Bead-Indianola Lavender Sea Glass Rectangle

This trackable has the goal to survive more than five years and be dropped by at least 25 cachers. I maintain records on all my trackables. In the years 2010-22, I released 5,223 trackables. Of these, a total of 4,268 were released only in North America (NAO, meaning chiefly the United States) and never left the region, which includes Canada, Mexico and the islands of the Caribbean. Another 304 trackables were released outside North America (EUO, meaning chiefly Europe) and were never dropped in North America. Still another collection of 651 trackables had drops both in and outside North America. Statistics for the two former cohorts are as follows: % Missing; NAO-71.0, EUO-48.0; Maximum Drops; NAO-55.0, EUO-67.0; Average Total Drops, NAO-5.3, EUO-12.5; Average Drop Rate per Year, NAO-4.6, EUO-7.2. As of 11-Dec-25 this trackable has survived for 4.1 years and had been moved by 17 cachers, for an average drop every 89 days, or 4.1 drops per year. Please keep it moving, then drop it in a safe place!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the U.S., please drop it at an event, in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban, non-premium cache. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

This is one of a series of large beads obtained from different places and converted into travel bugs. They are named Texas towns with interesting names or histories.

The port of Indianola, on Matagorda Bay in Calhoun County, was founded in 1846 as Indian Point.  In 1844 a stretch of beach near the point had been selected by Carl, Prince of Solms Braunfels, as the landing place for German immigrants bound for western Texas. The German landing area was briefly referred to as Karlshafen. One immigrant, Johann Schwartz, built the first house in the area in 1845. Indian Point became firmly established as a deep-water port during the Mexican War.  For thirty years its army depot supplied frontier forts in western Texas.  Anglo-American landowners in the area had the site surveyed in 1846 and began selling lots.  The post office was opened in September 1847, and stagecoach service to the interior began in January 1848.  

In 1849 the name of the town was changed to Indianola. The town grew rapidly, expanding three miles down the beach to Powderhorn Bayou, following its selection by Charles Morgan as the Matagorda Bay terminus for his New York-based steamship line.  Indianola was the eastern end of the southern Chihuahua Trail, the military road to San Antonio, Austin, and Chihuahua, Mexico, as well as the road to San Diego, the shortest overland route to the Pacific.  It became the chief port through which European and American immigrants flowed into western Texas.  In a short time, Indianola achieved the rank of the second port of Texas, after Galveston. 

In 1856 and 1857 two shiploads of camels were landed at Indianola. Under the direction of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, the animals were used in one of the most extraordinary experiments in the history of the department, the use of camels in the transportation of military supplies in the southwestern United States. Indianola was bombarded by Union gunboats on October 1862, then occupied and looted.  The Union forces withdrew the following month but returned in November 1863, seized the city again, and remained until 1864.

The world's first shipment of mechanically refrigerated beef moved from Indianola to New Orleans on the Morgan steamship Agnes in July 1869, opening a new era in the transportation of perishable goods. Railroad service from Indianola to the interior began in 1871. With a population of more than 5,000, Indianola was at the peak of her prosperity when the 1875 hurricane struck. The town rebuilt on a smaller scale and then was almost obliterated by the hurricane and accompanying fire of August 20, 1886.  By 1887 the site had been abandoned.