photo by Peg Arvin
August 1, 2008
Year 13. Issue 316
Photo by Mary Craft photo by Mary Craft photo by Mary Craft
When It Comes To Ranches The Island Was a Dunn Deal photo by Mary Craft
Love in the salt air. Eddie Sanchez and Sarah Williamson had their ceremony on the beach in front of the seawall. Eddie said “We met on the Island, fell in love on the Island and got married on the Island.” They met at Doc’s Restaurant where he was a bartender and she a server. They currently both work at The Best Western here. Sarah’s parents who live in Alaska made the trip to attend. photo by Mary Craft
You’re Such An Islander If.... Editor’s note: We got this list from a reader but unfortunately we couldn’t make out the writing on the last name. We got Mike and we’re pretty sure it is someone we know because obviously Mike understands the slightly off kilter sense of humor around here. So here’s the list, and thanks Mike. Hey Moon Dogs/Monkeys: We were sitting around the campfire a while back thinking about reasons you may be a N. Padre Islander. You may be a N. Padre Islander if: 1. A forecast for high winds means play time. 2. You show up for a party in long pants, collared shirt and shoes you may be considered over-dressed. 3. Howling at the moon means a coyote in the front yard. 4. You empty sand out of your wallet every time you make a purchase at the convenience store. 5. Going over the bridge (OTB) is worse than going over the hill (OTH).
6. Your latest company is a visit from a friend of a friend 7. Rusty is not the name of your dog, but a description of your patio furniture. 8. Driving on the beach is considered a sacred right. 9. Spring break does not mean a problem with your living room couch but does mean a wild time on the beach. 10. Hurricane is synonymous with migraine. 11. I’m sure your readers can keep this list going! Also, the traffic situation due to the mixture of high speed limit and more congestion is getting worse. The speed limit on Ennis Joslin (a four lane divided road) is only 40-45 between Shoreline Drive and SPID and there is much less traffic and business than we now have on SPID (Park Rd 22) on the Island. If the Moon started a petition I’m sure you would get enough signatures to get the attention of city government representatives.
Hats Off To The Audubon Society 2000 Birds killed in One Year For Their Feathers
story by Mary Craft I showed Dunn ranch cowboy Fred the above picture and he said, “Those are redhead ducks. The Laguna used to look all black because it was covered with them. They shot them for their feathers that were used for ladies hats.” The hat craze started in the 1870s and bird feathers were the most popular accessories. Many Audubon societies formed in the 1890s because of this. There was a thriving feather merchant business on the Island in the 1870s. Henry Palmer, a
taxidermist, entered partnership with Captain Will Anderson and took over an old cannery for their business. They sold plumes from roseate spoonbills, herons, egrets and pelicans. During the year they operated they sent more than 2000 birds to New York. Their business was shut down through the efforts of Edward Bok who was editor of the Ladies Home Journal. He was concerned about the possible extermination of the birds. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act passed in 1918 banning feathers of migrating birds from being sold.
