|
|
| "Near
the jail museum are several buildings from Old Mobeetie along with
a wooden flagpole, the last surviving remnant from Fort Elliott."
- Terry
Jeanson, September 2007 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
"Mobeetie"
is supposed to mean "Sweetwater" in one Indian dialect or
another. According to T. Lindsay Baker's Ghost Town's of Texas,
when the application for a Post Office was rejected because Sweetwater
was already taken, they got the idea to submit it as an Indian word.
So a man was sent to the Fort (Elliot) to ask for a translation
from an Indian Scout.
He came back
with the name Mobeetie, which might mean Sweetwater or "Why do you
want to know?" or "Buy me a drink and I'll tell you." If the scout
misheard, it might even mean "Beetwater." Anyway, it's too late
now. By the way, the Fort was Fort Elliot, not the guy who
went to get the translation.
It's original
name was Hidetown in 1874, when it was a supply center for
buffalo hunters.
It was a wild
and wooly place. The gamblers, soldiers and buffalo hunters made
it wild, the Buffalo made it wooly. Bat Masterson paid the
town a visit as well as Pat Garrett. Masterson bought a Buffalo
robe and Garrett bought a T-shirt for his pal Billy the Kid
that said: "I've just been shot by stupid."
|
 |
 |
|
A jail
was built in the early 1880s and a Texas Ranger Captain Arrington
became the sheriff. Temple
Houston, son of Sam, served a term here as District Attorney
before he became a State Senator.
In 1878, the
town moved a little closer to the Fort. Evidently the Fort didn't
like to be crowded, because the soldiers packed up and left in 1890.
There was a mass conversion during an 1893 religious revival and
just when everyone saw the light and closed the saloons, the town's
future was dimming.
They failed
to get the railroad to pass through, then they got hit with a tornado
in 1898.
In 1907, the
city of Wheeler
was made County Seat and people started wearing T-Shirts
saying: "I'm from Mobeetie, kick me!"
1929 finally
brought a railroad, sort of. It was two miles away and once again
the town moved. Some stayed and Mobettie became "Old" and "New."
1940 found the town with a population of 400, equal to the 1890
census. It had dipped as low as 128 in 1900. Now it's less that
200 according to the Texas Almanac.
The flagpole
from Fort Elliott remains to this day, and the old
stone jail is a museum.
© John Troesser
Book
Your Hotel Here & Save
Pampa
Hotels
More
Hotels
|
 |
| Window
detail from the old Wheeler County jail in Mobeetie. Photo courtesy
Terry
Jeanson, September 2007 |
| The
1886 Wheeler County jail entrance. Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, September 2007 |
Mobeetie
street scene in the early 1900s
Photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
Mobeetie
Texas Forum
Subject:
Mobeetie, Texas
Dear TE, I very much appreciate the work you do. I lived in Mobeetie
in 1948-51 when Daddy was the pastor of the Methodist church there,
and heard all the stories about the naming of the town that I see
in your magazine. By the way, Mobeetie is 31 miles east of Pampa,
not 20. My sister-in-law was a Totty, one of the homesteading families
there... Her home was built of lumber from Fort Elliot when it was
torn down. The Mobeetie kids still have reunions on the first Saturday
in September every year. Oh, and I lived at Oklahoma Lane too....
Best wishes, - David Willard, January 09, 2007
Subject:
Mobeetie Texas
In 1963 I met Jimmy L. Simpson in Abilene. He was from Mobeetie.
He told me it was the oldest town in the panhandle. He took me there
and we worked in the hay fields for a week. His dad, Byron Simpson,
owned the gas station. He took me to where the old fort stood. We
found relics, bullets, and an old knife. It is now 2006, I talked
to Byron Simpson last year. His son lives somewhere in the Carolinas.
Thank you for great memories of a lost time in the past. - Gene
Long, N. Richland Hills, Texas, June 16, 2006
Subject:
The Naming of Mobeetie
I grew up
in Pampa, Texas,
about 20 miles from Mobeetie in the 1950s and 60s. I seem to recall
many years ago hearing a story told by Texas writer, free speech
hero, and humorist, John Henry Faulk, about how Mobeetie was named.
In the story as told by John Henry, the citizens wanted to name
the town Sweetwater
but the name was already taken by another Texas town. Efforts to
name the town Sweetwater in Spanish were to no avail because 'Agua
Dulce' was already a town down in the Texas Coastal Bend. The citizens
decided to name the town Sweetwater in the Cheyene language because
Cheyene Indians worked and lived at Fort Elliot. So a man was sent
to Fort Elliot to ask what is the Cheyene word for Sweetwater. The
Indian, who was a Cheyene Indian Scout chuckled and said, "Mobeetie."
It was about two years later when the citizens of Mobeetie found
out why the Indian had chuckled when providing the translation.
According to the story told John Henry, it turns out that "Mobeetie"
in Cheyene means "buffalo dung". Anyway, that is how I remember
the story.
Work for the Lord---the retirement is out of this world! - Rev.
Carl W. Clark Driftwood United Methodist Church, Driftwood, Texas,
January 24, 2006
Hi, I just
finished reading the piece on Mobeetie and wanted to comment on
the translation of the name. While I was living in Borger, I was
told by numerous panhandle citizens that the Indians decided to
play a joke on the white settlers and the word the settlers thought
was "sweet water" was really buffalo piss. I noticed that you didn't
mention that translation in your suggestions! :-) - G. Thomas,
March 07, 2001
|
|
|
