Puzzle #5 Results

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Edgar

Edgar

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Well, after two rounds and a total of 38 entries, we finally have a conclusion for Puzzle #5.

Every wood in the list received at least 2 guesses, so we are assured that both of the prizes allotted for this contest will be awarded, but to whom?


Before announcing the winners, I'd like to tell you a little about the place where this root wood was found.

Weesatche is a small unincorporated town in Goliad County, Texas. It was founded about 1850 and was named for the Huisache (aka Sweet Acacia) tree that was very plentiful in the area. My great-grandfather moved here about 1870 and purchased a tract of land. My brother and several of our cousins still live on and continue to operate farms and ranches on that property.

Like many small rural towns, it was once a thriving community with a number of businesses. With modern roads & automobiles, it is no problem to drive 10-15 miles to nearby larger towns, so nowadays there are only a few local businesses although the population now is larger than ever.

Here are a few photos from Weesatche: The first is one side of main street - all of these buildings are still standing, but are getting rather dilapidated. From left-right they were a General Store, a Cafe, a Barber Shop and a Saloon. I remember when all of those businesses were still in operation in the 1950's. Eventually, they were connected and the interior of these buildings was converted into a large cafe that continued to operate until just a few years ago.

The second photo shows the Dance Hall. Dances are no longer held there, but there is still a restaurant in the building and the parking area off to the left of the building is now an RV park.

The third photo shows how fertile the land was in this area. :smile:

Although the town was named for the plentiful Huisache tree, today there are more Mesquite trees in the area than Huisache. However, neither of these was the right answer.

So, if you guessed Huisache or Mesquite for this puzzle, sorry, but you did not win.
 

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More Puzzle #5 Results

Here's a few more photos from Weesatche, TX.

The first two are the inside and outside of the Dornburg General Merchandise Store that was located on the opposite side of main street from the 4 buildings shown in the first post. This store operated until the mid 1960's. It also housed the local Post Office and the local party line telephone PBX system. The building is still standing, but is no longer in use. A feed store operated out of this building for many years, but that was moved to a new, smaller building some years ago. The Post Office is also in a separate, newer building now.

OK, so the potato in the first post was a joke, but the big steer in the 3rd photo is not. This local rancher raised that steer as a bottle-fed calf when its momma died while giving birth. Its name was Sancho and would follow him anywhere. Just for fun, he would often walk down Main Street with Sancho following behind him. Sancho was 20 years old when this photo was taken and when he finally had to be slaughtered, he weighed 2,100 pounds and dressed out at 1,276 pounds.

We do grow 'em big in Texas and Sassafras Trees can get pretty big too. But they only grow in the far eastern part of the state and are not found in Weesatche.

So, if you guessed Sassafras, you are out of luck on this one too.
 

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Are you saying it isn`t a potato root ?? I could easily make a pen out of a good old Alberta potato root .

Thanks for the local history Edgar . When I first guessed huisache I didn`t know the town name was derived from it . Just went by colour similarity to a piece I have .
 
1080Wayne said:
Are you saying it isn`t a potato root ?? I could easily make a pen out of a good old Alberta potato root .

Thanks for the local history Edgar . When I first guessed huisache I didn`t know the town name was derived from it . Just went by colour similarity to a piece I have .
Click to expand...

The town was originally called Middletown because it was located halfway between Clinton and Goliad. Clinton was the county seat of DeWitt County at the time, but that little town no longer exists. The county seat of DeWitt County is now Cuero which is about 2 miles N of where Clinton was located.

Goliad is the county seat of Goliad County and is one of the most historic places in Texas history, along with the Alamo in San Antonio.

About 1855 when Middletown wanted to establish a post office, they had to change their name because there was already a Texas town named Middletown that had a post office. The residents chose an Anglecized spelling of the name of the Huisache tree that was so plentiful in this area.

The only thing that I will add as far as the contest results are concerned is that none of the 13 people who got an opportunity to make a second guess was successful on their second try either.
 