Carl “Fred” Eichmann is a 91 year old Flour Bluff resident who was a cowboy on the Dunn ranch. Fred still hunts with this gun, today. story by Mary Craft mkay512@aol.com Padre Island was the domain of the flamboyant “Duke of Padre Island” Patrick Dunn from 18791926. He was known to his vaqueros (cowboys) as Don Patricio. Patrick was the son of Irish immigrants and his decision to ranch on the Island came with the advent of barbed wire. Cattle could no longer roam freely so you had to own large acres of land. He had none. The Island offered a ranch with natural fences and driftwood that provided building supplies. It also had potable water just a couple of feet beneath the surface. Carl “Fred” Eichmann is a 91 year old Flour Bluff resident who started as a cowboy on the Dunn ranch in 1926 at age 9. According to Fred “We started working young back then.” To be a cowboy you had to have a rifle and a horse. The rifle was needed to provide your meals that could be deer, wild pig or duck. It was also used to kill coyote and wolves to protect the calves. Fred was paid 50 cents a day plus room and board. “We used our guns here in Texas in those days. In 1926 I bought a model 1894 Winchester from Sears Roebuck for $18. Besides the 16 gauge single shot rifle I had two 45’s and two six shooters.” Besides driving the cattle, another job Fred had to do on the ranch was to grease the bearings on the more than 20 windmills. Back then they were not encased so it was necessary to do so to keep them turning and the water flowing into the nine foot galvanized troughs. Before windmills were used, the cattle had to kneel down to drink out of trenches which led Dunn to say he had the most religious cattle. Another responsibility was branding the cattle which was done on their left hip. The registered brand for the ranch was the letter “D.” It was common for the early Texans to use an initial. Before that the Mexican ranchers used symbols or pictures. The oldest continual brand is the King Ranch running “W.” This practice is an old one. Branding scenes made in 2000 B.C. were found in Egyptian tombs. There were three camps on the Island about 15 miles apart because that is how far you could drive cattle during daylight hours. Each camp had sleeping quarters and a kitchen. The last drive was the one across the shallow Laguna Madre to near Pita (Pete) Island in the Bluff. The popular saltbeef was then transported or picked up from Dunn corrals he maintained there. The Dunn family lived in what was called “The Settlement” about 20 miles south of the present causeway. They lived there several years until one of his daughters contracted scarlet fever resulting in partial paralysis. They moved into town until the children were grown. In 1907 he built his home facing east on the Packery Channel near the 361 bridge. It was built from driftwood and materials from shipwrecks. It was two stories high because the driftwood was that long and Dunn said “Not a single saw washed in with the lumber so I had no saw to make it shorter.” This home was destroyed by a hurricane in 1916. After that, a one story home was built in a more protected area near the Packery Channel park and it still stands. Dunn sold his land to Colonel Sam Robertson
Deadline for all Moon matter is Monday of the week of the paper not Wednesday or Thursday or Friday.
who was a former scout for General Jack Pershing. He had started out in 1879 with just a small area of the northern part of the island but by 1926 he owned the entire island. He sold the 130,000 acres for $125,000 but kept the grazing and mineral rights. Up to that time the Island was strictly a privately owned ranch. Access was obtained only through one of Dunn’s agents in Corpus or Port Isabel. This all changed with the Robertson acquisition and his vision of a Texas Riviera. The first thing he did was provide access to those experiencing the new auto rage. More and more people were able to purchase cars and they were anxious to travel in them. Robertson, the Island’s first developer, built the Don Patricio Causeway which began three miles south of the present causeway and ended up where the present one does. It consisted of four wooden troughs the width of a Ford model T, and cost $95,000 to complete. Fred drove across with the 1923 Model T his parents gave him when they bought the 1928 family Model A Ford. “That causeway was heck on them tires which were only three inches wide. At first there was only one lane and whichever car was further along got to keep going and the other one had to go in reverse. When the tide was low some would try to cross the laguna by driving on the sand bars. A lot of them got stuck and had to dig out or get a mule to pull them out. The drivers got to the causeway by going down bay road (Ocean Drive) to snake road (Ennis Joslin) to mud road to Roscher road then to Don Patricio road.” Robertson also made a ferry service and built some structures including the 25 Mile Hotel at the southern end. His dream of creating an Island Paradise was crushed with The Great Depression in 1929. He sold everything to Albert and Frank Jones of Kansas who hoped to continue his dream of a tourist mecca. In 1933 a hurricane destroyed the causeway and the Island structures. They did not do any more development afterward. The Island remained under the ownership of the Jones estate until it was purchased by Corpus Christi developer Ben Marks in the mid 1960s. The Duke regretted selling the land “If the Lord would give me back the Island, wash out a channel in Corpus Christi Pass 30 feet deep and put devilfish and monsters in it to keep out the tourists I’d be satisfied.” The lifestyle as he knew it was gone. In 1938 upon his death his son Burton Dunn took over the ranch. After World War II he purchased four-wheel drive trucks which were used to transport the cattle. They were taken to Mustang Island to be ferried to the mainland until 1950 when the North Padre Island causeway was built. They were then able to take the shorter route across the causeway. The ranch was operational until Burton’s death in 1970 and the last of the cattle was taken off the
Colorful Rancher Patrick Dunn surveyed his land from a spring-buggy pulled by two white mules. His unique ranch had corrals made from mahogany scavenged from shipwrecks. He was a member of the Legislature and a power in the South Texas Democratic party.