Upper Colorado River (without a paddle)
By Kathleen Kaska It’s early morning in Dawson County and my husband, Lloyd, and I are on the roadside 10 miles north of Lamesa. Our quest is to visit every dam on the upper reaches, and what better place to start than at the beginning.  We arrive road-weary and hungry. But we’re in luck: Railhead Trade Days weekend, an event that takes place every third weekend in March, July, and November, is in full swing. Arts, crafts, and food vendors spill onto the railyard from the old Railhead Building, which once housed the National Guard Armory.
To walk off our excessive noshing, we explore Colorado City on foot. On 2nd and Chestnut streets, the Branding Wall mural displays the county’s 230 cattle brands. And looming over town like a dowager resting after years of entertaining bigwigs, the skeleton of the five-story Baker Hotel stands as a testament to a time when cattle transport and the oil business brought big money to Colorado City.
Hoping to learn more about local history, I call the Heart of West Texas Museum and schedule a tour with director Shirley Scott. The museum contains exhibits telling the stories of the area’s oil booms and cattle-ranching days. Other exhibits include a tribute to Chief Lone Wolf, a Kiowa chief who was a member of a peace delegation sent to Washington in 1863; a display of mammoth bones unearthed in nearby Lake Champion in 2001; and a model of an 1800s general store.
The next morning, we roll toward Robert Lee and the Wildcat Creek Recreation Area, one of four parks along the E.V. Spence Reservoir.
Afterward with lunch on our minds, we head to Bronte, named for novelist Charlotte Brontë, but pronounced Bront. At La Salsa Mexican and American Grill, owner Rosana Sergio Franco dishes up two humongous bowls of the best chicken-tortilla soup I’ve tasted, which satisfy us all the way to one of my favorite West Texas towns, Ballinger.
Round the bend, the Colorado meanders toward the Highland Lakes. We wave the river goodbye and promise to meet it on our next trip to Matagorda, where it kisses the Gulf of Mexico and disappears.
See the full article in the October 2008 issue. Subscribe Order back issues |
