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Looking for Ft. Teran

Joined
Jul 14, 2005
Messages
3,593
Reaction score
9
Location
Lufkin, TX
First Name
Danny
Last Name
Roth
I'll start by saying right off, I didn't find it.

I saw quite a bit of interesting roads, including enough sugar sand (about 10 miles worth) to make me truly regret I went to a non-knobby set of tires on the BRP.

Left Lufkin on FM 58 South to FM 1818 and turned West towards Diboll. Got to US 59 and slabbed it South across the Neches River and turned East on FM 1987. Negotiated those wonderful curves past the Damascus Church and missed the first of several missed turns today. Continued south on 1987 until I reached the bridges over Piney Creek. I knew I had gone too far South.

Backtracked north almost to Damascus and turned East on what I hoped was Loving Ferry Road.

I immediately dropped into some rather challenging sandy surface that kept me telling myself to "relax" and, "If it gets real sqirrely, gas it." A couple of miles East the road made a T at what I assumed was Nine Bridges Road. I turned South and continued through sand intersperced with hard clay sections that were a bit washed out, but dry.

I met a truck driven by a fellow that flagged me down and asked if I had seen a collie dog back up the road. I told him that I had not seen a dog, but had seen a couple of deer. I confirmed that it was Nine Bridges Road, and, "the bridges are just down the road." I didn't count them, but there are a multitude of bridges taking the road over the Piney Creek bottom.

I continued South, merging East eventually into Purvis Road. I soon came out in the Stryker community, home of my friend, Cloyce Rhinehart, the self-appointed Mayor of the community. As you can see, Cloyce, who owns the NAPA auto Parts store in Corrigan, is a collector of neat junk, especially if it has anything to do with old railroads.

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By the way, there really is an airfield here in Cloyce's pasture. He lets the crop duster contractors use it when they work for the timber land owners in the area.

I continued on my journey and found that the road I had planned out was barred by a heavy metal gate! So, I headed on South to US 287 and slabbed it to the East and Chester. At Chester I turned northwest on FM 2097 that took me to Peach Tree Village and Camp Ta-Ku-La, a beautiful retreat in the Deep Piney Woods which surrounds this structure.
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Continuing north on 2097 I soon see this, one of the most sought after signs in the DSer's world:
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By the time I got there I realized that I had missed another turn on my planned route, but turned East on a little road that took me to FM 1745. I turned North here. This is a very cool road with wide sweeping curves and great scenery, and is a favorite of tours that come through the area. It covers the area between Chester and Colmesneil. I was not sure just where the road to Ft. Teran turned off and spent a couple of hours going down several wrong, but very interesting, roads. Never did find the right road, or when I saw big gates and hunting lease signs, I turned back.

Next time I come here I will have or be with someone that has a GPS that we can put the route into so I start down the right road.

Since I had a project to do at the house I headed back. Next time It will be more fruitful.
 
Good stuff Danny, thanks for sharing:clap: I am hoping to get out next weekend and do some exploring.:rider:
 
Ditto on the good stuff and thanks for sharing Danny ...

YOur report got me going ... I found this writeup on the fort and managed to locate it on my gps software.

I wish I could say that I could direct you to the site, but that is easier said than done, becasue the roads are not numbered very consistently.

If you are heading east from Chester, take the first left on CR2644. It bends around to the right and an unnamed road intersects it from the left. Follow 2644 around the corner towards the south and take the first left that you come to on an unmaned road. Follow it a short distance adn then you turn right on another unnamed road. Although there are a couple of off shoots this road leads to the fort marker.

Another way to get there is to continue to CR2845, where you turn left. Follow it until you come to a T which is the afor mentioned unnamed road that leads to the monument. Turn right and you are halfway home.

Although I live in Dallas, I do a fair amount of work in Deep East Texas and have never even known this fort existed. I will have to check out the site the next time I am on the area.
 
I've heard of Ft. Teran. Wouldn't mind checking it out one day.
 
I found out that Tyler County does a better job of marking their roads than Polk county does. Even so, there are those "unnamed roads" and standards that signs used to hang onto all over the place.

