The following accounts are histories of the locale known as Hart Camp, NW of Lubbock, Texas:
”As a boy, about 1949, a Mr. and Mrs. Hart [he couldn’t remember their
names] came to their door, looking for Hart Camp. When his father, Ray, directed
them back toward the little village of Hart Camp, the man said, “that isn’t Hart
Camp.” Bill’s family owned the property enclosing the original site and
this man was permitted to visit. From the Johnson home site, he walked back into
Blackwater Draw [through which passes the headwaters of the Double Mountain Fork of the
Brazos River] and found a depression in the bank. He informed Bill’s father,
Ray, 'this was my home for three or four years. There were still two dugouts from
the original camp site existing at that time.”
[He was able to provide the author a physical and legal description of the site: “1.5
mi. E of Hart Camp [present day] on road to Cotton Center – NW portion of L.B. 102,
Section 32, R. M. Thomson Block B.” The present owner is Bill Thompson, of
Fieldton, Texas, and his phone number is (806) 262-5884. He was known by Bill
Johnson to be something of a history buff, so he would presumably welcome inquiries.]
“When buffalo became scarce everywhere else, an old buffalo hunter named Hart
discovered a few herds hiding in the eastern portion of the Sand Hills. He
established a camp at his dugout on the north ledge of Blackwater Draw one mile and
one-half east of present day Hart Camp. Frank and Bob Norfleet, as well as other
pioneers, referred to the site by the long water hole in the draw as “Hart’s
Camp.”
“The site of Hart’s old dugout was further identified by a couple from
California, who many years ago came to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Johnson on the draw
east of present day Hart Camp. They told Johnson that 50 years ago, they had
honeymooned in a dugout at Hart’s Camp. When Johnson told them that was on down
the road, they replied, ‘No, that’s not Hart’s Camp! We lived in a
dugout right here on this place – facing the draw.’ (The Johnson’s
home nearby also faced the old wagon road along the draw, and the back of the house faces
the present day road. The old wagon road was the well-travelled trail between Fort
Griffin and Fort Sumner and is also known as one of Colonel Ranald S. MacKenzie’s
trails.)”
#147;The late Carl Williams recalled that his father, W. J. “Jeff” Williams,
resurveyed the controversial boundary lines and, eventually, found the buffalo heads in
the mound that was the starting point for the original survey. Pioneer surveyors, O.
W. Williams (no relation to pioneer surveyor, Jeff Williams) made this original survey for
his employer, E. M. Powell, in the summer of 1878. It was the first land patented in
Lamb County. It was patented to William M. Weber of Mt. Vernon, Kentucky for a
railroad company.”
“According to the Lamb County Deed Records, this historic site was originally
described as follows: ‘In Lamb County, known as Survey No. 3, Block B, on the water
of the North Fork of Double Mountain Fork, a tributary of Brazos River about 28 miles
north and 17 miles west from the mouth of Yellowhouse Creek, and 12 miles S 82 feet east
from the center of the county by virtue of land script no. 414.’ (Note: Some early
surveyors and pioneers referred to present day Blackwater Draw as the North Fork of the
Yellowhouse. The draw was shown on the old military map with the “Landmark
Sites” Story in Chapter I as Thompson’s Canyon.)”
“In the early 1880s, the Circle Ranch, owned by the Morrison brothers began to use
the water hole and established their South Camp in a dugout southeast of Hart’s old
dugout. Colonel C. C. Slaughter purchased the ranch and later used the dugout as the
south camp of the Runningwater Land and Cattle Company.”
In the 1890s, J. Frank Norfleet, foreman of the Spade Ranch, and his brother-in-law, N. C.
Payne, a windmiller on the ranch, homesteaded on two choice tracts of land. Their
land included important water holes, Hart’s old dugout site, and the Slaughter
dugout. Norfleet’s son, Frank Ellwood “Pete,” thought his father
probably lived in the Slaughter dugout while building the Spade Ranch headquarters several
miles to the south.”
[Ed. Note: This book has the call letters 976.4 L [Reference] and can be found at
the Lamb County Library in Littlefield, Texas.]
As we can see, there are some differences as to the origin of this locale. To reconcile these stories, we note the book’s version includes much earlier dates than 1892, so apparently another HART did develop the site originally. For example, during the 1880s, which the book refers to as the period the locale was owned by Circle Ranch, John and Lonnie were still boys with their parents in Cooke Co., Texas. It is interesting to speculate on whether or not this “old buffalo hunter” was known to our HART family.
It is interesting too that the book refers to Mr. Ray Johnson believing a couple from California dropped by. Considering the date given by his son, Bill, John Hart had already passed away, but Lonnie was still living. This couple could have been Mr. and Mrs. Erlon Frederick “Lonnie” Hart. He was known to have lived for years in Hollywood, New Mexico [nr. present day Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs]. It is quite possible, over the years, the reference to Hollywood became confused with the couple coming all the way from California.
Author: Roger L. Roberson, Jr. • Last updated: 11 January 2003