Bead-Fort Stockton Pale Green Stone Donut TB

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

While the TB owner lives on the Southern High Plains in the Panhandle of northwest Texas, he has spent considerable time in what many Texans would call Far West Texas.  It remains a favorite part of the state.  Much of it is the Chihuahuan Desert.  In the desert are remotes outposts of civilization and even mountains that rise high enough to harbor junipers and pines.  This travel bug commemorates a favorite place in the region, partly because the history and partly because of memories.

Well before the military post of Fort Stockton was established, Comanche Springs, the source of Comanche Creek, had been a source of water for Native Americans. It was first documented by Anglos in 1849 when a US Army reconnaissance party reached the springs.  It was described as an Indian campground on the Comanche Trail to Chihuahua, Mexico.
 
When the U.S. Army wanted to establish a fort in the area, Comanche Springs provided an ideal site, for its abundant water. First called Camp Stockton, the post was established in 1859 to provide protection for the many travelers along the many trails in the area including the Comanche Trail, San Antonio-El Paso Road, the Butterfield Overland Mail Route, and the San Antonio-Chihuahua freight-wagon road.
 
The camp was first built by troops of the 1st and 8th Infantry at a site southwest of the present location, near the town of Fort Stockton’s present Courthouse.  When the Civil War broke out, US troops were withdrawn from the post and Confederates briefly occupied it until, they too, also withdrew. By the end of the Civil War, little remained of the first post. In July 1867,  the US 9th Cavalry re-established Fort Stockton at its present location, about ½ miles northeast of the former camp. The new fort designed to be much larger and to stand more permanently.  Four Companies of the 9th US Cavalry Regiment, the Buffalo Soldiers, were the first occupants.
 
When the 9th Cavalry was moved to New Mexico in 1875, 10th Cavalry (also Negro soldiers) took over the duties of protecting the westward migration and trade routes. Between 1867 and 1886, 87% of all the soldiers garrisoned at Fort Stockton were Buffalo Soldiers.  They surmounted harsh living conditions, low pay, and racial prejudice, all while gaining a reputation for tenacity and bravery.
 
The settlement that grew up around the fort would also eventually take on the name of Fort Stockton.  By 1870, the area population was about 420 residents, most of which had come from San Antonio.  When Pecos County was organized there were over a thousand people residing there.
 
After the threat of Indian attacks were over, the military post of Fort Stockton was closed in 1886. The closure of the fort, as well as being bypassed by both the Texas and Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroads, the town failed to grow.  There are no estimates of the discharge of the spring when it’s occurrence was first documented, but in 1899 the flow was estimated at 30,000 gallons per minute.  However, the exploitation of the water in the surrounding area caused the spring to dry up in 1961.