When Henry Belding, my great grandfather, came to Palo Pinto County there was nothing but a few scattered settlements and several large ranches, all on open range, and the remnants of some Indian settlements along the river. There were some mesquite, some cedar, large oak groves and lots and lots of tall grass growing among the limestone ledges. There were deer, bears, a smattering of longhorn, and occasional herds of buffalo. And there was the beautiful Brazos River. After thoroughly searching the county, Henry found a little log cabin and corn crib that had been abandoned because of Indian problems. The house was at the north end of a beautiful long prairie. A little creek meandered around the house and drained into the Brazos and its beautiful limestone cliffs. Best of all, he could sit on his horse and survey the land for miles in all directions. He had found his home and he and his wife, Elizabeth, settled in and began the long, hard process of building a ranch in the wilderness. At first this Possum Kingdom country was open range and there were cooperative roundups each year to brand the calves of the year and to select some cattle to send up the trail with whoever was organizing a trail drive to the markets. Then came the invention of barbed wire and the end of the open range. This was one of the great changes that meant the beginning of a new era. As cattle were held in more closely knit herds, the nature of the range began a long, slow change. The grass was cropped short by the cattle and mesquite and cedar began to spread. By the 1920s and 30s and 40s and on into the 2000s there was less grass and more trees until the vast beautiful views no longer existed. And there was the building of Morris Shepherd Dam, another huge change in the landscape of the Possum Kingdom. My grandfather looked on the resulting lake as permanent water for his cattle. But my father gradually began to see the possibility of beautiful homes and of families coming to the ranch to enjoy the beauty of the lake. By the time my father started Gaines Bend Development in 1968 it was a place of quiet, secluded houses in the trees on the shores of Possum Kingdom Lake. The came the year 2011, the year some have called the "Year of the Burning" because of the two devastating wildfires. At first we were all consumed with the process of surviving in the ashes. Then some folks began to see and to call attention to just what had occurred. Out of those ashes came the fantastic vistas my great grandfather had so loved. How amazing is that!!! Then, as those vistas became apparent, the plans for further development of Gaines Bend began to change to take advantage of the views rather than the seclusion of the cedar forests. The first of these new visions is now being realized with Rawhide Vistas. As of this writing there is one completed home and another almost completed in Rawhide Vistas. Come and see these beautiful new/old views for yourselves. By-the-way, all who are interested in seeing what has become of that little log cabin on the prairie are invited to visit during the Palo Pinto Historical Tour the last Saturday of April, 2013. The house will be open all day. AND . . . stay tuned because I will be posting all kinds of historical stories of the Possum Kingdom country and beyond on this site. But if you want it all in a nutshell you might consider getting my book, Painted Pole: The Beldings and Their Ranches in Palo Pinto County--Pioneer Days to Computer Age. Just contact the Gaines Bend office if you want one.