St. Jean Baptiste Los Adaes Fort Claiborne Fort Jesup Fort Towson Fort Washita Fort Belknap Fort Phantom Hill Fort Griffin Fort Richardson Fort Sill |
Fort Griffin |
Administration building after the boss blew his top. Ha! |
A view onto the colorful, scrubby north Texas prairie from the Administration building ruins. |
The only evidence of Camp Cooper and the Comanche Indian Reservation is this marker, which reads: Site of the principal village of the Comanche Indian Reservation. Established in 1854 - Here Col. Robert E. Lee, C.S.A., then commanding Camp Cooper, held a Peace Treaty with Chief Cacumseh on April 11, 1854. The U.S. and Texas established a reservation for the Comanches, which Camp Cooper protected against the encroaching white settlers. A Comanche School was founded nearby. But the white settlers terrorized them until the band was forced into Indian Territory. |
Fort Griffin Flat is now a ghost town, but offers some interesting relics, like this abandoned truss bridge. |
I discovered this precarious footbridge over the Brazos River on my way to the Camp Cooper site. |
The Flat's drunk tank, complete with grass covered roof and a cactus growing on top. |
Ranching became a mainstay at Fort Griffin (the town) once the military fort closed and the cattle drives on the Great Western Trail diminished. This is the W O O brand (Fort Griffin Echo, 1881) |
Another snippet from the Fort Griffin Echo in 1881 explains that there is NO WAY theirs was a dying town. |
The bridge at Fort Griffin (Flat) had originally cross-hatching on its lower trusses. (Library of Congress, historic structure survey). |
The Great Western Trail helped to make Fort Griffin Flat a vibrant town on the scrubby prairie. |