Love Bug-Adobe Walls Fat Wood

Please drop this item in rural OR Premium Member Only caches.  Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching event.  Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and prevents tangling with other items.  Otherwise, take the travel bug anywhere you wish.  No permission is needed to leave the U.S.

Photos in the travel bug logs are appreciated.  I will be re-post them here, where they can be seen by other cachers.

This is one of a series of heart-shaped items obtained from different places and converted into travel bugs. They are named either for the places of their origin or for Texas Panhandle-South Plains towns with interesting names or histories.

Adobe Walls is located in Hutchinson County in the Panhandle of Texas.  Founded in 1843, Adobe Walls was first settled by Bent Trading Company.  The first structure appeared around 1845-46 when an 80 foot square adobe structure was built and aptly called Fort Adobe.
 
Indian attacks forced closure by 1848. Attempts were made to reestablish the post, but it was finally blown up in frustration, providing the Panhandle with its first landmark ruins.  In 1865 the First Battle of Adobe Walls was fought when Colonel “Kit” Carson and his force of 335 men (with 75 Indian allies) fought hostile Kiowas, with assorted Apaches, Comanches, and Arapahoes near the ruins. The casualties were three dead with 15 wounded for the Army and Indian casualties were estimated to be 60 killed or wounded.
 
Ten years later, Dodge City, Kansas merchants opened a trading post/restaurant/saloon a mile from the original ruins. The main building was constructed of sod - in the fashion of Kansas buildings.  Trade with the area’s buffalo hunters flourished until June 1874 when the Second Battle of Adobe Walls took place. The complex was surrounded by a force estimated between 300 to over a thousand Indians.  However, the defenders held their own with only three dead (one an accident after the fight was over). Human remains were left scattered on the battlefields. 
 
Following the battles and relocation of native American tribes, buffalo hunters would still come, but the herds had thinned. The Turkey Track Ranch was established, but the population of the area remained sparse. The Turkey Track Ranch made its headquarters near the original site.  Former Army scout and survivor of the 1874 fight, Billy Dixon built a house at the ruins of Fort Adobe.  
 
In 1887 Dixon’s house became the community post office and Dixon became postmaster. Dixon and business partner S.G. Carter also ran a store at the site. Otto Anderson was appointed postmaster in 1901. The post office was in operation until 1921, when it was closed and mail service moved to Plemons.  Adobe Walls was a polling site, and voting there in the 19th Century was a multi-day community event that included barbecue and accompaniments.  Now there are no residents.