Trip to Zapata, Texas
By: Eleanor May Feedham-Bartlett-Haas
Your Grampa retired from DuPont in 1967. We were living on the farm on North Star Rd at that time. He retired in May and the following winter we decided we would go to the South West to visit Burdett and Florence who lived in Phonex, Arizona and then visit Jim and Emily Bartlett in Almagordo, New Mexico and then travel south to Zapata, Texas on the Mexican Border where there was a beautiful lake for camping and fishing. We had a camping book that listed the camp grounds throughout the USA. We wanted to be down far enough that the weather would be warm so this was as far as we could go in Texas. Zapata is on route 45 south of Laredo which is a border crossing town and is where we went when we decided to visit Mexico for shopping and to eat.
Lake Falcon was made by Falcon Dam and was a joint project between USA and Mexico to be used for electricity and recreation. The camp grounds where we stayed was called Falcon Lake Camp Grounds and was a really nice place. There was a large dock where rental boats were available and other boats were moored there. One area was reserved for people to fish from. All the guys in the camp loved to fish and that was where they hung out most days telling stories and fishing. One couple had a very large trailer that the people lived in all winter. They had an outdoor freezer and the fish caught were stored in it until there was enough for all the campers living in that camp ground. Those people also had a large cooker that they used for deep frying the fish. She made a delicious batter for the fish that made them taste so good. All the women of the camp ground made a covered dish to add to the dinner and we had so much good food. It was party night when we had the cook out. The men collected wood for the large fire pit and we had a bonfire that lasted most of the night. Some of the people knew how to
Lake Falcon was made by Falcon Dam and was a joint project between USA and Mexico to be used for electricity and recreation. The camp grounds where we stayed was called Falcon Lake Camp Grounds and was a really nice place. There was a large dock where rental boats were available and other boats were moored there. One area was reserved for people to fish from. All the guys in the camp loved to fish and that was where they hung out most days telling stories and fishing. One couple had a very large trailer that the people lived in all winter. They had an outdoor freezer and the fish caught were stored in it until there was enough for all the campers living in that camp ground. Those people also had a large cooker that they used for deep frying the fish. She made a delicious batter for the fish that made them taste so good. All the women of the camp ground made a covered dish to add to the dinner and we had so much good food. It was party night when we had the cook out. The men collected wood for the large fire pit and we had a bonfire that lasted most of the night. Some of the people knew how to
Lake Falcon was made by Falcon Dam and was a joint project between USA and Mexico to be used for electricity and recreation. The camp grounds where we stayed was called Falcon Lake Camp Grounds and was a really nice place. There was a large dock where rental boats were available and other boats were moored there. One area was reserved for people to fish from. All the guys in the camp loved to fish and that was where they hung out most days telling stories and fishing. One couple had a very large trailer that the people lived in all winter. They had an outdoor freezer and the fish caught were stored in it until there was enough for all the campers living in that camp ground. Those people also had a large cooker that they used for deep frying the fish. She made a delicious batter for the fish that made them taste so good. All the women of the camp ground made a covered dish to add to the dinner and we had so much good food. It was party night when we had the cook out. The men collected wood for the large fire pit and we had a bonfire that lasted most of the night. Some of the people knew how to play guitars and mouth organs so it was a wonderful time. After loading our plates with food we sat around the camp fire in our camp chairs and listened to music and story telling time about the one that got away and the many camping experiences of the different folks setting around the camp fire. What a wonderful time we had. One couple had a large white dog named Tobby they combed him every day for hair to make lures for their fishing lines. Your Grampa had some of those lures for many years after we stopped going to that camp ground.
One day three couples rented a large boat for the day to go fishing. We made lunches to take with us. It was a warm sunny day and the guys got tired of fishing so we decided to go farther out in the lake to take a look at the village under the water. Before the dam was made a Mexican village was located there. The buildings were made of cement blocks with large court yards. The people were relocated before the dam was made but the buildings were left in place so we could look down and see the church, the homes with their large court yards and the streets that ran out onto dry land in Mexico. We pulled up and stopped at a large bolder to eat our lunch. We shouldn’t have been there as we were on Mexican land and could have been arrested but there was no one around to bother us so we had a nice lunch. A Mexican woman did come down to talk with us but she could speak no English so I had some Spanish in school so I tried to ask her where they had moved the cemetery and with my little Spanish and hand drawings she got the message and said moved farther south in New Guarro. The town under water was called old Guarro. We could see the local market place, a community well, a church, large court yards, a community center. The roofs had all rotted away so we could look down into the buildings. They had large fire places to cook and bake plus heat for the house in the winter. It was a spooky feeling looking into a deserted village and think about how the people had lived and wonder what their living conditions were now. The woman we talked with had a mangy dog with her and it looked half starved to death so I don’t think they did too well.
One day four couples decided to go to Larado and cross into Mexico to shop and eat. That was a real adventure. We all stayed close together as one couple seemed to know their way around. They took us to an open air marget. It was like a flea market where everything from meat, food, rugs, furniture, trinkets, jewelry, and much more was sold. I got a nice purse for Blanchie and one for me. That is where we got the canes I’m now using. We bought them for souvenirs at that time never thinking I would be using them some day. We also bought some other trinkets. We had exchanged our money for Mexican money so it was a job to be able to figure if they asked for money in their centavos or US dollars. They tried to trick us into paying in US money so they would be many dollars to the good as our money was worth much more than theirs. We wanted to see the silver mines but didn’t have the time or permits to do so. That would have been interesting.
The first night your Grampa and I arrived at the south end of the lake, we found the camp dark except for the guard station. The man told us to pull straight ahead and park under some trees until morning, which we did. When it got day light I awoke to birds singing so opened the curtain by our bed and was delighted to see many beautiful colored birds in the trees all around us and singing a good morning chorus. I woke your Grampa and we both watched out the window for an hour and listened to the birds. Before we got up to make breakfast and then go to the gate to be assigned a camp site. That was a wonderful experience. We stayed there a couple days before going on to the camp ground we intended to stay at. One of the men in the camp ground made his own fish bate from the fish entrails. It sure was smelly and I didn’t get to close to it but the men said it was great to soak the lures in and they caught lots of fish for the fish fry. We stayed there a couple months and got to know most of the campers. One couple was from Colorado and we visited with them a lot and played cards in the evenings.
One evening we were walking through some brushy paths to their trailer and a pack of wild dogs went flying across our path after a rabbit. I’m glad they weren’t after us or we wouldn’t have fared too well I’m afraid. Another day we went for a drive up in the mountains to see some beautiful quail birds. On the way some wild hogs were running ahead of us and didn’t want to get off the road. They had their tails up in the air and almost decided to attach our truck but Gramps hit the horn and that did the trick.