GUNSIGHT, TEXAS. Gunsight, in southern Stephens County, was
named for the nearby Gunsight Mountains. It was settled in the late
1800's and gained a post office in 1880 at J. W. Shepard's store.
The community's population was fifty in 1890 and grew to 150 in
1920 because of the oil boom and the town's location near the
Wichita Falls and Southern Railway. During the 1920s Gunsight lost
its railroad station and post office. Its population was reported
as six in 1980 and 1990.
As early as 1858, Gunsight was on a wagon road from Fort Griffin
in Shackelford County to Stephenville in Erath County. The road
continued through the Gunsight mountains across Colony Creek in
Eastland County toward Ranger. Settlers started coming after the
Civil War in 1865. The loan Methodist church building was relocated
to its present site across the road, north of the cemetery in 1978.
Here now are the three remaining vestiges of a once thriving
community; the well kept cemetery, the old school building, and the
vacant church. The Gunsight Cemetery marks the final resting place
for over 450 people. Many graves are unmarked and there are at
least 40 graves of war veterans. To date, there are three known
Civil War veterans of the Confederate States, two Spanish American
War veterans, twelve of World War I, twenty-one veterans of World
War II, and two Korean veterans.
Directions:
Gunsight is located in the southeastern part of Stephens County,
one mile east of Highway 183 approximately fifteen miles south of
Breckenridge, Tx.
Cache Information:
The cache was originally meant as both a traditional cache and a
seed cache. The cache contained five, ready-to-hide, cache
containers to help encourage the growth of caching in this part of
West Texas. If you choose to take one of the small cache containers
to hide your own cache, please send me the name and coordinates of
your new cache! If you do not want to hide your own cache, feel
free to take one of the other trade items in the cache instead.
Thanks!
Cache Children:
John Wesley Hardin, Gunslinger