ASIS

AUTHENTIC PLACE

Camp Verde General Store

by Bob McCullough

Ofthe many species of exotic animals inhabiting the Texas Hill Country, the first to arrive were camels from the Middle East, part of an experiment undertaken by the U. S. government before the Civil War. Some observers at the time termed it folly; others believed it to be genius. In any case, the camels continue to intrigue 165 years later.

The camels came to Texas thanks to U. S. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who ultimately became president of the Confederacy. Davis theorized that camels could outwork and outlast other beasts of burden in resupplying military outposts on the western frontier. In 1854, Davis was successful in securing $30,000 from Congress to test his idea, and Maj. Henry Wayne was assigned to procure camels from Egypt, ship them across the Atlantic and march them from Indianola on the Texas coast to Victoria, then to San Antonio and finally Camp Verde between Kerrville and Bandera.

On August 26 and 27, 1856, 33 camels arrived at their new home, a cavalry installation that was “one of a chain of military posts established by the United States in western Texas after the annexation of Texas, in 1848, for the protection of settlers against hostile Indians,” according to Army records. It‘s conceivable that one of the officers assigned to the area at the time –Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee, whose specialty was engineering – laid out the camp. Other officers with connections to Camp Verde who like Lee went on to serve as Confederate generals were Albert Sidney Johnston and John Bell Hood, namesake of Fort Hood near Killeen.

Kerrville historian and newspaper columnist Joe Herring says that people tend to focus on the unusual creatures imported from far away and fail to remember the problem those animals were being used to solve.

“The United States had vast new territories in the 1840s for which it had no practical routes for civilians, military or trade,” he explains. “The experiment associated with Camp Verde was an important continuation of efforts to survey and understand these new lands, and that’s why so many important names from history are associated with the small Hill Country military outpost.”

After the Civil War broke out in 1860, the camp passed into the hands of the Confederacy, and in 1865, the U. S. government again assumed control. All in all, the camels hauled more over longer distances than mules and horses, but lack of federal funding after the war and the rise of railroad transportation doomed the camel experiment. On November 30, 1869, Camp Verde was deactivated, and a fire in March 1910 destroyed buildings at the site. Today, a historical marker on Camp Verde Road a mile west of State Highway 173 summarizes the place’s relatively-brief-but-colorful story.

Yet the history of the camel experiment lives on, thanks to the Camp Verde General Store situated near the intersection of Ranch Road 480 and Highway 173. Camel imagery in the form of sculptures, paintings and even stained-glass windows permeates the two-story, limestone mercantile founded in 1857 as the Williams Community Store. Soldiers from Camp Verde frequented the store for essentials and especially alcohol since consumption of the latter wasn’t permitted at the camp.

Today’s Camp Verde General Store, which welcomes guests seven days a week except for major holidays, was built in 1908 after a flood washed away the original structure. Its quaint and comfortable feel derives from the wellworn wooden floors, pressed-tin ceiling, old-time display cases and vintage postal boxes. Manager Lisa Emmons says the store offers shoppers jewelry, candles, housewares, a vast selection of jellies and salsas, skin care products, kitchen accessories and much more.

In 2012, a restaurant next to the store was enlarged to accommodate more customers and offer more-varied fare. It seats up to 85 hungry patrons and tempts them with lunchtime entrees such as meat loaf, chopped steak, hamburgers and chicken strips. Two years ago, the restaurant began serving breakfast delights such as French toast, omelets and huevos rancheros. “It’s important to note that we’re a totally-from-scratch restaurant with locally-sourced food products,” says Dominic Brown, restaurant manager.

If they still have room after consuming more-than-generous portions, diners can opt for cool treats at the gelato bar and a choice of toppings. Other favorite desserts include coconut cream pie, banana cream pie and the apple basket a la mode. Some come adorned with chocolate in the silhouette of a camel. Tables and benches on the tree-shaded patios surrounding the restaurant and store enable guests to eat in the fresh air when the weather cooperates.

When Christmas nears, the staff transforms the store into a holiday wonderland with lights, tinsel and creative displays of must-have gifts. In past yule seasons, a juvenile camel-sized sculpture sporting a Santa hat appears to be casting an approving eye over the festive scene from a second-floor vantage point.

Long ago someone claimed that a camel is actually a horse poorly designed by a committee. Its reputed limiting factors include unusual appearance, ungainly manner and poor temperament. But Major Wayne and his contemporaries showed the camel did indeed prove to be valuable on the western frontier as one successful expedition after another sallied forth from a Texas oasis, Camp Verde.

by Austin Allison

Transitory or not, tumbleweeds possess the sort of legendary semi-permanence in Texas that makes them one of the most prolific icons that represent the state. It is no surprise then that one of Texas’ most prolific broadcasters, Big Spring’s Bob Lewis known professionally as “Tumbleweed Smith,” took on this Texas-style moniker to create one of the longest-lasting radio programs in the state. “The Sound of Texas” is a daily syndicated radio program that is heard on more than 50 stations across the state.

Throughout its history the program has become not only a method by which a Texan transmits the story of Texas, but also a vessel for preserving that story for future generations.

A Texan through-and-through, Bob Lewis was born in Waco in 1935 and graduated from Fort Worth’s Arlington Heights High School in 1953. After graduating from Baylor University in 1957 and after a subsequent three-year stint in the United States Army which included two years in Germany, Lewis returned to Texas to begin a career in radio broadcasting. In fact, Lewis credits a specific event during his time in the Army for spurring his desire to work in the radio industry. On his return trip to the United States from Germany aboard a troop ship, he witnessed his fellow soldiers cheering for radio advertisements they could hear in New York Harbor as the ship approached the city. Upon seeing this Lewis wanted to do “the most American thing there is: news, advertising, reporting, communication,” a career he could accomplish by working in radio broadcasting.

Lewis made his way to Big Spring where he got his start at KBST, but he temporarily relocated out of the state to pursue a journalism degree at the University of Missouri, one of the best-regarded journalism schools in the United States. In 1969, Lewis made his big break. After being hired by Big Spring’s KHEM as news director, Lewis conjured “Tumbleweed Smith” and “The Sound of Texas” radio program. The first program aired on September 1, 1969, featuring Midnight Cowboy’s Jon Voight who was in town shooting the movie. By the end of 1969, there had been more than 100 Tumbleweed segments featuring interviews focusing on subjects as wide-ranging from a calf roping school and greyhound training to “Horseback Church Services” and the Caverns of Sonora. This varied programming persists even today, and in 2008 the program reached its 10,000th episode and featured none other than Jon Voight nearly 40 years following the initial program.

Lewis’ collection of interviews comprises one of the largest privately held sets of interviews in the nation, but it isn’t the size of the archive that matters. It is the content within that ranges five and a half decades of Texas history and the stories of those that date back even further. With this venture, Lewis produced more than just a radio program about Texas; he single-handedly curated an entirely Texan exhibition of what makes this great state tick.

Tumbleweed Smith at Lamesa Chamber Banquet

Tumbleweed Smith at the Planview Chamber Banquet debuting his new jacket

Texas Trail of Fame Star at the Fort Worth Stockyards

Authentic Thing

THE RISE & HISTORY OF SAN ANTONIO’S C. H. GUENTHER & SONS FOOD EMPIRE – FROM GRAVY TO BREADS

by Bob McCullough