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ROARING
SPRINGS, TEXAS
Motley County,
Texas Panhandle
State Highway 70 and FM 684
8 miles S of Matador
85 miles NE of Lubbock
Population: 265 (2000) 264 (1990)
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"That
is cotton on the right behind the depot. The cotton harvest this year
in the Panhandle was a bumper crop and may be the greatest in history.....There
is a gin nearby." - Stephen Taylor, 2005 photo |
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History in
a Small Pecan Shell
Roaring Springs was once a part of the Matador Ranch. In
anticipation of the railroad coming through, they platted a town
in 1912 and called it Ragtown. It seemed like a good idea
at the time. When they got their post office in 1913 they were told
to get serious and they came up with Roaring Springs - named after
a point on Dutchman Creek.
The Travelers Hotel (c.1914) in downtown Roaring Springs
is on the Texas Historical Commission's endangered buildings list.
The Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railroad operated from 1913 to 1971.
The high population of Roaring Springs was 514 people - reached
in the 1940s.
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Old
fire truck
Photo courtesy Stephen Taylor, 2005 |
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Roaring
Springs, Texas Forum
Witching
Water in Roaring Springs
Dear TE, My grandfather, Rolla Chester "R.C" Ireton and his wife
Lillie lived in Roaring Springs from 1920 to 1925. Son Merion Frank
was born February 16, 1922. Rolla operated the blacksmith shop,
garage and light plant furnishing power to the barbershop, general
store run by his father, Frank Austin Ireton, and the hotel and
a few other business places. The light plant consisted of a Model
"T" Ford engine and generator in the garage and blacksmith shop
which ran the machinery during and the electric generator at night
until about ten o'clock .Rolla was a dowser being able to find water
with a willow branch and in 1924 a rancher who could not find water
on his ranch offered him five hundred dollars to dig a well on his
place he accepted and took another man out and located place to
dig and about twenty five feet down where they found a nice stream
of good water and was producing water fifty years later. In 1925
they moved to Whitedeer. - Mark
William Ireton, Portland Oregon, August 11, 2007
Roaring Springs
will always hold a special place in my heart. My grandmother and
grandfather moved their ten children to Roaring Springs sometime
in the 1940's. All of their grandchildren loved Roaring Springs.
I was born in 1973 and as a child, I remember visiting my grandmother
on holidays and summers. We had freedom, we could walk downtown
to the store by ourselves and we played outside all day. Occasionally
we were able to go the Springs and swim. The people were always
friendly, they would wave as they drove by. My grandmother finally
moved from Roaring Springs about 5 years ago.
My mom told me about all of the people that used to live in Roaring
Springs and many of my fondest memories happened there. It was a
place that represented family and values. I couldn't believe people
actually left their doors unlocked. It is a really special place
to me. - Angela J., Granddaughter of Ossie "Shine" Brown, Las
Vegas, Nevada, July 27, 2005
My grandfather
worked for the Matador Ranch at one point, and they lived near Roaring
Springs in an old boxcar. He and my father broke saddle horses for
them for a while. They were working a bunch of cattle and my grandfather
was off his horse for some reason when a bull gored him badly. This
happened somewhere around 1915 or so. It took two years to heal,
and when he died in 1959, the scars on his abdomen were terrible
to see.
His name was J.O. CHESTER, born about 1867, married to Katie Leona
BAMFORD AUSTIN . The Children that were with them were Mae Austin,
John Felix Austin age about 15, and Thomas A. Chester age 5 or 6.
Thanks, Leona Guthrie
Anyone with history or photos of Roaring Springs that would like
to share them with our readers, please contact
us.
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