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I'm currently 2-3 miles from the shores of Lake Whitney, which is about 15-20 minutes west of Hillsboro, Texas (between D/FW and Waco). Underneath Lake Whitney is the remains of an old ghost town called Towash, which got flooded when the Army Corps of Engineers constructed the dam at the southern end of what is now Lake Whitney.
Towash had some good people living there, but at least one notorious outlaw, John Wesley Hardin, called it home for a short time, even gunning down another gambler on the streets of Towash when the rival drew his pistol on Hardin. The town had frequent revivals at the Baptist church, and once boasted a number of businesses. Unfortunately, Towash was occasionally prone to flooding, and when it competed for a railroad line, the town got bypassed. After one flood too many, Towash was abandoned by all but a few diehards, who were finally relocated in the 1950s when the Corps stepped in.
The cemetery at Towash has been relocated to the nearby town of Whitney, as has the church, which has saved the bell and a few other items from the old site. The town soon found itself underwater, never to see the light of day again - until the intense droughts of the summer of 2011, which has depleted the lake to approximately 56% capacity, meaning a drop in elevation of about 11 feet. And that means some small portions of the old townsite of Towash have emerged from the water once again - and yours truly braved a 3-mile round-trip hike under sweltering heat in order to find these once-vanished links to the past.
I have pictures, and those of you who know me on Facebook will have a chance to see the photos soon. Right now, I'm a little exhausted and need to nourish myself with some BBQ and potato salad.
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