Internet History
Orange, TX a major WWII shipbuilding center
For many years, after World War II there were large numbers of World War II ships moored along the Sabine River near Orange, TX. It was known as
the Navy’s “mothball fleet.” After WWII, the Navy stored hundreds of inactive warships there because the freshwater river helped prevent corrosion.
Orange was a major WWII shipbuilding center. The shipyards there built destroyers, destroyer escorts, landing craft, and other naval vessels during the war.
At its peak after the war:
+Around 150–250 reserve ships were tied up there
+Some were reactivated for the Korean War
+The fleet remained visible into the 1970s before the ships were removed, sold, or scrapped
Today, the actual WWII reserve fleet is gone, so you generally will not see rows of old warships parked there anymore. But you can still visit historical markers and
areas connected to that history around Orange. One marker is at Green Avenue and Simmons Drive.
If you want to see preserved historic naval ships in Texas now, one of the best places is Galveston Naval Museum, which has the submarine USS Cavalla and destroyer
escort USS Stewart. The USS Stewart is one of the few surviving WWII destroyer escorts.
In Orange itself, the WWII fleet is gone. The ships that were moored in the Sabine River were:
+Scrapped
+Sold overseas
+Or reactivated and later retired elsewhere
So you won’t see rows of “ghost fleet” ships anymore in the waterway.
However, the area still has historical context:
+Former naval shipyard sites along the Sabine River
+Historical markers about the WWII shipbuilding boom
+The old Navy anchorage zones (now just normal river traffic)
Internet History
The Walton family (Walmart)
Members of the Walton family that controls Walmart are spread across several states, but there is no widely reported primary residence in Texas for
the main heirs.
The best-known members include:
Rob Walton — associated mainly with Colorado
Jim Walton — associated mainly with Arkansas
Alice Walton — long associated with Texas at times, especially the Fort Worth area, though she has also lived in Arkansas
Lukas Walton — associated mainly with Colorado
Of the major Walmart heirs, Alice Walton is the one most connected to Texas. She has owned ranch property in the Fort Worth / Texas area and has spent significant time there.
Alice Walton is the only daughter of Sam Walton and one of the wealthiest women in the world. But unlike most billionaire heirs, she became known less for running Walmart
and more for art, horses, philanthropy, and health initiatives.
Some interesting things about her:
She was born in Arkansas in 1949 and graduated from Trinity University with a degree in economics.
She spent many years living in Texas. In 1998 she moved to a large ranch in Millsap, Texas, west of Fort Worth, called Rocking W Ranch. She was heavily involved in cutting
horses and ranch life there before later moving back toward Arkansas.
Her biggest passion is American art. She founded the famous Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which opened in 2011 and offers free admission. The museum became one of
the most important art museums in the country outside New York or Los Angeles.
She personally bought major paintings by artists such as:
Georgia O’Keeffe
Edward Hopper
Norman Rockwell
John Singer Sargent
She also created the Art Bridges Foundation to loan artwork to smaller museums around the country so more people can see major art collections.
In recent years, she has focused heavily on health and wellness projects in Northwest Arkansas, including the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine and the Heartland
Whole Health Institute.
People who have met her often describe her as independent, outdoorsy, private, and more interested in nature and art than business or celebrity culture.
Walton has been involved in several serious automobile accidents over the years.
The most severe for her personally happened in 1983 near Acapulco, Mexico. During a Thanksgiving family gathering, she reportedly lost control of a rented
Jeep and crashed into a ravine. She shattered her leg, was airlifted out of Mexico, and underwent more than two dozen surgeries. Reports say she still has
lingering pain and mobility problems from those injuries.
She was also involved in a fatal accident in 1989 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, when her car struck a pedestrian named Oleta Hardin. Authorities did not file
criminal charges in that case.
Later incidents included a 1998 DUI-related crash into a gas meter in Arkansas, where she was convicted of drunken driving and a 2011 DUI arrest in Texas after
leaving a birthday dinner in Fort Worth.
Texas History
The wildest Texas cattle drives after the Civil War
The wildest Texas cattle drives after the Civil War weren’t just “moving cows”—they were months-long survival expeditions across nearly untamed land, and things got
chaotic fast.
The Chisholm Trail is where it all came alive.
Most of the famous drives followed the Chisholm Trail cattle drives, running from South Texas up through Oklahoma (then Indian Territory) into Kansas rail towns.
The goal was simple: get longhorn cattle from Texas to railheads where they could be shipped east and sold for huge profit. But “simple” is doing a lot of work there.
Life on the drive was dust, thunder, and danger.
A typical drive could involve:
2,000 to 5,000 cattle
10–15 cowboys
2–3 months on the trail
And every day brought problems:
Stampedes at night: A lightning flash or wolf howl could send thousands of cattle exploding into the darkness. Cowboys would ride straight into the chaos trying to
“turn the herd” before it scattered for miles.
River crossings: The Brazos and Red River crossings were especially brutal. Strong currents could drown cattle and drag riders off horses.
Heat and cold swings: Texas heat by day, freezing winds at night on the plains.
Sleep was usually 2–3 hours at a time, and someone was always on guard.
The cowboys weren’t just “cowboys”
The crews were surprisingly diverse:
Former Confederate soldiers trying to rebuild lives
Mexican vaqueros (who brought most of the cowboy techniques)
Freedmen (formerly enslaved men) who became some of the best riders and ropers in Texas
Young teenagers proving themselves on the trail
The “cowboy” style—roping, saddles, cattle handling—was heavily influenced by vaquero tradition, not invented from scratch in Texas.
Trouble along the way: lawlessness on the edge of civilization
Once herds reached Kansas, especially towns like Abilene, Dodge City, and Wichita, things got even wilder.
Cowboys finally got paid—and then often:
Blew their wages in a single night
Ran into gamblers, saloons, and con artists
Occasionally started fights that turned entire streets into chaos
Abilene, one of the main railheads, became famous for exactly this kind of “boomtown disorder.”
Why it mattered so much despite the chaos, these drives turned Texas into an economic engine. Northern cities suddenly had cheap beef, and Texas ranchers became wealthy.
It also helped define the American cowboy image—though the reality was far harder and less romantic than movies suggest.
