On way to California from Tennessee in the 1850's Isaac J. and Sarah Isabella Rude settled in West Texas. In Davis Mountains, Rude built and operated a station for the Butterfield Overland Stage; here passengers had meals while mules were unharnessed and exchanged for a fresh team. Soon Butterfield--the pioneer passenger and mail service (1858-1861) from St. Louis to California--had Rude move here to Ft. Stockton and build another stand. In 1859, when a stop was added at Leon water hole, 5 miles west of Ft. Stockton, Rude built and ran the stand there. Food there was best on the route, said a journalist.

Sarah Rude (1834-1916) carried a pistol under her apron, to protect her children. When Indians attacked the Davis Mountains stand, the men loaded guns and handed them to Mrs. Rude--a calm, sure marksman. Just over 5 ft. tall, she butchered and skinned beeves to feed her family, when her husband was away.

After stages stopped operating in 1861, Isaac Rude, like others associated with the Overland Mail, joined the Confederate army. Later he became a prosperous businessman in McKinney. Born in 1829, he died in 1902.

Used by emigrants and the Southern (Butterfield) Overland Mail, which linked St. Louis and San Francisco with a semi-weekly mail, 1858-1861. Headquarters in 1855 of Captain John Pope, supervisor of the drilling of the first deep well west of the 98th meridian. They struck water at 244 feet but sank to 1140 hoping to strike artesian flow. The well caved before its value could be determined. This $100,000 experiment pointed the way to deep well drilling in the Great Plains.

Over these tracks passed the Butterfield Stage, 1858-1861, providing for first time in history a combined passenger and mail service from Atlantic to Pacific coast. Operating westward from St. Louis and Memphis, John Butterfield's company used 1,350 mules and horses and 90 Concord coaches and wagons.

Stages traveled rapidly, despite lack of real roads. A signal given approaching a station would assure food on table for travelers, and fresh horses ready.

Stations were 12 to 113 miles apart. Route changes were often made to obtain water. The passengers and crew wore guns. Indians liked horses, so to reduce the danger of Indian attacks, mules were used west of Ft. Belknap. Trip one way took 25 days -- 7 consumed in crossing Texas, from near Preston (now under Lake Texoma) to Jacksboro, Ft. Belknap, Ft. Chadbourne, and El Paso. One-way fare for the 2,700 miles was $200.

This marks a 113-mile span, from Emigrants' Crossing (82 mi.S) to Pope's Crossing (31 mi.N), that on inaugural trip, Sept. 16 - Oct. 12, 1858, had no team-change. Route ran parallel to Pecos River. By November there were 3 change stations in this area, one being Skillman's Stop (6 mi.N). Route was shortened in 1860, going by Forts Stockson, Davis and Quitman, west of the Pecos.

One mile southeast to Fort Chadbourne, a station on the Butterfield Mail and Stage Line, which linked St. Louis and San Francisco, 1858 - 1861. The fort was established in 1852, occupied until its surrender to state forces in 1861, and garrisoned at times after the Civil War.

Built in 1858 as a station on the Butterfield Overland Mail route St. Louis to San Francisco. Abandoned in 1859, when the line was shifted to the Davis Mountain route.

A noted watering place on pioneer trails, known as early as 1840 to settlers and prospectors who camped near the strong currents of water boiling up at the foot of a rocky bluff. The sandstone of the bluff's face became an inscription rock, in which travelers carved names or initials and dates of their visits, sometimes to assure friends or relatives who were to follow later over the same trail.

A campsite for prospectors, including California-bound gold seekers passing this way, 1849-1850s, the spot was mapped in 1857 as a watering spot for the Southern Overland Mail coaches of John Butterfield, racing from Saint Louis to San Francisco. After the Civil War (1861-65), many cattle herds passed this way for water while being driven north to market.

When Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was built to Denison townsite in 1872, Sand Springs gained new importance, feeding Waterloo Lake, built in late 1800s and used for many years (prior to 1908) as city's main water supply. But the old campsites were inundated. Other steps in man's progress reduced flow of the water. The area remained a popular picnic ground for years. Its history is revealed by the weathered carvings still visible on the inscription rocks.

Used as a watering place and camping ground by Indians since Pre-Columbian times, the Springs were possibly visited about 1536 by Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca on his wanderings through Texas. The expedition of Juan de Mendoza, with his party of Spaniards and Jumano Indians, camped near the waters in 1684.

The six major, gushing springs and the beautiful river they formed resulted from water seeping up through geological faults to the earth's surface. The reservoir which supplied them was located in the formation known as "Trinity Sand."

The Springs, among the largest in all Texas, were one of the few good watering places in this arid region. They supplied Indians raiding into Mexico on the nearby Comanche war trail and also gold seekers traveling to California on the southern route, 1849 and later. Butterfield Overland Mail stage stopped here as well, and after 1859 the Springs provided water for Fort Stockton, which was founded both to protect the mail and stop the Comanche raids.

The Springs began to be tapped for irrigation as early as 1875, but today irrigation projects to the north and west have reduced the underground water supply so much that the Springs no longer flow.

19th century oasis around a lone cottonwood tree and a good spring. Wagon ruts from heavy traffic attracted here are still visible on hill to the southwest. In 1849, Capt. Randolph B. Marcy, U.S. Army camped with his soldiers at this spring as they mapped a gold-seekers' road to California. Capt. Marcy was to return as escort (1851) for Col. W.F. Belknap, en route to establish Fort Belknap (15 miles southwest), and with Maj. Robert S. Neighbors (1854), exploring for Indian reservation sites. Maj. Enoch Steen of the 2nd U.S. Dragoons was here in 1855, platting a route to Fort Riley, Kan. The Leach wagon train camped here in 1857 while opening the Butterfield Overland Mail route, along the Preston Road to Red River. Riding to the north of Red River to fight wild Comanche raiders, two expeditions camped here in 1858: Capt. John S. ("Rip") Ford with Rangers, in April; Maj. Earl Van Dorn with U.S. Cavalry in the fall. Maj. Neighbors in August 1859, escorting Texas Indians to reservations in present Oklahoma, found the spring dry. Water returned, however. Cattlemen used the spring for generations, until in mid-20th century, the water table dropped permanently and the cottonwood died.

A 3-story brick structure built on this site in 1857 by business leader George B. Adkins (1810-76), and called "Adkins House", ranked as a very fine hotel and served as depot for stage lines, including southern branch of Butterfield Mail, 1858-61. In this hotel the Confederate Governor of Missouri, functioning in exile in Marshall, held several conferences with the Civil War Governors of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Afterward the hotel was renamed "The Capitol." It continued as host to celebrities for years. In 1915, first floor was converted to mercantile uses. The building was razed in 1971-72.

From 1858 until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, a station of the Butterfield Overland Mail Route was located here. Despite a brief existence, it was an important stop of the early stage line that reached from Missouri to California. Stages made the trip in under 25 days, a marked improvement on earlier communication links with the rapidly developing west. Located on Chimney Creek between stage stops at Clear Fork (26 miles northeast) and Fort Phantom Hill (12 miles southwest), Smith's Station was the only Butterfield stop located in present Shackelford County.