Chasing Our Tales - Black Springs/Oran, Texas

Chasing Our Tales - Black Springs/Oran, Texas

Settled before the Civil War and named for the area's early water source, located nearby, the Black Springs community played a significant role in the growth of Palo Pinto County as it was the first settlement in the county.

The communities of Golconda (Palo Pinto), Black Springs (Oran) and Mesquiteville (Jacksboro) came into existence soon after a road to Fort Belknap was completed.

Enticed by attractive livestock prices offered by the Union Army, the Plains tribes began large scale raids during the Civil War. The frontier was practically abandoned. Most families sought refuge east of Fort Worth but some of the bravest relocated in stockades. Many, like Fort Black Springs, were small structures meant to protect just a few families. Archer County historian, Jack Loftin, points out that these small forts usually had one fireproof wall though gun slots were included on all four sides. Local historian Bob Bellamy explains that the fort was originally a three story affair and has now been reconstructed in Palo Pinto. It can be seen on the grounds of the Palo Pinto Historical Association’s Old Jail, south of the courthouse.

Eventually the ranchers produced more beef than the local market would bear. The Chisholm Trail had long been used to trail Texas cattle to Missouri and Kansas.

Here in the Keechi Valley in 1857, the celebrated pioneer open range cowman and trail driver Charles Goodnight (1836-1929) located his first ranch on the extreme Indian frontier of Texas. From here he took part, with Cureton’s Rangers, in the 1860 Pease River fight when Cynthia Ann Parker was recaptured from Nocona and his Comanches. Goodnight served as scout and guide for the Texas Rangers during the Civil War, and in 1866 he laid out the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail, over which thousands of longhorns were driven to market in New Mexico.

In 1867 at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, his partner Oliver Loving died from wounds suffered in an Indian attack. Without the aid of an undertaker, Goodnight carried the body by wagon through hostile Indian territory for burial at Weatherford (24 miles southeast).

Goodnight extended his cattle trails to Wyoming and to Colorado, where he started a ranch near Pueblo. In 1876 he established the first cattle ranch in the vast Texas panhandle, which became the internationally known JA Ranch. Involved in the preservation of the the area's native buffalo, he also bred the first herd of cattalo by crossing buffalo with range cattle. Goodnight's pioneer efforts led to the development of the frontier and the Texas cattle industry.

Oran, Texas, is located five miles northeast of Graford on Farm Road 52 in northeastern Palo Pinto County in a grazing and farming area that produces peanuts, corn, small grains, fruits, beef cattle, sheep, and poultry.

Early settlers in the area included cattlemen George Goodnight and Oliver Loving, as well as Captain J. J. “Jack” Cureton, head of Cureton’s Rangers, and George Rice Bevers, Palo Pinto County’s first citizen. Citizens wanted to name the town Black Springs, but the United States Postal Service refused; the name Oran was submitted and approved. It is the opinion of old-timers that the name Oran was selected in honor of Governor Oran M. Roberts.

The Oran post office was established in 1886 with Daniel B. Matheny as postmaster. In 1908 several wells began to produce mineral water, and a crystal plant was built to ship the product nationwide. The Weatherford, Mineral Wells and Northwestern Railway, a Texas and Pacific extension, was built into town. Soon Oran had a gin that ran twenty-four hours a day during cotton-picking season, a livery stable, a skating rink, a weekly paper, three churches, a lumberyard, a restaurant, and four general stores. There was also a twenty-room hotel where one could stay for a dollar a day.

By 1912 school enrollment had reached 112. A two-story, four-classroom school was built. Through the early 1920s Oran enjoyed continued prosperity, but then the boll weevil began to devastate the cotton industry. The gins were dismantled and moved away, the mineral wells abandoned, the railroad tracks taken up, and the depot dismantled. The school district was consolidated with the Perrin and Graford districts. There was a post office in operation as late as 1967, at which time a population of eighty was reported. No population figures were available in 1990. By 2000 the population was sixty-one.

Francis Marion "Frank" Bailey, an early settler of Oran, was the son of William M. "Wiley" Bailey and Mary Ann "May" Barnett. He was born on 19 October 1842, in Cherokee County, Alabama, and he died on 03 March 1937 in Oran, Palo Pinto Co., Texas at the age of 94.

Frank enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861. He was in Company K of the 19th Mississippi Regiment. He was at the First Battle of Manassas [ Bull Run ] in July of 1861. He was a member of General Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson's Division which held the high ground at Henry Hill, the climactic event of the battle, until the timely arrival of the troops of General J. E. Johnston. Had Jackson not held the hill until reinforcements arrived, the battle, and perhaps the war, would have gone to the North that day.

Frank was wounded in the leg at the Battle of Oak Swamp. It was a wound that never completely healed. It was said that he would go out behind the woodshed to dress his wounded leg, hopefully out of sight of everyone. However, at least once family members caught sight of it, and said it was a running sore below the knee. Imagine having a running sore for over 60 years!

In 1874, Frank and his wife, Sarah Margaret, moved to Henrietta, Texas. Five years later, in 1879, they moved to Palo Pinto County, Texas. There he built the Oran School House in 1908 which was rebuilt in 1931, the Baptist Church, Bailey Hotel and many residences. There he and Sarah Margaret celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on April 15, 1934. At that time, he was the last surviving member of the Stonewall Jackson Post of the Confederate Veterans. A quote from the Mineral Wells newspaper said, "Me and my woman had an understanding before I went to war," he said with one of his sly grins, "and so when I came back, although I was crippled up, she kept her part of the bargain and we were married."

Frank and Sarah Margaret Sanders were married on 31 May 1864 in Itawamba County, Mississippi. Sarah was born in 1843 in Mississippi and died on 12 March 1935 in Oran at the age of 92. The is conflicting information that Sarah’s name may have been Woolridge instead of Sanders.

Their children were Elizabeth Bailey, Lucinda Maude Bailey, Richard Bailey, William M. Bailey (born in 1865 and died on 19 June 1890 in Texas), Tillman Bailey (buried in Oran), Laura Malisie Bailey (born on 20 January 1867 and died on 7 September 1868 in Lee County, Mississippi), George Franklin Bailey (born on 29 July 1869 in Mississippi and died on 29 December 1939 in Oran), Rosa A. Bailey (born on 27 February 1871 and died in 1871 in Lee County, Mississippi), Clark Walter Bailey (born on 20 April 1873 in Oran and died on 20 August 1915 in Oran), Elit Bailey (born on 5 July 1875 and died in 1890), and John Pinkney “Pink” Bailey (born on 27 September 1878 in Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas).

Frank was a carpenter, and Justice of the Peace during his life. He applied and was approved for a confederate pension. His application number was 41293 located in Book 4. He was living in Palo Pinto County at the time.