Old Campsites

[dusty texian]

Dont know if other's find this kind of thing interesting,like I do. Have been lucky enough throughout life to get to roam some of the Texas wild back country. Over the yr's. have came across a few campsites that had to be from very long ago. I alway's find stumbling upon one of these places as somthing special. You can just feel the History by standing at an old campsite ,look around and you can see why this spot was choosen. A bluff for protection or a hilltop for a comanding view. One I ran across ,many yr's ago while deer hunting with my two young girls at the time. Was out in Blanco Co. Tx. We were in some thick timber only about a mile from the old ranch headquarter's House circa 1860. We found what was left to a hidden camp,from that spot one could keep an eye on the old house. Look's like they left in a hurry as we found an old skillet one old lantern,a cup,and some broken glass. We figgured it was a lookout for the old house wich had many attack from hostile Indian's up until the early 1870's. Gun port's at ground level on the old place. Another camp I ran across not long ago ,was on the Muleshoe ranch Far West Tx. in a deep canyon about 200ft. from the canyon floor ,A place that would be hidden until someone was very near it. Here I think this camp was a hideout used often. This country was an outlaw heaven in the old days.Not much different now day's just a different trade going on. Deep canyon country good to hide a herd in.The last train robbery in Tx. was held just 25 mi. north of this place ,and the Rio Grande and Old Mexico,is just 3.5 mi. south. At the campsite I found many pieces of broken glass and porcelin, old tobaco tin's. An old cast iron stove in pieces that I would bet was brought there in pieces ,as no wagon can get to that rough canyon.Have picked up some old bottles ,but for the most part just left it as I found it. Would like the Youngun's to be able to see it as it is. In yr's to come. Well sorry for being  long winded . If any other's have ran upon this kind of deal. I would like to hear about it. A pic. of the castiron stove parts as they lay ,at the old campsite location, Will try to post pic. latter for some reason web will not let me now,,,,,,,,,Dusty

[Oregon Bill]

Dusty, this kind of thing really gets my blood pumping. Out here in the high desert of central Oregon, such sites are more likely to be very old -- prehistoric. Maybe it is just my imagination, but I find that if I am quiet, and have a respectful heart for the Ones who have Gone Before, I can feel their presence.
Would love to see a photo or two. You are very fortunate to be able to wander in Texas, as virtually the whole state is private property. More than half of Oregon is public land.

[dusty texian]

Dont think it's your imagination Brother Bill,Get the same feeling.,,,,,,,Dusty Will try the pic. again.

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[Major 2]

WOW... a old stove made by Hilary Clinton 

[dusty texian]

Dont think she made it Major. But look's like they named it after her. Bless her little heart.,,,,,,,Dusty

[Tsalagidave]

LOL! Great find Dusty.

-Dave

[Major 2]

Dont think she made it Major. But look's like they named it after her. Bless her little heart.,,,,,,,Dusty

That's it named after her, to look at her, quite sure she is older

[Jack Wagon]

Although not a campsite, a lot of old gold rush era towns are seeing the light of day for the first time in decades due to the California drought. I have been riding my bike out on the lake bed of Folsom Lake and recorded some of my finds. On the big side there is a complete bridge and on the small side, blacksmith made nails, broken ceramics and part of a powder flask. It is kind of a unique opportunity that hopefully I will not have again.   JW

[RattlesnakeJack]

Quite a few years ago I was out deer hunting here in southeastern Alberta with a couple of fellow black powder shooters/rendezvousers, and we got permission from a landowner to follow a creek valley back up into his land.  This is very open prairie with few if any trees, but quite rolling .... and the creek valley was fairly deep. We were keeping to the high ground and topped a bit of a rise to look down into a beautiful, hidden "bowl" with a large flat bottom which the creek snaked back and forth across, sheltered enough to contain a fair number of trees and clumps of brush along the creek banks.  We stopped and began commenting on what a gorgeous location it would be for a buckskinning rendezvous .... and then began to see old stone teepee rings scattered across the entire valley floor!  Obviously it had been a well-used camping location for the native Indians.  Needless to say, we forgot hunting for a while to poke around .... it was an experience none of us have ever forgotten.   Interestingly, there were a couple of lodge rings up on the high ground .... one on each side of the bowl.  We weren't sure why isolated teepees would have been located up top ..... perhaps ceremonial lodges? 

[Oregon Bill]

First Jack: Thanks for sharing that very fine video.
Second Jack: Moments like that, when you realized you were staring at tepee rings, give me the shivers. What a great memory. I recall hunting deer on a basalt rim with my father 30 years ago. We stopped to eat a sandwich in a little dry wash littered with obsidian flakes. Then, in the middle of a bite of PB&J, I realized the funny scratches on the rock in front of me were petroglyphs.

[Tascosa Joe]

Back in the late '70s we Rendezvoused with a group in Southeastern Colorado, one of our semi regular sites was on the North side of the Purgatory River between La Junta and Las Animas.  There were 2 "tipi rings" and a few petroglyphs in the rocks, a really neat mysterious place.

I was selling cow feed for a living at the time and I was on a lot of the ranches in that area.  There were many old abandon homesteads in the area.  Folks that starved out during the dust bowl and a few years before.  Standing in those places always made me wonder about the folks that lived there.  I found a coin and 1/2 of a cast iron horse toy at an old broken down stone house and corrals.  I always called that country the "Land of Broken Dreams".

[Oregon Bill]

Joe, the "Land of Broken Dreams" is most apt, amigo.
The high desert here is littered with the traces of turn-of-the-century homesteaders who didn't make it. The wind sighing through the gaps in the weathered clapboard sings a mournful tune, and the dusty little cemeteries mostly just catch tumbleweed.

[GunClick Rick]

Back in the late '70s we Rendezvoused with a group in Southeastern Colorado, one of our semi regular sites was on the North side of the Purgatory River between La Junta and Las Animas.  There were 2 "tipi rings" and a few petroglyphs in the rocks, a really neat mysterious place.

I was selling cow feed for a living at the time and I was on a lot of the ranches in that area.  There were many old abandon homesteads in the area.  Folks that starved out during the dust bowl and a few years before.  Standing in those places always made me wonder about the folks that lived there.  I found a coin and 1/2 of a cast iron horse toy at an old broken down stone house and corrals.  I always called that country the "Land of Broken Dreams".

Just a point of interest to go with your story,here's what happenned to some of them.My grandparents and mother interviewed by Look magazine in 1952.