Frontier Partisans

The Adventurers, Rangers and Scouts Who Fought the Battles of Empire

Council On The Pedernales

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Rick Schwertfeger stole Raylan Givens’ hat. He swears that it was was justified.

The Pacific Northwest HQ of Frontier Partisans pulled up stakes and headed south for a few days last week to Austin, Texas. Music, Mexican food, barbecue, steak…. Oh, yes, and business. The trip was newspaper-related, but Marilyn stowed away and made the trek with me — and we took the opportunity for a council with the Southern Command under Captain Rick Schwertfeger. As most of you know, Captain Schwertfeger is a consistent contributor to Frontier Partisans, with several pieces on the civil war within the Revolutionary War and a recent piece on Hubbell’s Trading Post.

Rick and his wife Marcia Desy offered guide services to our choice of Austin music on Friday night, and Marilyn and I chose to partake of a classic Texas Dancehall experience at the Broken Spoke. Blame Slaid Cleaves, who has mentioned the joint twice in song lyrics…

The legendary place has seen everyone from Bob Wills to Jerry Jeff Walker to Willie Nelson and George Strait got his start there. The 80-something owner James White is there each night in his Western finery to mingle with his guests, while his daughter teaches them how to dance to traditional country music. Marilyn and I are not ace dancers by any measure, but we’ll get out there, especially when the band plays Dwight Yoakam’s Fast As You. We had a delightful time, even though between bootheels and hat crown, I could barely stand up tall in the place.

Broken Spoke on July 26, 2013

The place is “vintage” in every respect — as in virtually nothing has changed since the joint opened in 1964, including the bathroom fixtures. There’s a reason for that, which may or may not be a Texas Tall Tale:

James White likes to tell a story about another Texas legend, Davy Crockett: “Yeah, old Davy came through here on his way to fight at the Alamo and he liked what he saw. He said, ‘James, don’t change a thing ’til I get back.’ Well poor ole Davy never made it back so we ain’t changing nothin!”

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As much as I enjoy Austin, I hankered to get out into some terrain — so on Saturday the Schwertfegers led us out to Pedernales State Park, about 40 miles or so to the West of Austin. Now we’re talkin’. We drove into Hays County, Texas, named after the legendary Texas Ranger Jack Hays. He rode here, as did his Comanche adversaries. The Frontier Partisan Blood began to sing. I also thought of Robert E. Howard as he took a fateful road trip that led him through nearby Fredericksburg:

In February 1932, Howard took his trip down to the Rio Grande Valley, passing through Fredericksburg. While he was in Mission, he wrote the poem “Cimmeria”(at least, so he told Emil Petaja when he sent him a copy of the poem: “Written in Mission, Texas, February 1932; suggested by the memory of the hill-country above Fredericksburg seen in a mist of winter rain.”). At some time during his stay in the Valley, Conan came to him.

 

Pedernales Falls is where the Pedernales River steps down along its limestone-bedded course. It can be mighty flashy, apparently, and there are plenty of warnings about getting the hell out of the riverbed if the water starts to rise or get muddy.

As it was on Saturday, February 8, 2020, it was just a boulder-hopper’s playground, and I enjoyed it to the fullest.

It was an absolute delight spending time with Rick and Marcia, talking Story and soaking up every bit of Texas experience we could get. Looking forward to returning the hospitality up here in the Pacific Northwest Command.

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Classic sign on the door at Iron Works Barbecue in Austin.

Comments

  2. Matthew says

    Sounds like you had a fun trip.

    It is interesting that Robert E. Howard wrote Cimmeria and came up with Conan in Texas when Cimmeria was suppose to be a cold climate.

    Reply

    • .lane batot says

      Boy howdy! You oughta be in Texas when one of those Blue Northers comes whooshing down–Texas can be a very bitterly cold place to be! It is a place of extremes–oppressively hot in Summer, then bitterly cold in the Winter–I always felt that splendid classic Western film(with Jimmy Stewart and that unsung great Brian Keith) “The Rare Breed” captured the Texas Frontier extremes perfectly!

      Reply

  5. J.F. Bell says

    I grew up in Austin, more or less. There’s not much to lure me back there these days. Not much of the familiar still standing and what’s been brought in as replacements turns my stomach more often than not.

    But I hear it used to be something.

    Reply

    • Harry Pollard says

      Another transplanted Texan that grew up in Austin. Personally, I prefer Austin of the 50’s and 60’s. Pretty disgusting to me what it’s evolved into.

      Reply

  6. Paul McNamee says

    Reading Brian Murphy’s FLAME AND CRIMSON and just last night read the chapter on Howard. Murphy has many quotable highlights from the Howard vs Lovecraft debate on barbarism vs civilization.

    Quotes from both men, in many cases, were still applicable today. I found some comfort in that. As crazy as things are, it’s all been seen before.

    The Howard quotes really reminded of just how much he’d fit right in around the FP/RIR campfire.

