Dinosaur Highway: A History of Dinosaur Valley State Park

Chapter Three: Making Tracks

29 CHAPTER THREE Making Tracks: Moonshiners, Model Ts, and the Lime Mud Strider The scenic background of rugged cedar-covered hills has a quieting effect upon the taut nerves of both the mad moving city folk and the monotony mad farmer folk.1 Elna Martin Glen Rose and Geo. P. Snyder: A Texas Town, The American Coue At the dawn of the twentieth century, Glen Rose trumpeted its Northern Hill Country to a growing flock of recreation seekers and health advocates as it entered its heyday as a resort town. With a seemingly limitless water supply and a pleasant climate, county residents utilized the natural resources the countryside had to offer. Somervell County’s 3,498 inhabitants in 1900 included 1,002 children of school age. In addition to the staples of cotton, corn, wheat, oats, and some sugar cane, farmers also produced varieties of plums, peaches, pears, melons, grapes, and berries. The value of pasturage ranged from $3 to $8 per acre, and valley tracts sold from $10 to $35 an acre.2 The Lanham Mill community saw new landowners move into the Paluxy Valley in the early 1900s. Like those who preceded them, these families contributed significantly to the development of the region and left their own legacies to the settlement. Houston Obediah Tidwell, for example, who purchased 179 acres in 1900, supplied a vital service to the farming community, which had been without a gin after the Lanham facility burned in 1898. When Tidwell purchased his property, he established a steam-powered gin across the creek from the old mill site. His son Percy opened a grocery store, and the Tidwell farm became a sort of community within a community. Children who could not pronounce the name Tidwell said “Tiddle” instead and dubbed this busy center of agricultural commerce “Tiddle Town.”3 30 Farmers operate a horse-drawn thresher during the wheat harvest in the Lanham Mill community in 1912. Men up and down the Paluxy Valley usually came to help. Courtesy Novella Wilson DINOSAUR HIGHWAY Unfortunately, Tidwell’s short-lived gin suffered a sad fate as one of the victims of Somervell County’s devastating 1902 tornado. Ominous gunmetal clouds swirled over the valley on April 28, 1902. A twister touched down and tore a deadly trail east. The cyclone damaged the Tidwell gin, uprooted trees, crumbled walls, and blew over smokehouses in its path. It finally lifted, leaving behind a frightened settlement, but thankfully no loss of life in Lanham Mill.4 The same funnel cloud, however, descended again and raged through downtown Glen Rose. There the tornado killed six people, destroyed thirty-six commercial buildings and twenty-five family homes, and damaged countless other structures. Determined citizens rebuilt, but the memory of that historic and tragic weather event has lingered for more than a hundred years. Locals still refer to Hereford Street, the scene of the worst destruction, as Cyclone Street. As for Lanham Mill, the twister compelled every household to dig a cellar in preparation for future storms.5 Though the Tidwell gin was eventually repaired, the Tidwells sold their land, and the gin was later relocated to the village of Rainbow in the eastern part of the county. Farmer Gabriel T. Daniel and his wife Mary Ann later bought the Tidwell property and probably moved into the Percy Tidwell store. Their son Joe inherited the farm which would be known as the Daniel place for several decades.6 31 The Tidwell gin opened in 1900 and served farmers in the Paluxy Valley. Children called this center of commerce “Tiddle Town.” Courtesy Novella Wilson MAKING TRACKS Jacob T. Martin, a Civil War veteran from Illinois, had purchased real estate in the Lanham Mill area (and the present park) as early as 1893, when he bought a 110-acre parcel from V.M. Cox. In the early 1900s his farm adjoined another 110-acre tract, the land of his son Isaac Edgar Martin, who married Ollie Mae Lanham, the daughter of pioneer William Lanham. Ed and Ollie built a farmhouse on high ground within walking distance of the Blue Hole. Their farm would one day comprise the heart of Dinosaur Valley State Park inside the bend of the Paluxy and include the sites of the headquarters and playground. The Martin home sheltered many families through the years and stood near the site of the park store.7 Perhaps the most important contribution...