More Puzzle #5 Results

Here's a couple more old buildings from Weesatche. The first photo is the Weesatche jail which is still standing but no longer in use. I'll bet some of you wish that it were though. :biggrin:

The second photo is the old doctor's office. Weesatche had a doctor back in the early 1900's, but this building was only used for storage for over 50 or 60 years before it was finally torn down about 10 or 15 years ago. The newer building next to it is the current post office.

By the way, Weesatche is located about 100 miles southwest of the extreme edge of the natural growing range for Eastern Red Cedar. There may be some ERC trees in the Weesatche area, but most of the cedar-looking trees there are Ashe Juniper rather than ERC. At any rate, there are no ERC trees on my brother's farm.
 

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Karl_99 said:
Is anyone else thinking "pen blanks" from some of the old pieces?
Click to expand...

I do have a couple of people on the lookout for some old boards in case any more of the old buildings get torn down.

Even though I don't have any old boards from Weesatche right now, I do have some treasured wood from this place in Meyersville (another small town about 10 miles from Weesatche). This is my mom's home town and we bought this store in 1962 when we moved off the farm in Yorktown where we were share cropping. We operated the store until 1979 when my parents retired. After that, it was a workshop and storage building.

It was originally built in the early 1930's and had two prior owners before we bought it. After my parents died, we sold the building & land to the local fire department. The structure was still in great shape, but the concrete foundation was in pretty bad shape. The FD hoped to be able to repair the foundation, but it turned out to be too costly, so they demolished the building & foundation and are currently constructing a new building on the same spot.

The first photo shows me at my pump jockey station in 1965. The second photo is from 1969 and the last photo shows the place in 2010 - shortly before we sold it to the FD. My brother salvaged a pile of lumber for me when it was torn down.





Before I forget it - Alabama Supplejack is not the correct answer to Puzzle #5 either. Sorry Clark & Mark.
 

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Even More Puzzle #5 Results

Just to illustrate that every community, however small, has its "haves" and "have nots", here are some Weesatche photos from about 1894.

Two of the most prominent families in Weesatche at that time were the Meyer and Webb families. The first two photos show the Meyer home & their General Store (later sold to Dornburg as shown in an earlier photo). The Meyer family also owned & operated a slaughter house.

The last two photos show the Webb home & their General Store. Unfortunately, none of the people in the last photo are identified - probably some of my relatives in there.

The Meyer/Dornburg store is the only one of these buildings still standing.




Speaking of "have nots", Weesatche does not have any Hills Weeping Fig. It is native to parts of Asia & Australia and that general region of the world. It has been introduced to other areas and is a major invasive species in Hawaii, Florida, Bermuda, Central America and South America. The climate & soil in the south-central part of Texas where Weesatche is located is not conducive to growing this tree.
 

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Edgar , you haven`t told us what kind of lumber those buildings were constructed from . Mesquite . huisache , pecan, sassafrass or something imported from the piney woods ? Of course , that would entail you being able to identify it .
 
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1080Wayne said:
Edgar , you haven`t told us what kind of lumber those buildings were constructed from . Mesquite . huisache , pecan, sassafrass or something imported from the piney woods ? Of course , that would entail you being able to identify it .
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I'm not sure exactly what woods were used to build these buildings, but it was just common building lumber like pine or fir.

Early settlers (1830-1860 or so) mostly built log cabin homes, churches, schools, etc. from local trees - mostly oak. However there was not much in the way of good milling lumber in this part of the state.

Railroads and teamster transportation was plentiful & rapidly expanding in the years after the Civil War. However, there was no railroad near small towns like Weesatche & Meyersville. The closest depots were in larger towns like Victoria, Cuero, Yorktown & Goliad - each of which was 10-15 miles away.

The main structure of many of the businesses in those larger towns were made of brick because that could be brought near the building site by railroad.

