As the last Camel was being BBQ’D, someone was overheard saying, “Dang, It does taste like Chicken”. Anyone bring any Rudy’s Sauce?
Very interesting but makes no mention of Hi Jolly. Once visited his grave in Quartzsite, Arizona.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi_Jolly
We were lucky...at one time there were some one million wild camels in Australia, and the population was projected to double every decade. In 2009, the gov’t started to cull the heard ( where the heck was PETA?) and now it’s down to about 300,000.
The liberal historical depository is currently experiencing site difficulties ...
Camp Verde Texas is about 15 miles from my house. There’s a great restaurant there now.
http://texas-hill-country.com/issue/2015/article/camels-of-camp-verde
They've been biding their time, arming up:
Just went down to Camp Verde, Texas a few weeks ago. Nothing there but a monument and a great restaurant, which was our real reason for going.
Jefferson Davis, while Secretary of War, had the camels brought over from the Middle East along with handlers. The story is the Camels were more or less abandoned when the Civil War broke out and the camp was closed. I wonder if the ones in AZ wondered over to the more desert like conditions. (I didn’t read the article. Yet.)
Practically speaking, there were never that many camels, and it quickly turned out that horses, donkeys and mules do not like camels.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/states/arizona/2011-02-15-1042942857_x.htm
On the plus side, there are many wild burros, the smaller Mexican version of the donkey, that prosper in the western Arizona town of Oatman, and are popular tourist attractions. Quite friendly, they are always on the lookout for handouts from people.
The camels were brought in by the US Secretary of War to see how they would do in the Great American Desert. Everyone hated them even though they did well and thrived.
The camel corps was disbanded and the camels released because no one wanted THAT Secretary of War to be remembered.
His name was Jefferson Davis, later President of the Confederate States of America.
Now, I believe all camels and camel signs should be removed as I’m OFFENDED by the association with the South! ;-)
Garden Villas bloomed as pastoral suburb in urban Houston
The history of the property can be traced back to 1833 when Henry B. Prentiss, a colonist from Massachusetts, received his land grant from Stephen F. Austin. His prairie land covered almost 3,200 acres near Sims Bayou. Prentiss never used the land and it passed through several owners over the next 50 years, having once been sold for $2.75 in delinquent taxes. Not until Samuel Ezekial Allen purchased it in 1882 was the land developed by its owner. (For the record, Allen paid $4,000 for the acreage.)
Allen had inherited his father’s cattle ranch, which he expanded to 13,000 acres. Allen’s operation was so vast that he had his own boat landing and railway loading pens.
The Allens also had orchards and vegetable gardens, features that would be promoted in the 20th century development of the property. An Allen descendant has confirmed that in the 1850s camels grazed on this land, as well as that of Francis R. Lubbock, whose ranch was just east of Allen’s ranch. This was an experiment of the United States Army where North African camels were used to carry mail and small equipment through regions of Texas. Although the plan failed because the animals were difficult to handle, the sight of camels meandering on the outskirts of Houston caused quite a stir when seen by travelers.
Saw the movie “Tracks” recently. Learned that there are over 50,000 feral camels in Australia, the descendants of those brought by settlers in the 1830s.
I loved this book as a kid.
I saw one once. It was running with a pack of jackalope.
They went to Hollywood. Really!
