Leon Hole
- Pioneer Stagecoach Stand Operators Mr. and Mrs. Isaac J. Rude, IH 10, W of Ft. Stockton, Ft. Stockton, TX, USA
Latitude & Longitude: 30° 53' 51.94736999988", -103° 1' 1.6851799992"
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. [1]
Gunnar Brune, TEXAS WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD REPORT 189, MAJOR AND HISTORICAL SPRINGS OF TEXAS, March, 1975 [2]: 57–58
Gunnar M. Brune, Springs of Texas, Volume 1, Texas A&M University Press, 2002.[3]: 358
On July 14, 1857, Edward Fitzgerald Beale described it:
- "
." [4]: ?
- ^ Pioneer Stagecoach Stand Operators Mr. and Mrs. Isaac J. Rude
- ^ Gunnar Brune, TEXAS WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD REPORT 189, MAJOR AND HISTORICAL SPRINGS OF TEXAS, March, 1975
- ^ Gunnar M. Brune, Springs of Texas, Volume 1, Texas A&M University Press, 2002
- ^ Beale, Edward Fitzgerald (1858). Wagon Road from Fort Defiance to the Colorado River: Letter from the Secretary of War, Transmitting the Report of the Superintendent of the Wagon Road from Fort Defiance to the Colorado River: Issue 124 of [U.S.] 35th Cong., 1st sess. House. Ex. doc. Harvard University.