However, logistics and cost of hauling brick to small towns by mule-drawn wagon was not usually practical, so almost all of the buildings in those small rural towns were built from lumber. I don't know the exact source of the lumber for towns like Weesatche & Meyersville in the late 1800s-early 1900s, but I suspect that it was from sawmills located in the Piney Woods area of Texas.

I do know from examining some of the old boards that we salvaged from our store in Meyersville that the quality of lumber available back then was much better than anything you can buy in lumber yards nowadays.

The "western movie set" look to turn-of-the-century rural towns in Texas was not unusual. The residents of Weesatche have just done a better job than most of preserving some of those old buildings for so long. Sadly, despite their best efforts, they are slowly losing those preservation battles to the ravages of time.
 
Still More Puzzle #5 Results

Here is one more old building in Weesatche. This is the Hermann Sons Lodge building that was built in the late 1940's. The lodge is still active today and this building is still being used for its meetings & functions.

The Order of the Sons of Hermann (Der Orden der Hermann's Soehne) was formed in New York City in 1840 as a mutual aid society for German immigrants. Its main purpose was to provide low-cost insurance for its members and other societal benefits.

The first Texas lodge was formed in 1861 and the Texas Grand Lodge was formed in San Antonio in 1890. The Weesatche lodge (#96 in Texas) was formed in 1894. A junior chapter was formed about 1956. My brother and I were charter members of the Weesatche Junior Hermann Sons Chapter.




This gets me around to letting you know that the answer to Puzzle #5 is NOT Osage Orange. Although there is some OO in the Weesatche area, it is not highly plentiful and I don't believe that there is any on my brother's farm.

So we have narrowed the correct answer down to Hog Plum, Brasil or Yaupon, but which one is it???? the suspense continues for a little longer ....:devil:
 

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Edgar said:
So we have narrowed the correct answer down to Hog Plum, Brasil or Yaupon, but which one is it????
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Putting on my Edgar hat...

Well, Yaupon is a holly, and that wood sure doesn't look anything like holly - so that must be it.

...taking off my Edgar hat.

On another note, if we rule out Hog Plum (for the reason stated above), then we can also rule out Brasil because
  1. Brasil is a tropical wood and should be scarcer than Banyan in Weesatche, and
  2. It's an endangered wood -- and Edgar would never admit to being involved in its destruction.
:biggrin:
 
Sylvanite said:
Edgar said:
So we have narrowed the correct answer down to Hog Plum, Brasil or Yaupon, but which one is it????
Click to expand...
Putting on my Edgar hat...

Well, Yaupon is a holly, and that wood sure doesn't look anything like holly - so that must be it.

...taking off my Edgar hat.

On another note, if we rule out Hog Plum (for the reason stated above), then we can also rule out Brasil because
  1. Brasil is a tropical wood and should be scarcer than Banyan in Weesatche, and
  2. It's an endangered wood -- and Edgar would never admit to being involved in its destruction.
:biggrin:
Click to expand...

Methinks you may be confusing Brasil wood (Condalia hookeri) with Brazil wood (Caesalpinia echinata).

Holly berries are a bright red - wouldn't you expect the roots to also be a nice shade of red?

I don't recall saying anything that would rule out Hog Plum.

Keep guessing - all will be revealed sometime today. :biggrin:
 
In post #5, you indicated that nobody who got a second chance was correct. Since hog plum was my second chance guess, that would mean that it was not a correct answer.
 
You are both correct; however, it was not a general hint that everyone would recognize. :smile:

I debated whether to post that hint, but I knew that there were only 3 people who would be able to draw that conclusion (you two & 1080Wayne), so I decided to go with it anyway.

Thanks for holding off on spilling the beans until the very end. :biggrin:


So, now we know for sure that the answer is either Brasil or Yaupon. Since two people guessed each of those woods, we are now down to the final 4 contestants..........
 