Teeds, your advice is right on, but, unfortunately, I could not find 2644 on the north side of FM1745. I did find 2845, which is way past where I thought I turned north. I went down it for a ways, but it wasn't on my printed out directions, so I came back out after about 3 miles of really great dirt road.

If you map it out on your GPS, that is the way I would suggest you go.

We'll have to ride it out some time.
 
Great ride report Danny.
It has bin many years since I have bin to Ft. Teran, but when I was there I do remember a Historical Marker being there. But also remember that it was surrounded by hunting lease. Hopefully there is still a way back into it.

We might just have to get a group togther and hunt it down like we did the Chicken Ranch :clap:

Great excuse for a ride!:rider:
 
As posted by several others, I researched the site by looking at several sources, including the State Historical Commission site about Historical Markers. I got the coordinates and then looked at the USGS Topo map and plugged in the numbers. I matched the location with the end of a road and entered that info into one of the many trip planners available on the web. This was all great and fine, and I could almost smell the fresh smells of the Neches River and the Deep East Texas Piney Woods as I followed the route through the computer!

Unfortunately, it looked a lot easier in Cyber space than it did in real life.

I did see CR 2845 that Tony mentioned in his post. This road starts out as a relatively well maintained dirt/gravel road that has a large sign at the start warning commercial haulers that it is to be used by permit only and then only in the drier months of the year. It, however is much further east than I felt was the proper entrance, so I did not go more than 2 or 3 miles down it. If any of you are plotting a course on your GPS, start at the intersection of it and FM 1745.

I am having some mechanical difficulties with the BRP, I hope to have it resolved by the time the "search party" gets assembled. I think I found out why so many off road machines went to liquid cooling.

I hate to admit it, but I now can't be telling my Harley driving friends little jokes like, "How are a Harley and an old cow dog alike?" Answer, "They both like to ride in the back of pickup trucks!":lol2: Well, the XR came home Sunday in shame, in the back of the wife's truck. :doh: This was after it started losing power and got very hot. I remembered my old BSA Bantam acting like that right before it used to seize up, so I stopped and called in the rescue party. I'm going to change oil and filter and I'm going with Rotella T heavy duty. I'm also going to look for one of those temperature gauge oil caps I've seen sold for the XR-R. I wonder if that will fit the XR-L.

Strength and Safety in Numbers is appropriate, especialy if one of the number has the right equipment to guide you through the maze. Believe me, I thought about it last Sunday afternoon.
 
DANNYROTH said:
As posted by several others, I researched the site by looking at several sources, including the State Historical Commission site about Historical Markers. I got the coordinates and then looked at the USGS Topo map and plugged in the numbers. I matched the location with the end of a road and entered that info into one of the many trip planners available on the web. This was all great and fine, and I could almost smell the fresh smells of the Neches River and the Deep East Texas Piney Woods as I followed the route through the computer!

Unfortunately, it looked a lot easier in Cyber space than it did in real life.

I did see CR 2845 that Tony mentioned in his post. This road starts out as a relatively well maintained dirt/gravel road that has a large sign at the start warning commercial haulers that it is to be used by permit only and then only in the drier months of the year. It, however is much further east than I felt was the proper entrance, so I did not go more than 2 or 3 miles down it. If any of you are plotting a course on your GPS, start at the intersection of it and FM 1745.

I am having some mechanical difficulties with the BRP, I hope to have it resolved by the time the "search party" gets assembled. I think I found out why so many off road machines went to liquid cooling.

I hate to admit it, but I now can't be telling my Harley driving friends little jokes like, "How are a Harley and an old cow dog alike?" Answer, "They both like to ride in the back of pickup trucks!":lol2: Well, the XR came home Sunday in shame, in the back of the wife's truck. :doh: This was after it started losing power and got very hot. I remembered my old BSA Bantam acting like that right before it used to seize up, so I stopped and called in the rescue party. I'm going to change oil and filter and I'm going with Rotella T heavy duty. I'm also going to look for one of those temperature gauge oil caps I've seen sold for the XR-R. I wonder if that will fit the XR-L.

