Carole Sikes Artist / Writer in Austin, Texas

WHAT DO YOU KNOW about Cedar Choppers? Cedar Choppers came from Appalachia and the Ozark Mountains to the hill country of Texas in the mid-1800s. They were fiercely independent and reclusive from city folk. Living in tents and dirt floor shacks, near creeks with clear drinkable water, they never considered themselves Austinites. There were multiple settlements located on Bull Creek (*) and Shoal Creek in west Austin and Cypress Creek near the Anderson Mill on the Colorado River (now Lake Travis). Farther upstream on the river was Sandy Creek and north east of there were settlements at Leander and Liberty Hill. Across the river from the township of Austin there were settlements in West Lake Hills at Eanes, Bee Cave, Barton Creek and in Oak Hill. The hillbilly population was easily two generations behind mainstream America.______ It’s important to know that trees growing in cedar brakes in that day were not like the scrub or sap cedar in the hills today. Ash Juniper had tall straight t...

WHAT DO YOU KNOW about Steiner Ranch? Steiner Ranch is a subdivision with million dollar homes, offices and apartments galore. There are elementary schools, shops, and a spa, plus the 18 hole U.T. Golf Club, and Longhorn Village Retirement community. It stretches from a long waterfront on Lake Austin to hills overlooking Lake Travis. If dining at Bobby Steiner’s Steak House one can watch the sun set over sail boats in the lake below. By 1895, Texas cattle drives were over. While David B. Barrow senior was buying land to expand Austin by creating Northwest Hills subdivision, (mid 1950) Buck Steiner, only 20 miles away, was hiring cowboys to roundup his steers and truck them to markets. I called son Tommy Steiner several years ago when writing about Steiner Ranch in my book. (*) He told me a story about a boy that his father raised on the ranch. Ben took on the nick name “Humpy” when he was old enough to ride bulls at rodeos. Buck assigned Humpy to drive a truck full of Steiner cattle ...