Ranching Heritage tour exceeds initial expectations

by Britni Palomino, photo editor

 

History is a part of our world, whether we like it or not.

Some may like it, and others may not. I really didn’t think that it was the most interesting thing to learn either. I thought it was OK but I would rather be doing something else.

As part of our newspaper, the back page is reserved for a large feature story called “Spotlight.” As the photography editor, I often take all the pictures for that page. I don’t have to, but I love to.

So we decided that the next project was the local Ranching Heritage tour. Let me tell you that I was not excited at first, because I knew it had to do with history. But I was going with a really good friend of mine, so I thought it could be fun.

Waking up early in the morning was not my favorite part, mostly because it was Saturday. So Melissa Rinehart, the associate editor for the Plainsman Press, and I got on a bus with complete strangers and began our journey for the day. Once on the bus, we learned where we were going throughout the day, along with some really neat facts such as how Levelland got its name.

Then we made our first stop in Whiteface to watch a movie. I’m not sure how much of the movie I could tell you about, mostly because I slept through it. It was just way too early to be watching a movie, but I do know that it was about J.B. Allen.

We then made our way to one of the old ranching houses, a neat house that we learned a lot about it. The owner of the house was on our bus, and she explained every detail of it.

Next, we went to a cemetery, where we saw a sacred Indian burial ceremony. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve witnessed. We met a lady in the town of Bronco who was a member of the Fields family. She talked about her family and was joined by her brother. She explained that the shoes she wore were from the 1800’s and only cost her a few dollars.

The school in Bledsoe also was interesting. We had many people on the tour with us who originally attended the school. They told us many things about the school and what it was like to go there.

We also visited a couple of museums along the way, the first in Morton and the last in Whiteface. We saw so many interesting things, including some things that scared me. The highlight of our day was in Morton, where we got to make cornhusks dolls. It took us a little while to understand the technique, but we caught on after a few minutes.

Overall, I learned about and saw many things that day. I also learned an important lesson that history can be fun and interesting. I would definitely like to learn more about the history of the area we live in.