folklore – TEXAS HISTORY NOTEBOOK

Stampede Mesa and “Ghost Riders in the Sky”

Stanley Davis “Stan” Jones (1914 – 1963) wrote “Ghost Riders in the Sky” about 1948 or 1949. This tune is probably his best remembered composition. He was born in Arizona and moved with his family to California after his father died. Jones had a varied background that included earning a degree in zoology from the Berkeley campus of University of California, service in the United States Navy, writing songs for Disney Studios and for his own account, and serving as a Death Valley park ranger. He also did a bit of film acting and other jobs. Of “Ghost Riders,” Jones would tell of hearing stories from old cowboys back in Arizona when he was a boy. Before one old cowboy died he told Stan an old yarn about a ghost herd of cattle in the sky being pursued by ghost riders.

Bill Kelley’s Mine

This is a story of a legendary Big Bend area mine. It is sometimes referred to by other names in newspaper accounts, books and articles. Since Bill Kelley figures into the story, more recently it has been called “Bill Kelly’s Mine.” Mrs. Eugenia H. Chandley wrote about it in the March 22, 1939 edition of the Alpine, Texas Sul Ross Skyline. According to the legend, a young man named Bill Kelley was from the Black Seminoles in Coahuila, Mexico and told some of his relatives of finding a treasure on the Texas side of the Rio Grande. Kelley had told his employers, the Reagan brothers, of coming across an outcropping of stone that shined like gold, while he was holding a herd of horses for them. Kelley chipped off some of the rock, put it in his pack and relayed the news of his find to the Reagans.

Marfa Lights

The mystery of the Marfa Lights is surrounded by folklore. The earliest known account of the Marfa Lights dates back to a night in March of 1883 when a sixteen year old cowboy named Robert Reed Ellison (1867 – 1946) witnessed some lights across the prairie that seemed to shimmer in the distance. The stories about Ellison usually include that he and another person were driving a herd of cattle over Paisano Pass (about halfway between the current towns of Marfa and Alpine) to his father’s place when the lights near the base of the Chinati Mountains caught their eyes. The next morning, they investigated but found no remnants of fires, nor any other things that would explain what they had seen.

Llano’s Lost Silver Mine Stories

The legends of the Lost Silver Mines of the Hill Country date back to the mid 1700s, alternately referred to as the San Saba Silver Mine, the Llano Silver Mine, the Los Almagres Mine and the Spanish Silver Mine. The stories appear to possibly involve several locations of buried treasure in the same general area. The following is intended to be a high level look at the mystery.

Chepita Rodriguez

Josefa “Chepita” Rodriguez ran an inn on the old Cotton Road between Refugio and Aransas Pass around the time of the Civil War. Sometimes her name is spelled Chapita or Chipita, but Chepita appears to be the most common spelling. Her story began when John Savage, a cotton dealer and horse trader, was found dead, his body wrapped in burlap in the Aransas River near San Patricio.

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