Strength and Safety in Numbers is appropriate, especialy if one of the number has the right equipment to guide you through the maze. Believe me, I thought about it last Sunday afternoon.


awe man I hope the honda is ok. My klr is sitting pretty across the street ready to go haha. But at least you are home to ride yours.
 
It still runs and appears to have a lot of power, Mike, but it rattles like your diesel pick-up right after it cranks up on a cold winter morning. I'm going to ease around a bit, change the oil/filter again, and see if it quiets down. If not, may be looking for an engine rebuild.
 
DANNYROTH said:
It still runs and appears to have a lot of power, Mike, but it rattles like your diesel pick-up right after it cranks up on a cold winter morning. I'm going to ease around a bit, change the oil/filter again, and see if it quiets down. If not, may be looking for an engine rebuild.

Cam chain loosen up on yeah?

I bet all the neighbors are really happy I am outta town so I dont wake people up in the morning. haha
 
Sorry to hear there is still a problem. Good Luck with it, and if I can lend a hand let me know.
 
Nice Report! You now have me researching and reading.:doh: I am also tempted to buy the Fort Teran book.

Danny get the XR running right and let us know when you are going back out, I would really like find it also.
 
It is going to be hillarious when a bunch of us run into eachother out there with GPS's blazing and metal detectors strapped to the backs of our dualsports.
This has got me intrigued.
 
Tom (Hairsmith), find me a deal like the one you got on your KLR. That would get me back to :rider: By the way, Lufkin Powersports has a black 2007 KLR650 still in the box!:deal:
 
In recent years, there has been some speculation that the Centennial monument may have been placed at the wrong place on the river, perhaps even in the wrong county. Decades ago, a Lufkin historian wrote that Fort Teran really stood on the north bank of the Neches in Angelina County.

If the historians are arguing about whether or not they have the right spot then there is a remote chance that when you find it you might not know it.
 
I took the BRP to a mechanic today. He's going to "tear it up worse than it is, now" and will tell me what it will take to cure its ailment*.

Anyone out there know of a decent XR650L engine available at a decent price? The ones I have located are all over $1150 + Shipping!:eek2:

*Ailment - One lunger, four-cycle that sounds like a diesel, and smokes like a two-cycle.:shock:
 
I talked to an acquaintance that recently bought an '06 KLR650. He is from the area around Ft. Teran and has been to the site several times in the past. He has never ridden a bike to the spot, but acts like he could guide us right to it! Kinda takes the fun of the chase out of it, doesn't it?

The new mission, if we choose to accept it; go to the site from both the Tyler County side of the Neches River (that's where the Historical Marker is located) AND from the Angelina County (north) side.

I'm thinking we could inquire of the County Tax office to check landowner records. I work for a major wood products manufacturing company that owns much land in that area. If it belongs to our company I have connections that could get some help from our foresters that manage the area.
 
DANNYROTH said:
Tom (Hairsmith), find me a deal like the one you got on your KLR. That would get me back to :rider: By the way, Lufkin Powersports has a black 2007 KLR650 still in the box!:deal:

You need to get a KLR like mine so when you run her off in the sticks you dont worry about it to much. :rider:

Any news on the honda yet?
 
Mechanic says, "The main parts needed will cost $2200."

That's $300 less than what I paid for the whole bike!

Looking for an XR650L engine.
 
Mechanic says, "The main parts needed will cost $2200."

Is that parts and labor? Did you have any other symptoms of anything going wrong? How did the oil look when you got home? About how much came out?
 
They quit taking it apart after removing the head and jug. The camshaft bearings appeared to have locked up, and the jug, piston and upper rod bearing are toast. He asumes that the lower rod bearing, which means crank, is also damaged. I told him to stop at that point and let me see about getting an intact motor.

Oil that came out looks like 130 weight, and black. It had been several rides since I had checked the level and I take full responsibility for the destruction of my playpretty. This will not happen again.
 
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