Mineral Wells is near the Brazos River, along the John Graves Scenic Waterway. Before the current lakes were dammed, Graves canoed the upper Brazos and recorded his experience in the book Goodbye to a River. A great read, a thick narrative of the region.

Crossing the river, U.S. 281 a few miles farther south crosses the modern trafficway of Interstate 20. Travel farther, faster, and see less.

South of I-20 is Stephenville, in Erath County. Erath has the largest concentration of dairy farms in Texas, affecting water quality on the Bosque River from manure run-off. Economics drive producers to larger and larger dairy farms so that the economies of scale can make the investment of money and labor profitable. But, concentrate large dairy operations and the resulting manure produced harms the local envirnment. Government regulations to curb pollution tend to force farmers either to quit the business, or to get even larger to sustain profitability in the face of regulatory requirements. Larger and larger dairy farms produce more and more manure . . . You see the dynamic. But, in a creative effort to solve the problem, Erath County dairymen are engaging in a program to compost the manure and then market it--turning a problem into a profit.

Next in turn is Hico, a town with a couple of problematic claims to fame. Years ago an old resident claimed to be the real Billy the Kid. Not to lose an opportunity, the Chamber of Commerce created a small bandwagon to draw tourists: putting up a billboard on the edge of town claiming to be the home of Billy the Kid, and opening a small museum. Another instance of the desire for dollars trumping self-respect. More troubling is the local reputation of the town as a stronghold of the KKK. True or not, Hico is believed by central Texas blacks to be a place to avoid. We didn't stop.

The next town of any size is Hamilton. Like almost all the towns in this area it was founded in the 1850s as the Comanche Empire (called by the Spanish Comancheria) began to wane under the pressure of Anglo settlement and the Texas Rangers. After 1700, having been introduced to horses through their allies the Utes, the Comanche had moved onto the southern plains and within fifty years had driven out the Apaches, killing many and selling large numbers as slaves to the French in Louisiana. When the Comanche arrived, the Apache had just established themselves as the rulers of the southern grasslands all the way to below the Rio Grande, wiping out their main enemies the Jumanos. Apacheria, as the Spanish called it, was short-lived. Ironically, the Comanches, with whom the Anglos fought a genocidal war, were indirectly responsible for the American presence. Spain, and then Mexico, had been unable to dislodge the Comanche to allow settlement, and so invited in settlers from Europe and America. Give human beings the technology to dominate our neighbors, and history shows we will do it, whatever our race or ethnicity.