Grits for Breakfast
@gritsforbreakfast
Nom de plume of Scott Henson, Austin, TX. Cancer survivor, househusband, recovering policy wonk (justice systems, civil liberties; innocence). "All my friends are buried here, and some of them are dead. So home is where I'll always hang my head."
Overuse and diminished recharge zones, mostly. But drought didn't help. There are also several, historical point-source moments when they really screwed up, including tapping artesian wells that pumped water up to 80 ft in the air, then just letting them flow out. Gunnar Brune wrote about that.
San Pedro Springs in 1869, 1877 www.expressnews.com/news/local/a...
The SA Express News ran an odd story last year reacting to a letter to the editor saying calling the dewatering of San Pedro Springs Park a "catastrophe," and while the reporter found ppl to refute the claim, here's what the eponymous springs have looked like since 2022:
I can see it. And there are many possible Halloween angles: "You know what's scary? Our springs and creeks are drying up." ;) Here's a little how-to graphic for that X-fold zine model. I used 11x17 paper; w/ 8.5x11 they're a little on the small side, but that may be perfect for the Halloween idea.
Researching early TX history, Google's Gemini AI popped up above the links to tell me that Sam Houston's "chosen successor" in the 1838 Republic of Texas presidential election was Mirabeau Lamar. Lamar and Houston despised one another and enmity btwn their 2 factions defined early Texan politics.
San Pedro Springs, San Antonio, 1889 texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/m...
While researching another topic, I saw a 1963 clip today about a screwworm case in Bell County, and it was treated as an all-hands-on-deck situation with experts brought in to address town hall meetings and scientists' recommendations implemented like holy writ. We see none of that in Texas today.
Comal Springs' flow last week compared to the same week in July in 2005.
Me: Your impoverished knowledge of the world is why your family is sending you to college. OG: I don't care, you were singing The Internationale. That's not a lullaby! Me: She fell asleep, didn't she?
"Dr. Dromgoole's English Female Bitters makes positive and unmistakable cures of all lingering female weaknesses," 1883
Idk when was the last time I bought a magazine in a grocery store checkout line, but this photo feature on Texas in Vogue got me to pick one up. www.vogue.com/article/texa...
Bird's eye view of the Pleasant Valley Nursery in 1883 from a Statesman newspaper ad. This was the place on Boggy Creek that had a 30-feet deep well from which the owner used a steam pump to produce 500 gpm of water for irrigation. bsky.app/profile/grit...
Check out the amazing array of grape varietal seedlings being sold at an East Austin nursery in 1880. I've never thought of Central Texas as grape/wine country, but that's an impressive set of offerings.
San Gabriel Park is a legacy of FDR's New Deal, built during the Great Depression. But it had been a popular local gathering spot since Sam Houston spoke there in 1859. The Glasscocks are mentioned on the historical marker, but not the eponymous springs, which are referenced w/o a name.
It really sounds to me like Middleton Springs are somewhere near the Sherwood Forest Faire site -- between Paige and McDade on the old state Hwy 20. Looking at the satellite map, this pond near the faire site seems like a likely prospect.
Rented a U-Haul yesterday to take the granddaughter to San Marcos a little ahead of the new school year (first year at TSU, she's super excited), and was delighted to find this iPod ready audio connection on the dashboard. 😂
While researching property owners along Boggy Creek in East Austin, the name "Socrates Darling" came up, and ... what a great name!
A "splendid," "never failing" mystery spring 3.5 miles from Austin in 1885 (today w/in the city limits). I can possibly figure this out from county records, if I can determine where A. McGary owned property back then, but it'll be a laborious slog.
The newspaper article above even suggested the city waterworks should consider Radam's groundwater source to supplement the city water supply. Here's an 1884 ad for Radam's nursery, so named bc it fronted Pleasant Valley Rd to the east:
In 1889, the 65 acre Peck Spring farm was offered up for sale, but I can't for life of me figure out where it was, and thus where "Peck Spring" was. Maybe it's been buried or occluded entirely, or maybe it's just called something else now.
A large new development in Buda near the Antioch freedmen's' colony required them to do an archaeological assessment related to their cemetery. It's going on right now. www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...
The Google satellite image of the spot is from 2026, and one can see what looks like concrete stairs sitting by Onion Creek that I bet may have been part of that baptismal font. The creek runs under Bluff Springs Road just beyond this site.
In Portland, Tanner Spring was occluded but revived elsewhere a little away from its original location in a city park, after being treated underground w/ UV light. I don't completely understand what all they did yet, but I want to. landperspectives.com/2011/07/01/t...
I've been looking for photos of Manchaca Springs (and other historic Texas springs) when they were still flowing, and am coming up dry. I purchased this book, and while no Manchaca Springs, they had a great picture from nearby Bluff Springs, w/ what looks like a baptismal font built around it.
First Mondays trade days in Canton, Tx routinely draw >200,000 visitors, maybe they shoulda gone w/ more of a flea market vibe www.firstmondaycanton.com
Art from 1925 Austin Statesman story depicting cops assisting/taking payoffs from bootleggers
After going to library 2x to use this 1975 book, when I needed it a 3rd time I ordered a used copy. Lots of detail in it that's just unavailable anywhere else.
Found a few photos on my phone of San Solomon Springs at Balmorhea State Park, taken several years ago, last time I was there. texanbynature.org/projects/wat...