Table of Contents
Preface 9
Part I A Forbidding Land
Easter Fires 11
The Scalping of Josiah Wilbarger 14
Packsaddle Mountain 16
Trail of the Tonkawas 19
Enchanted Rock 21
Llano Gold 24
Barringer Hill 26
Charcoal Burners and Cedar Choppers 28
White Gold 32
Capitals of Texas 34
Part II The Good, the Bad and the Witty
Wild Ram of the Mountains 39
Blind Man's Town 42
The First War Correspondent 44
The Steamboat Hotel 46
Treu Der Union 49
Jim Bowie and his Knife 52
The Name Rings a Bell 54
Jacob Brodbeck Takes Flight 57
Alex Sweet and his Siftings 60
O. Henry in Texas 62
Part III From Dinosaurs to Polo
In Praise of the Unappreciated Mule 65
Camels for Texas 68
First in War, First in Polo 71
Cowboy King of Polo 73
Batty in Texas 75
The Strange Saga of Tom Slick 78
Plight of the Pleurocoeleus 81
Ode to the Horny Toad 84
Home with the Armadillo 87
A Bluebonnet by Any Other Name 90
Part IV Texas Originals
From Sad Irons to Big Dams 93
Sharpshooters Ad and Plinky Toepperwein 97
Old Yeller Country 100
Roy Bedichek: Texas Original 103
Everybody's Somebody in Luckenbach 106
The Bamberger Place 108
Thanksgiving as a Texas Thang 112
The Reindeer of Texas 114
Bibliography 119
Index 123
About the Author 127