Even Before Youth Tour
I enjoyed your article about the Government-in-Action Youth Tour [“Texas Celebrates Youth Tour Milestone,” June 2015]. My first experience with government and the co-ops was in 1958 with two students from Bluebonnet EC, two students from Pedernales EC and two students from Sam Houston EC. We worked in Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson’s office and Congressman Homer Thornberry’s office for six weeks. I’m glad to see that the Youth Tour is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Michael J. Simmang | Giddings
Bluebonnet EC and Hamilton County EC
It Was a Very Good Year
The sleeping man must have forgotten which car he drove that day [July 2015 Focus on Texas: “My First Car”]. It was a 1953 Ford. I know because I have owned three of them. The distinctive feature is the forward hash metal on the back door. Neither the 1952 nor the 1954 has that detail.
This is the first time I have caught an error in your magazine, and I read it cover to cover. My first 1953 Ford served me well for delivering thousands of newspapers and also getting my first kiss. The car also was where I proposed for a marriage that has lasted 54 years.
Richard Roddenberry | Streetman
Navarro County EC
All About Breakfast
Thank you for the article about Texas swimming holes [“The Road to Summer,” May 2015] but especially for the article, “Breakfast in Texas.” The Dinner Bell in Van is near and dear to me. Articles like this make Texas Co-op Power top-notch in my eyes.
Sharon Stanger Clarkson | Ben Wheeler
Trinity Valley EC
Energy Pioneer
You credit Nikola Tesla as working with General Electric to electrify Niagara Falls [“Remembering an Electricity Genius,” July 2015]. Tesla never worked for GE; he worked for George Westinghouse. The government had tried to force Westinghouse to become part of General Electric, but he refused. Westinghouse succeeded for many years as a competitor for GE.
David Ashbrook
Navasota Valley EC
Editor’s note: Sources—including edisontechcenter.org and history.com—indicate that Tesla (and George Westinghouse) did partner with GE to create the power station at Niagara Falls. Westinghouse developed the generators used there, but GE had the contract for transmission of electricity.
Devil’s Sinkhole
I have never visited South Llano River State Park [“A Jaunt to Junction,” March 2015] but now would be interested in doing that. Melissa Gaskill’s article notes that part of the river bottom is closed from October to March to protect roosting turkeys. I am glad you can still kayak or canoe there during roosting season.
I also read about Devil’s Sinkhole State Natural Area, the largest single-chamber cave in Texas. What are the dimensions of the cave?
I am a Boy Scout in Houston’s Troop 1283 and would like my troop to visit there.
Sean Choate | Burton
Bluebonnet EC
Melissa Gaskill responds: The opening at Devil’s Sinkhole is about 50 feet wide and drops 140 feet into the cavern, where it widens to a diameter of over 320 feet and reaches a depth of over 350 feet.
Hiking the Window Trail
We have hiked the Window View trail in the Chisos at Big Bend twice and agree that it is a wonderful hike [“Lay of the Landscape,” February 2015]. We were a little puzzled when a letter writer [May 2015 Letters] said, “… through the dry creekbed that once led to the Window …” It still leads to the Window but is not somewhere you want to be if it is raining unless you wish to be washed out the Window and over the cliff to the desert floor!
For those who can’t or don’t wish to make the hike, in late September and early October you can watch the sun set in the “V” that marks the path to the Window, and you will never see a more glorious sight. Just when you think it is gone, the afterglow of intense orange, pink and red will appear and take your breath away!
Lynnda and Jarrell Jenkins | Lubbock
South Plains EC
