Knox+ has more than one trigger.  BUT, this is a major one and you begged
him to shoot!
(Just by bringing up the subject.)

As a kid I had to memorize the Cross of Gold speech, but that was it (even
our state song,
at that time, was sung to the tune of "On Wisconsin.")  Those were
depression years and
we did not have much in Nebraska.  They now have a few corn fields and two
Continuing churches that I know of.

> Fr. Duncan+
>
> Thank you for the geography lesson.  I knew a proud Texan would help us
> distringuish the woods from the mesquite bushes, dispel the myth and lead
> us to the truth.
>
> Cheers and Lonestars all around,
>
> Charles+
>
>
>
> Knox Duncan <knoxduncan@...> wrote:
> Dean Scott wrote: "Now tell me true. Is there a really a "Treaty Oak" in
> Texas or is it like the mythical "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" reported by a
> certain Sidney Greenstreet? I've been to Brooklyn and other than an
> occasional potted plant in an office, saw no trees there. I drove from
> Hayes, Kansas through the Texas Panhandle to Dallas-Ft. Worth for a week
> one day, and saw no tree large enough for the Mexicans and Texans to stand
> under while signing a treaty. And that business about "hang em high" ala
> the Hollywood Western Movies; it would have to be a wee little feller that
> could be hung from a mesquite bush!"
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Assumptions, assumptions! There is more than a little confusion here. It
> sounds as if you were lost somewhere in the vast expanse that is the Lone
> Star State. I might add gratuitously that East Texas--probably larger than
> Ohio or Indiana--paredon my pride--is heavily forested, comparable to what
> is called the Middle South, cf. upper Louisiana: national forests, saw
> mills. etc. From the Texas Panhandle to Dallas-Fort Worth, the semi-arid
> Plains meld into the better watered rolling Prairie. (Any Hoosier should
> understand the meaning of Prairie.) On the Gulf coastal plains--i.e.,
> Corpus Christi--trees are indeed scarce. I was born in Athens, TX, on the
> edge of the "Piney Woods," about 60 miles southeast of Dallas and grew up
> in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Thirty miles closer to Dallas than Athens,
> in the Blackland Prairie belt, was my father's family farm, tremendously
> fertile land, never before touched by a plow, when my grandfather settled
> there in the 1890s from the Cumberland Gap in
> Tennessee. When I was growing up, Fort Worth was "Cowtown," "where the
> west began," or, you were from Dallas 30 miles away, "where the East
> petered out." Wearing cowboy garb was "de rigueur" in Fort Worth. Yep, in
> Dallas, such phrasing was commonplace, as were three piece suits and snap
> brim fedoras, a la Kansas City and Chicago. East of Dallas, in the Old
> South, overalls and "clodhopper" lace-ups footwear were standard for what
> denizens of the "rust belt" would call "lumpen proletariat."
>
> Most likely the tree you have reference to--with Sam Houston, Santa Anna,
> and victorious Texians under it--comes from a painting that graces 'most
> all Texas history books I've seen. (I copied the painting onto this
> e-mail, but if it doesn't transmit, you can see the it, plus the account
> of the battle of San Jacinto at www.sanjacinto.navy.mil/battle.htm ) Santa
> Anna was brought to Sam Houston, lying wounded beneath a live oak tree at
> the edge of the bayou. The conquered dictator agreed to cease hostilities
> and dispatched orders to his remaining field commanders to withdraw their
> troops from Texas. The battle was won, independence secured, and the new
> Republic of Texas joined the realm of nations.The battle at San Jacinto
> helped to establish "The Republic of Texas" that flourished for a decade.
> The Republic eventually added over one million square miles of territory
> to the United States. From this vast territory came the states of Texas,
> New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah,
> Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma
>
>
> The Treaty Oak is another matter entirely. Perhaps the best known tree in
> Austin, the 500 year old Treaty Oak is the last survivor of the Council
> Oaks, a grove of fourteen trees that once served as a temple and meeting
> place for area Commanches and Tonkowas. It stands as a symbol of Texas
> freedom and endurance, saved from the chainsaw in the 1920s and from
> intentional vandalism in the 1980s.How Treaty Oak Got Its Name: The name
> Treaty Oak is derived from a legend that Stephen F. Austin signed a
> boundary treaty there with local Indians in the 1800s. Location of the
> Treaty Oak: Treaty Oak Park is on Baylor Street in between 5th and 6th
> Streets, just West of Lamar Blvd. Historical Significance of the Treaty
> Oak: Believed to be over 500 years old, the Treaty Oak was one of fourteen
> trees known as the Council Oaks. Native Americans of the area worshipped
> among the Council Oaks, held feasts, religious ceremonies, and other
> meetings. Although undocumented, legend says that Stephen F. Austin
> signed a boundary treaty here after Indians killed two small children and
> a county judge, thus giving the Treaty Oak its name.Development of the
> City of Austin eventually led to the demise of the other Council Oaks
> until only the Treaty Oak remained. It too was in danger of being cut down
> to make way for urban growth. It was saved from the woodpile in the 1920s
> and listed as a historic U.S tree by the American Forestry Association. In
> 1937 the City of Austin purchased the plot of land where the tree
> stands.Tragically, in 1989 a deliberate poisoning destroyed much of the
> Treaty Oak. Intensive efforts to save the Treaty Oak were successful and
> although it is still a shadow of its former 127 foot spread, by 1997 it
> had produced its first new crop of acorns since the poisoning. Wood
> salvaged from the tree after the vandalism was fashioned into works of art
> and items for sale to the public such as pens and clocks. Proceeds from
> the sale of these items funded tree planting in Austin. From
> Jacci Howard Bear,Your Guide to Austin, TX. Regards.
> KnoxDuncan@...
>
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