    Reply

  7. Dave Allen says

    MY wife visited Austin last spring with one of her pals. One of the stops they made was to the state capitol building. Upon entering they were greeted by two amiable security guards ( a rare occurrence in California) who told them to enjoy their visit. One of the guards asked if they had any questions so my wife being a dutiful citizen asked if she should leave the rather large knife she carries in her purse with them. They both laughed heartily and told her, “Ma’am you keep your knife, this Texas!” So, Jim, is the southwest starting to tug at yore tent stakes?

    Reply

    • Harry Pollard says

      Ha Ha. TX is an open carry state where lots of folks actually do carry open. I was working in Hurricane Relief in the aftermath of Harvey, just outside Houston. Nobody even noticed except a Farmers Insurance admin who was visiting the camp we built for them. She just went ballistic at the sight of my XD-40. It was a pretty hilarious scene, actually. So, your wife would have been fine carrying at 15″ Bowie knife there.

      Reply

  8. .lane batot says

    Great field trip, Jim! Reminds me of my visits with the paternal side of my family, long, long ago(sigh). In driving through the Hill Country where you were, it amazed me how like the African Bush(East and South Africa) that part of Texas is–no wonder so many transplanted African ungulates have prospered there! My FAVORITE part of Texas! So, when are you going to traverse the Eastern Woodlands(what’s left of them….), and inspect yer scouts over on the Atlantic Seaboard? Down my way, you could visit the REAL Appalachian Cherokee country where(simulated) the Outlander clan immigrated too, or traverse the Eastern swamps of the Robin Hoodish Lumbee outlaw Henry Berry Lowrie(which I am reading about–again–as we speak!)–PLENTY of Frontier Partisan post subject material! Speaking of Henry Berry Lowrie–I also just(finally!) watched my DVD copy of “Free State Of Jones”, and couldn’t help but note the amazing similarity between the historical heroes of Newt Knight and Henry Berry Lowrie–did you ever get around to watching “Free State Of Jones”? An excellent, if not particularly cheerful film. My DVD copy had a “Bonus” documentary piece that made some great observations that made my heart sing–contradicting the generally accepted prejudice that all white Southerners are racist former slave holders, and automatically supported the elite, wealthy plantation owners who were the main force politically in the South before and during(and alas, even afterward during “Reconstruction”) the Civil War. ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!! ANYONE who has made any real in-depth study of the subject knows better, and that MANY MANY Southerners supported the Union, were against slavery and secession, and paid dearly and tragically for it, often as not. The Henry Berry Lowrie “gang” is just one of many parts of that mostly unknown phenomenon. One thing I learned from the documentary on the “Jones” film, is that the Confederacy lost more men to DESERTION(so many were “Conscripted”–i.e.–FORCED to fight for the Confederacy) than either those killed in battle, or the rampant disease that took such serious toll. Great to see a modern film taking all this on–I SO TIRE of getting lumped into the deplorable category of white racist automatically because I am(mostly….) a Southern white male–especially when THE WORST white racists I have ever met have all been Yankees from large urban areas! Sorry–I just diverged from the post subject a bit there–but my verbal rambling COULD go along with yer recent ramble to Texas, right?

    Reply

      • .lane batot says

        Well, you and any family “assistants” should, one of these days! Yer more’n welcome! Paul will havta chime in on his frontier attractions in Iroquois territory, but I am located dead center in North Carolina(a trip to my place of employment, the N. C. Zoo, would be mandatory), and therefore a feasible drive from most everything this long, long(but not very wide) state has to offer. Close by(I can throw a rock and almost hit it!) I could take you on a hike in the Uwharrie Forest–an unusual, unique range of “mountains” in Central N.C.–oldest mountains in North America, in fact(hence their wore down, very rocky nature), unknown to most, including the site of the old Bingham Plantation, established in the 1700’s–still fending off Indian raids in those days! All that remains is a chimney, and some of the slave graveyard(rather poignant, that…). Also, Squire Boone’s homestead(Danl’s father) is very nearby my place. The territory of Henry Berry Lowrie is only a short drive away to my East; the mountains are a longer drive West(sigh), but an absolute MUST visiting my state(in my opinion)–the beloved land of the Cherokee, where the descendants of the Cherokee holdouts against Indian removal(damn yer hide, Andrew Jackson!) still live. Not to mention the glories of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Coastally, there are many historical attractions, including the site of the “Lost Colony”, one of the first attempts of England to establish a colony in America. Despite N. C. being one of the FIRST states invaded by the Europeans, it is amazing that so much has still survived…..And I used yer “Search this site” feature and reread the post you made on “Free State Of Jones” 2016–so I see you DID see the movie, too. Dang–see how long it took for me to get a cheap, used DVD of the same?

        Reply

  10. John Roberts says

    Concerning the above comments on Texas weather extremes: There is a joke from WWII about two North Texas sailors standing watch on the bridge of a ship making the Murmansk run during the worst of winter. The wind is howling, there is a foot of ice on every exposed surface and the vessel is wallowing like a drunk sailor. When the wind dies down enough to be heard, one of the sailors turns to the other and says, “Ain’t you glad you’re not in Amarillo on a night like this?”

    Reply

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