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A long time ago way out West a friend
asked me if I would like to join a Shootist Society.
I said yes of course, so he gave me directions to a ranch west of The
meeting took place under a huge tree by the Barker Reservoir in After
a short time the club settled into being a club owned by its members continued
to be know as “Texas Historical Shootist Society”, THSS.
At this time Vice President Mr. Marty Ketchum, assumed the Presidency and
I was elected Vice President. By now the time for the annual event,
“Trailhead” was drawing close. There
was no time for anything else. Mr.
Bill Williams and I were named co-chairmen for Trailhead ’93.
Mr. Williams had a busy traveling schedule and could not actively
participate, but his advice was extremely helpful.
I was still so new with the club I had not even shot with the club much
less know how to go about preparing for Trailhead.
Thanks to the hard work of most of the members and Mr. Randy Jones,
Assistant Chairman for Trailhead, we pulled it through. If
you see the stage numbers with figures of a snake, a boot, a coyote, a wagon
wheel, etc. they were made by me and painted by Mr. Renato Blassingame. My
mother sowed the red, white, and green flags.
These items were for my first Trailhead, second for the club.
“Trailhead ‘93” We
had no gun racks and only one rickety picnic table.
We gathered at Bill William’s warehouse and built us some gun racks and
picnic tables. I built one picnic
table, as a sample, at my house. Following
that pattern we built the rest. They
were a bit stout, which brought comments such as “if the Indians
attack…circle the tables…” They
were not easy to put together. I
mention this because they were called “The tables from hell”
and as a consequence I acquired the title of
“Engineer from hell”. My
son Alex (aka
1993 - My best friend at the time was Jim Curl. He worked really hard for Trailhead ’93. A day or two before Trailhead started he had a heart attack and passed away.
At Sunday’s meeting of Trailhead ’93 we had a memorial for Jim with a
cowboy’s farewell poem written by Dr. Gene Howard, our club’s Chaplain, (a
John Wayne imitator) and a twenty-one-gun salute.
Jim was a Mining Engineer and had seen a number of abandoned mining towns
from the old west. He dreamed of us
building a western town to shoot from. I
shared his dream. I proposed to the
Board that we build the town. I
presented twelve paintings of stages that will develop into a town.
It was opposed at this time. Later
Mrs. Mary Curl donated all of Jim’s reloading equipment to be sold of raffled
to get seed money for the town. I am
an Engineer by profession and offered to design and build the town.
The Board voted to go ahead and build the town and appointed me to direct
the effort. The Board selected six
of my drawings to start the town with six stages.
The
sale of Mr. Curl’s equipment and donations of materials by myself and other
members we got started. The date was
set for the first work party. I was
not able to attend. The six
stages were not staked out as I had it laid them out on the plans.
My plans were spaced to make room for a loading and unloading table
between the stages also so the timer would not record the shots from the
adjacent stages. The buildings were set too close.
The next workday I brought this point to the attentions but it was too
late, the work had already started. There
was little room between stages for both loading and unloading tables. They
rationalized that one person could not see all the six stages at one time and
this was unsafe. They also added a
Tower so the Range Marshall could better see all the stages.
It was never used as it was intended and was later moved to the “OK
Corral” to hold the big water tank. We
tested again as I had done before to probe this point.
We managed to move “Adobe Walls” and “OK Corral” further apart.
Every town has their growing pains.
1994
- The town was somewhat ready for Trailhead’94.
At the awards ceremony I was presented with a framed certificate of
appreciation and a “key” naming me “Mayor” of Gunsmoke.
The “Texas Historical Times”, a journal of Activities for the
“Texas Historical Shootist Society”, was recording faithfully the club
activities and in a special manner the history of Gunsmoke.
I will quote from the April ’94 edition “Cesar Sylva was given a
certificate of appreciation for all of his work on designing and building our
town. As Cesar said a very special thanks goes to Mrs. Jim (Mary) Curl for the
donation of Jim’s loading and shooting supplies that helped to raise over
$1,000.00 for the construction of our town.”
The Top Hand Award was named “The Jim Curl Award”. 1995
– Before Trailhead ’95 “Carter’s Country” was built.
Part of the work was done by hired hands and part by THSS work party.
I hired a crew of three and we built the walls of “Adobe Walls”.
The chicken coop, fence, well, chimney and cactus plants were made by me
with materials from my ranch after the walls were done. 1996
- The Vice President of Sterling Bank donated $500 that paid for materials for
“The Sterling Bank”, then “Chinese Laundry” and “The School”.
Here again I furnished some of the materials.
My son and I did most of the work on the “Jail”, later many members
joined to help work. The
Volunteer’s were recorded in the THSS Newsletter of that time.
I donated the sign that was copied exactly from a history textbook.
1997
– Curl’s saloon got put on the back burner for the 3rd time.
The Marlin building was built with money brought in by the Marlin Gun Co.
I was again asked to prepare plans for a whole building.
I was working late the night before Trailhead 1997.
1998
- “The Campfire” under the big tree trunk was completed which cost me my
trucks winch and bumper draggin’ the big tree trunk.
Finally “Curl’s Hotel & Saloon” was built.
We had an emotional speech by Mr. Bill Williams and Mrs. Mary Curl when
they were present at the declaration of “Curl’s Saloon” officially open
for Trailhead ’98. 1999
– I thought it would be good idea to have a Stage Coach next to the
“Curl’s Saloon”. The board
allotted $500. When I built it, it
was over this amount plus more contributions and hard work of several members. Happy
Trails “Cheno”
In
October 3, 2006 Cesar E. Sylva lost his courageous battle with cancer.
Cheno “Mayor of Gunsmoke” rode away and faded into the sunset.
I met Cesar several years ago when the
company I was working for was working with his firm on a project. He was such a
nice, genuine person, a real professional and great to work with. Shortly after
I joined THSS I was out for a shoot and there was Cheno! Although we worked
together for a short time, he acted as though he had found a long lost friend
when he saw me.
May 23, 2007 THSS President Catfish Doyle and Board Member Charles Goodnight presented a special Sign naming Cheno as the "Mayor of Gunsmoke", to the wife of Cheno A.K.A. Cesar E Sylva to be mounted above the door at Gunsmoke City Hall. Cheno was first given the honor of being named the only "Mayor of Gunsmoke" back in 1994. In October 3, 2006 Cesar E. Sylva lost his courageous battle with cancer. Cheno “Mayor of Gunsmoke” rode away and faded into the sunset.
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