Exploring the Edges of Texas

13. A Singular Object from Texas

ChaPTEr 13 a singular object from Texas Hearing more of this singular metal, to which they attributed singular virtues in curing diseases, I resolved to obtain permission to see it if I could and proposed to them to go with me. Anthony Glass, Journal of an Indian Trader: Anthony Glass and The Texas Trading Frontier uPsTrEamfrommErEDiThEDwarDs’sfarm, the Red River twists and turns through a series of horseshoe bends north of Clarksville, Paris, and Bonham before reaching Denison Dam and massive Lake Texoma. To travel farther upriver is to leave the forests of East Texas behind and enter a region of prairies and crosstimbers. Nomadic bands of Comanche and Kiowa hunted bison here. More sedentary people related to the Caddo planted fields of corn, beans, and melons in the floodplain of the river.1 Around 1757, a mixed group of Taovaya and Wichita people established a large village near present-day Spanish Fort, fifty miles east of Wichita Falls and ten miles north of Nocona. An unusual palisade fence, probably inspired by French traders, protected an exceptionally large and diverse population thriving under the enlightened leadership of aTaovaya chief named Awahakei.Historian Dan Flores calls it“the most important Euroamerican trade base on the Southern Plains.”2 It was also the place where an American trader in 1808 first heard of a “singular object” that would spark an international incident and lead to a startling scientific discovery. The “singular object” before leaving Texas ChaPTEr 13 { 180 } John Sibley, an Indian agent stationed in Natchitoches, Louisiana, received word that chief Awahakei was interested in trading with Americans . Sibley authorized Anthony Glass to make the trip deep into what was technically New Spain, and required him to keep a written record of his travels. Glass arrived in the village on August 11, 1808, and soon befriended a Spaniard known asTatesuck. Captured as a child and raised by the Indians, Tatesuck elected to stay with his adopted people rather than return to his home when given a chance. Glass described him as, “the most distinguished man in the nation as a warrior and the first Leader of war parties . . . a Brave, Subtle and intrepid man.”3 Tatesuck told Glass of a singular object“some days journey distant to the southward on the waters of River Brassos [Brazos].” The object was venerated for its ability to cure diseases. More significant to Glass, it was described as being a metal, like iron, that did not rust. The trader thought it might be “Platina [platinum] or something of great value, no white man at this time had seen it.”4 Glass persuaded Tatesuck to take him to see this wonder. They left the village on October 3, traveled southwest, and two weeks later Glass recorded in his journal: We approached the place where the metal was; the Indians observing considerable ceremony as they approached. We found it resting on its heaviest end and leaning towards one side and under it were some Pipes and Trinkets which had been placed there by some Indians who had been healed by visiting it. The mass was but very little bedded in the place where we found it. There is no reason to think it had ever been moved by man. It had the colour of Iron, but no rust upon it. The Indians had contrived with Chisels they had made of old files to cut off some small pieces which they had hammered out to their fancy . . . it was obedient to the magnet—. Very malable [sic] would take a brilliant polish and give fire with a flint. I had some scales cut off and left it.5 a singular object from Texas { 181 } Glass went on to capture a large herd of Texas mustangs, and the following March he and his men started the long trip home. Arriving in Natchitoches the first week of May 1809, the trader delivered to Indian agent Sibley the journal in which he had recorded the nature of the land he explored and the people who inhabited it. On May 10, Sibley sent an urgent letter to U.S. Secretary of War William Eustis reporting that Glass: Saw in Large Masses of many thousands of pounds weight a Singular Kind of Mineral . . . If it is not Platina, I do not know what it is; I have Some of it in my possession & have Sent a piece of it to Philadelphia to be tried...