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Serial #018

Dodge Trail Reliquary

Northwest of Mobeetie, Texas, the old McLean place has seen its share of boom and bust, ebb and flow on the High Plains. Part of the Running Fight Battle during the Red River War of 1874 occurred on the land. After the Comanche and Kiowas were subdued and the hide trade lumbered to its rapid zenith and extinction, the Dodge Trail cut through the McLean country on the way from Dodge City, Kansas to Fort Elliott in Mobeetie and on to Fort Griffin further south.

The McLeans settled the place around 1898, first living in a half dugout in the breaks above Sweetwater Creek, then in a stout frame house they built up on the flats. They made it through the 30’s, but the drought of the late 50’s may have been too much to last out. The little white stucco house has been vacant since then. Now a rancher on his feed route or an oil field service truck in the distance is the only activity around the place. The gash of the Dodge Trail, still about knee-deep, runs a few yards south of the house.

Stepping over the crumbling threshold, I am greeted by some lace and an old cowboy boot, the sole worn completely through. In the pink room, an envelope from December, 1941 lies on the floor under a table. Someone in later years has written “The Man Who Died” above the address.

Sears and Roebuck catalog pages from 1929 fall to the floor as trim boards are pried loose. Patches of pressboard with layers of pink and blue paint are salvaged from the kitchen. The green screen door has been protected by the porch and still seems solid. The disassembled parts of a child’s swing set are discovered stacked under the debris of the fallen porch ceiling.

These castoff pieces have come together for the Dodge Trail Reliquary. Swing set legs, with deep furrow drill points for feet, are braced by oilfield scrap. Valve handles have become door and drawer pulls. Parts from the pink room and the screen door frame the reliquary case for the letter, boot, and lace at rest behind the old refrigerator shelf.