Day Trips

Fort Belknap, northwest of Graham, has gone from being the center of frontier defenses to being a favorite reunion spot for families and scouts. Overnight guests get to sleep in the barracks and eat their meals in the old mess hall. Day visitors can explore the large museum and wander the 15 acres of scenic lawn. “We have the largest grape arbor in the state,” says James Mitchell, the caretaker of Young County’s only park. “Our arrowhead collection is one of the most extensive collections in the state.” It is not surprising that area residents would find a wide assortment of Indian artifacts. The prairies and wood thickets along the Brazos River were a favorite hunting ground of the Plains tribes. The abundant grass and natural springs attracted wildlife and migrating herds of buffalo. It was the fertile valleys and reliable water sources that also attracted white settlers after Texas was granted statehood in 1845. Beginning in the early 1850s, the U.S. built and maintained a line of forts in west-central Texas to separate the Comanche and the Americans. Fort Belknap began in June 1851 as a camp of stick huts and grew to be what one visitor at the time described as the prettiest of the frontier forts. The availability of timber and locally quarried stone gave the soldiers ample material for the fort’s buildings. Within a short time all roads ran past the gate of Fort Belknap. The federal government contracted with Butterfield Overland Mail for twice-weekly service between St. Louis and San Francisco with a stop at the fort. The 2,800-mile trip was probably the longest stagecoach route in the country’s history. For 10 cents citizens could send a letter or for $200 buy a one-way ticket on the five-passenger stagecoach for the 25-day journey. With all of the traffic, the town of Belknap grew up half a mile east of the fort. The saloons and general stores became a magnet for drifters, gamblers, and adventurers traveling across Texas. In 1854, the experiment with the Indian reservation system in Texas began in earnest 12 miles south of the fort. The Brazos Indian Reservation covered 18,576 acres stretching south and east toward Waco. With more than 2,000 individuals from several, mostly peaceful tribes, the reservation seemed on track to be an agricultural success. Caught between hostile white settlers and wild Indians, the reservation Indians were eventually forced to Oklahoma after only five years. By the time the Civil War began and federal troops surrendered in San Antonio in 1861, the number of soldiers at Fort Belknap was being reduced. The rock buildings were used by state troops of the Frontier Regiment for a time, but after the war the army returned just long enough in 1867 to lock the doors and move on to Fort Griffin near Albany. The fort might have faded into obscurity if not for a group of local citizens who, using Work Projects Administration labor and the original War Department plans, restored and rebuilt eight of the buildings for the state’s centennial in 1936. Eight of the buildings are much like they were 150 years ago. Mitchell says that only the powder magazine and corn house are the original structures. The red sandstone floor of the commissary building was part of the original structure, but the two barracks, dining hall, and auditorium were built for the centennial. Maintained by the Fort Belknap Society and Young County, the old fort serves now as a cultural and recreational center for local residents and visitors. Shaded by giant pecan and oak trees, the grounds look more like a quiet college campus than a military outpost. The stories preserved in the museum tell of the hardships of settling the Western frontier. Fort Belknap is 12 miles northeast of Graham on FM 61. The gate is open 9am-5pm weekdays, 1:30-5pm on Sunday, and closed on Wednesday. The museum closes noon to 1:30pm for lunch. For more information, call 940/846-3222. While you’re in the area, Mitchell recommends stopping by the Bob Cat Cafe in Newcastle for good home cooking.