ed with sand and stones, stones as
small as marbles and as large as
houses. Then will come miles of
cacti, cat claw, soto, dwarf oak,
Spanish dagger and sicaweista. Hun
dreds of caves are hidden in these
bluffs, the homes of coyoutes, pan
Tiers, loafers and wildcats, and thous
ands of pounds of honey are hidden
in these chambers.
Hunting? Well, if you could only
find your back you could go up al
most any of the side draws and
start a deer. They abound in these
hills and the roughness of the coun-
| try protects them and will for many
years to come. But unless one has
one of the old times for guide, he
had better shoot quail in the main
draw, for the country is maze,
and he will become hopelessly lost
in an hour. Every draw looks just
| like the other draw, crossing, in
tersecting and winding, and to be-
come lost in these canyons, with
not ranch house in fifty miles, is
dangerous. But any tenderfoot is eau
toned when lost to climb to the top
of the highest peak he can find, makH
smoke signals and wait for someone
to come and get him.
There are panthers on these hills
as big as yearlings; wild turkeys
are numerous, deer are plentiful.
there are few bears, while wolves,
wildcats, and vivie cats can be start
ed anywhere.
And after hours of riding through
the hot drains we come to Juno.
This COW town is 125 miles southwest
of San Angola nice little three
days drive. 1t is probably the most
peaceful and the widest and the
wickedest west Texas COW town and
one of the oldest towns of the Devils
River country. Two general stores,
a smith shop, a hotel and a saloon
make up the town. But the saloon
should have been named first for it
is the magnet. Without it Juno would
long since have been lost from the
map.
Every Saturday the cowboys come
in from the canyons and until Mon
day morning there is anything in the
way of wild west entertainment one
wants to see. And when these common
DRINKS become monotonous, a barbi-
cue is pulled off The "09' boys
come in to clean up for the tailor
shop outfit and west Texas makes
history.
Why men will live in these desert
hills and canyons l cannot understant
| talked with a bright young puncher
regarding his life, and found he was
Just home from the rich cotton lands
of Texas. and glad TO be back.
This is sure 'nough a sorry coun-
try, but l wouldn't give one of these
little ole sand hills for all the coun-
try west of DEVILS River
Such is love of home.
Almost the whole west half of Tex
a. from, noaf Smith country to the