Rose Hill is on the outskirts of Garland, Texas in Dallas County.  My
great-grandmother and her family settled in that area, coming from
Arkansas in a covered wagon in the late 1800s.  Below is part of an
article from the Garland Daily News about James and Margaret Loving who
were pioneer settlers in Rose Hill on 640 acres of land back in the
1840s.  They were the 16th family to settle in Dallas County.  I thought
you might enjoy reading about all the wild game and plants they ate as
well as how they obtained their salt.

"In 1844, the ground was in its original wilderness, there being no
settlements in the vicinity.  Cutting timber from the forest, Loving
built his house of logs, splitting puncheon for the floor, and making
the chimney from poles and rock gathered in the nearby Rowlett Creek,
and daubed with clay.  In the meantime, the family lived in the wagons
in which they had traveled from Lamar County, where they had stopped for
a few months.

"They were in truth pioneers, having no neighbors within 15 miles, and
Margaret Loving did not see a white woman during the first six months of
living there.  (They had four slaves, Aunt Hester and her three
children, and Tonkawa Indians were in the vicinity.)

"Since there were no mills, the family pounded their corn in a mortar.
They used wild honey for sweets.  They had plenty of fish from the East
Fork of the Trinity and Rowlett Creek.  Deer, prairie hens, quail,
turkeys, panthers, bears, and wolves were plentiful, running at will
through the woods, while wild horses and buffalo were often seen.  They
had a garden fenced in with brush which supplied fresh vegetables.
There was an abundance of persimmons, dewberries, blackberries, black
haws, and wild plums in season; also black walnuts and pecans.

"James had garments made of buckskin sewed with deer tendons, as well as
homespun clothing.  Margaret made the homespun for her family.  After it
was spun and woven, she fashioned it into garments for all of them.
James wore a coonskin cap over his long, red, shoulder-length hair.

"A salt lick (a bare place where not even grass grew and to it were many
animal trails) near the Loving home furnished salt for their family,
Indians, and wild beasts.  Margaret obtained salt by boiling soil from
this "lick" with water in a large pot over the open fire.  When this
mixture boiled down, the soil came to the top, and was skimmed off.
This 'boiling' was repeated until nothing but salt residue was left in
the pot."

L'shalom,

Marishka