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"The Golden Triangle" Dobbin, Dacus, Montgomery Reflections by James Price The North End of the Golden Triangle the "sister" settlement of the present day community, church and population known as Dacus, gave so much to the growth of the Golden Triangle. The present day Dacus came into being as a growing important part of Dobbin and Montgomery about the same time that Mr. Wise and Mr. Whitehead recorded the townsite of Dobbin, although Dacus was an official post office about 1911 or 1912. It had become a source of timber for building materials, cross ties for the railroads and so a drawing card for sawmills. Two of the larger, the Post Mill and the Taylor Mill were well known, the Post family saw mills mentioned in journals as being in operation during and before the Civil War. Dacus had some of the earliest families, one well known group, the George Denn’s came to Texas as early as any family in Montgomery and Dobbin. There are as many descendants of the first Denn’s living in Dacus today carrying on in the precedent of their early ancestors, love of home, family care and consideration for their fellowman and strength of characters. Another family, the Barrett-Reid family who were set down to begin a life in Texas, about half way between Dobbin and Dacus. Many of them still there today. A large sawmill joining the Barrett-Reid property dubbed the location "Pinery". This is also a family who served the public and the friends and community in many ways. Big Lake Creek was an unknown factor in its behavior and it was a barrier, unpredictable, laying east of Dacus and Dobbin and west of Montgomery. Business deals, family visits, medical problems and jobs had to concur when the creek was within its banks. The popular expression "I’ll be there if the Good Lord’s willing and the creek don’t rise" was most certainly an absolute about Big Lake Creek. After the Burlington Rock Island railroad established a train station and the post office came into being there. At that point Big Lake could not hold Dacus and Dobbin hostage. When the creek was at the flood stage any south or north would-be-traveler could hop the "Dinky" and go to Dobbin, go to Dacus or switch at Dobbin and get on the Sante Fe and go to Navasota or Conroe. When Mr. George Denn worked for the Sheriff Department in Conroe and when the creek was "on a rise" he caught the train almost next door to his home (at one time he lived just across the track) ride to Dobbin, catch the Sante Fe and get to his job in Conroe. The train depot at Dacus had a water tower and tank for the train, a "motel" for the track maintenance crew and was in sight of the Post Office where Mrs. Geo. Denn was Postmistress, circa 1911-1913. Joe Hoffpauer, a relative of the Barrett-Reid family tells of visits to his family living between Dobbin and Dacus but nearer to Dacus and at least a mile from the train depot at Dacus. Tells he a few of his adventures during those summer times and mentions some of the names of those "partners in crime" his stories will follow later. Listening to the stories from the inhabitants of the "Golden Triangle" there comes the realization that Dobbin and Dacus were a "one-of-a-kind" in several ways. Mr. James Price, co-author of this story says the two communities were equal in the Socio-Economic Concept, in contrast to Montgomery (Better schools, more social activities, more intense political activity and because of the better access to County-Government jobs both in Montgomery and Conroe), it made for a far different daily life. There is also one great outstanding difference in the three communities in the Golden Triangle, the people of Dobbin and Dacus loved jokes, loved laughter, loved making fun in a kind, loving,laughing way. They laughed at their enemies, their friends, but most of all laughed at themselves. One of the men most revered by the whole County of Montgomery was Donald Denn, the greatest man, historian of Montgomery County and being an agriculture teacher in the Montgomery Schools many years was the man loved by more residents of the Golden Triangle than any one other person. He had no enemies and loved and laughed at the foibles of his fellowman until he died. He told as many laughable stories on himself and got as many laughs out of his "Boo-Boo’s" as those on some else. Stanley Binford a member of the Pioneer Binford family living about halfway between Old Dacus-Bethel community and an equal distance between Old Dacus-Bethel and the 1911 "New Dacus" community, a great historian himself is a fine example of the laugh-about-you-and-myself school. He is a part of the predominately Baptist Community in the Bethel Church as it once was and followed that church when it moved to the "New" Dacus across the Burlington Rock Island Railroad and across Big Lake Creek. He tells many stories of the make-fun-of-the-kind but not in criticism, only for a laugh. Another of the same kind of person is Joe Hoffpauer. Lastly there is James Price who is hard at work today recalling those fun loving ways and days while growing up in the Golden Triangle. |
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©Montgomery
County News, 2004 |
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