I was so excited this morning when I opened my Facebook page and found a black bear staring me in the face. The photo was from a Texas Parks and Wildlife post. They talked about 12 sightings so far this year in the Hill Country and South Texas and gave the link to an article about bears in Texas. It is worth reading. http://bit.ly/BlackBearsTx Back in the 1800s there were bears in Palo Pinto County. In fact, in my book PAINTED POLE I have at least three stories about bears. They were just accepted as part of the normal habitat of the area. The most devastating story is of a bear hunt which never took place. At Christmas time, 1858, Choctaw Tom and his family received permission from the Indian agent on the reservation near Graham to go into Palo Pinto County and hunt for their winter meat supply. On their way home, they met some men from Golconda (Palo Pinto) who were out hunting a bear. The Palo Pinto men persuaded Choctaw Tom's family to stay and join in the hunt. So Choctaw Tom left his family camped at the base of a mountain just outside of Palo Pinto while he took the wagon full of meat and hides back to the reservation. According to C. C. Slaughter, there had already been some trouble. While Choctaw Tom's family had been camped on Sunday Creek near present-day Santo, the Lavender family reported being shot at by Indians and said some horses had been stolen. Ranger Captain John M. Middleton was dispatched with a posse of 17 men to investigate, and they tracked the Indians to Choctaw Tom's camp. Tom said the horses had been stolen by a wild tribe traveling through. As to the shooting, one of Tom's men reported they had been shooting at deer, not people. To avoid further confrontations, Choctaw Tom moved his camp to Town Branch and then on to Indian Hole on Elm Creek, six miles north of Golconda on the Slaughter ranch. On the evening of Sunday, December 26, Peter Garland was leading a group of men from Erath County who were out for revenge because of some damage done in Stephenville by a group of "drunk" Indians. Garland's group happened to pass through Palo Pinto and heard that Choctaw Tom's family was camped outside of town. They swaggered into the saloon and began boasting that they planned to kill the Indians. Much to their surprise this did not set well at all with the men in Palo Pinto who knew Choctaw Tom and were looking forward to the bear hunt. Garland's men were told in no uncertain terms to leave the Indians alone. When it finally began to sink in that the idea of attacking Choctaw Tom's camp was not a popular one, Garland's men left town. However, they did not give up their plans. The next morning before sunrise the group from Stephenville attacked the peaceful Indian camp, killing several sleeping Indians and wounding others. Then they went back through Golconda boasting of the attack. "We have opened the ball, and others can dance to the music." Thus began the 14 year long Indian wars in this part of Texas. The brutal war that started because one bunch of men invited their friends to go bear hunting. The other two bear stories have much happier endings. They will be posted later this week. In the meantime, to read about this and a lot more history of the county, contact the Gaines Bend Office to find out how to get a copy of my book, PAINTED POLE. It makes a great Christmas gift. Notice: I classified this as entertainment but it is actually serious, well documented, history and comes complete with footnotes in my book.