1080Wayne said:
You realize Edgar that we are going to require a picture of the tree in full flower or at least leaf , a well sanded end grain shot of the straightest part of the root , and probably a US Forest products identification ??
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Oh NO NO NO NO

(I think I might still be in the running - so whatever he says is GREAT!)
(unless he says it is the other wood, in which case we will need to call to order the IAP wood ID tribunal - which might include flying Bob Wemm from Australia to Texas)
 
May I Have the Envelope Please....

Well, it's past noon in Texas on the last day of BASH and Mike is giving me the "wrap" signal, so it's time to reveal the correct answer for Puzzle #5







BRASIL


​

​

Two people got the correct answer and each will receive 1 point toward the overall puzzle awards.

In order of their submittal of a correct answer, our winners and their prizes are:

Edward Cypher (Edward Cypher) wins a $50.00 gift certificate donated by KenV.

luckscroller788 (Dale H.) wins a $25.00 Alumilite gift certificate


Congratulations to our winners and thanks to KenV and Alumilite for donating these prizes.


Thanks also to everyone for playing along and tolerating my stories. :smile:

I must say though, that I was a little surprised that it took so long for anyone to get the right answer.

Brasil is a Texas native plant (Condalia hookeri) known by several common names: Brasil, Bluewood, Capul Negro, Purple Haw, Logwood, Capulin and Chaparral. It is also often called Ironwood or Texas Ironwood, even though it is not a true Ironwood species. It does have a specific gravity greater than 1 though, meaning that it will not float, and any such wood is considered to be an "ironwood".

Some of you may recall that Curtis Seebeck (Mesquiteman) used to create and sell "Texas Hybrid" blanks from common woods found in his Hill Country area. Here is a link to a classified posting from a few years ago - scroll down to Group S4 for a look at some of the beautiful blanks that Curtis made from this wood. Curtis used Brasil root wood for his blanks because the branches are generally too small and crooked to get much useful wood from them.

"Texas Collection Worthless Wood" Blanks


Curtis commonly referred to Brasil as "Hill Country Ironwood"; however, the native range of Brasil includes much more than the Texas Hill Country, so that was somewhat of a misnomer. "Texas Ironwood" would be a more appropriate term. Weesatche is certainly not hill country (unless you count the fire ant hills)

Back in the 2015 Summer Extravaganza, a Brasil blank was one of the correct answers for a Wood ID contest. Here's a little blurb that I posted when I revealed the answers: "Brasil is also known as Texas Ironwood. It's extremely dense and hard. It's another fairly small, brushy shrub and difficult to get much useful wood from the limbs or trunks. This particular example is from some roots that my brother dug up when he was clearing brush on his place. It's easy to mistake for mesquite if you're just looking at it, but there's no mistaking it if you can actually handle it."

I thought perhaps that some of you might perform an IAP search on Brasil and find that 2015 reference. :biggrin:


Besides Curtis' ad that is referenced above, here's a few other photos that could have been found by a search that might have been helpful:

The first one shows the Brasil blank that I used for that 2015 contest - it's from a different part of the same root that I used in this contest.

The second one shows a pen that Alphageek posted in 2009 that was made from one of Curtis' Brasil blanks.

The third one shows a pen that Davinci71 posted in 2008 that was made from one of Curtis' Brasil blanks.

Thanks to all for playing - overall puzzle results will be posted in another thread shortly.

Edgar

 

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WOW that is awesome and thanks to Edgar for running the puzzle game. Big thanks to KenV for donating my prize. I just love the Bash and hopefully next year I will even have the guts to enter a pen or two. Looking at the submissions this year I have a long long way to go.
 
WOOHOO!!! Thank you Edgar. Had I noticed this contest a little sooner, I could have been first!!! And, even though the suspense was killing me,I did enjoy the history lesson while waiting for the results! And now I will have to start reading up on casting my own blanks with Alumilite! Thanks IAP for the Bash! Its been fun for sure! Thanks all the prize donors, and everyone involved in all of this! Thanks again Edgar!
 
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