This small cache is located in Phantom Hill Cemetery. Upon
arriving at this location to place a cache today, I met a wonderful
couple, Bill and Faye Smartt, (84 and 83 years young respectively)
who were visiting this cemetery to help Faye remember her ancestors
that are buried in the Phantom Hill Cemetery. Throughout our
hour-long conversation, I learned a good deal about their family
and the local area. Faye was born just past the Fort near the
river. They were a family of farmers and remember when this
community had a little more to offer than it does currently.
One interesting anecdote that she told me was that the local
children used to come to this cemetery and visit the unmarked
Indian graves (the rock piles you see in the cemetery) and say a
little joke. They would stand over the graves and say, "What are
you doing down there?" and the Indians would answer,
"Nothing, nothing at all." I thought that this was a great
little tidbit of local history so I decided to place a cache near
one of these rock piles to allow you, the geocacher, to ask the
same question and see if you get an answer.
The town of Phantom Hill grew up around the fort ruins. In
1876-77, it was a buying and shipping point for buffalo hides taken
during the slaughter of the Southern Plains herds. By 1880 the
community had a population of 546; it was made Jones county seat in
May 1881 but lost that distinction to Anson on November 14, 1881,
thirty years after the establishment of the post. The Texas and
Pacific Railway routed its tracks through Abilene, fourteen miles
to the south. A letter written to the San Antonio Express in 1892
commented that Fort Phantom contained nothing but "one hotel, one
saloon, one general store, one blacksmith shop, and 10,000 prairie
dogs."
This cache was hidden by a founding member
of:
the3defaus are a Proud Members of the
MAGC:
