The Rain Battles on the Caprock RoadyGoat

The man this town is named for had a stranger obsession than cereal: he thought he could blast rain out of a dry West Texas sky. Between about nineteen ten and nineteen thirteen, right here on the high, flat edge of the Caprock, Charles William Post staged what newspapers called his rain battles. His first try in nineteen ten was pure daredevil stuff. He tied two pounds of dynamite to a kite, flew it up into the clouds, and set it off. He quickly decided that was far too dangerous. So he switched to the ground. He laid out fourteen-pound bundles of dynamite spaced about fifty feet apart and detonated them in sequence, ten minutes between blasts, trying to shake water loose from the air. His biggest battle set off something like twenty-four thousand pounds of explosives. Post claimed he coaxed seven good showers out of thirteen attempts, and spent well over fifty thousand dollars doing it. Skeptics pointed out he happened to be firing during the rainiest stretch of the year anyway. Still, picture it: a cereal millionaire bombarding the heavens over the town that carries his name.

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Can You Really Explode Rain Out of the Sky? RoadyGoat

Since the town's namesake spent a fortune trying to blast rain from the clouds, it's worth asking: does that idea hold any water? The theory Charles William Post believed is called the concussion theory of rainmaking, and it was surprisingly popular a hundred-some years ago. The thinking went like this: big battlefield explosions seemed to be followed by rain, so the shock waves and the smoke must somehow shake or seed the moisture until it falls. Here's the reality. For a raindrop to form, water vapor needs two things: air cooled below its dew point, and tiny particles, called condensation nuclei, for the vapor to cling to and grow on. A ground explosion doesn't meaningfully cool a whole sky, and its shock wave fades within seconds. What actually did eventually work, decades later, was cloud seeding, dusting existing clouds with silver iodide or salt crystals to give the moisture something to condense around. So Post had the right target, water needs nuclei, but the wrong tool. You can't concuss a drought into surrender. You have to hand the sky the right dust.

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The Great Stone Step Beside Town RoadyGoat

Post sits right at the edge of one of the most dramatic geological features in Texas, and it's a big reason Charles William Post chose this spot for his high, flat, planned town. It's called the Caprock Escarpment, a long, cliff-like rim that separates the tabletop-flat Llano Estacado up top from the rolling, broken country below. Drive State Highway two oh seven between Post and Ralls and you can watch the land drop away hundreds of feet, in places close to a thousand feet, like a giant stone step. Here's how nature built it. Millions of years ago, sand and gravel washed down off the Rocky Mountains and spread across the plains, forming a thick layer geologists call the Ogallala Formation. Over time, mineral-rich water hardened the top into caliche, a tough crust of calcium carbonate that resists erosion far better than the soft rock beneath it. As streams gnawed away at the softer stuff below, they left that hard cap standing, forming the escarpment you see today. So the Caprock isn't a mountain that pushed up. It's a plain that everything around it eroded down from, leaving Post perched on the surviving high ground.

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Pinkston, David Proctor [Dave Stone]

1946

Dave Stone, innovative radio executive and popular on-air personality, was born David Proctor Pinkston in Post, Texas, on November 11, 1913, the son of James and Bessie (Proctor) Pinkston. When he was still in grade school, the family moved to Slaton, Texas, some fifteen miles from Lubbock. After graduating from Slaton High School, Pinkston enrolled at Texas Technological College (later Texas Tech University) in Lubbock as a journalism major but soon found that journalism was not his field. He transferred to Draughon’s Business College in Brownfield, Texas, thirty miles away. After graduation, he was hired as office manager and accountant for the Arizona Chemical Company in Brownfield and held that position throughout World War II . In 1933 Pinkston married Violet Marie Martin, and they became the parents of Carolyn Pinkston (now Graves) and James Pinkston. In late 1946 Dave Pinkston and his family moved back to Lubbock, where he joined the staff of KSEL, a new radio station, as traffic manager and bookkeeper. Like most other independent radio stations in those days, KSEL followed the usual practice of block programming, offering a variety of shows throughout the day that appealed to a broad range of listeners—an early morning farm program; followed by a “breakfast club” and cooking shows for women; Wayne Allen’s 950 Club , which featured pop and big band records; soap operas; news; sports; even Sepia Parade , a daily afternoon show devoted to records by black artists. At that time, country music on KSEL was limited to the thirty-minute Western Roundup , heard each day from 3:00 to 3:30. As it happened, the deejay who hosted Western Roundup harbored a great dislike for country music. Passing Pinkston in the hall one day, he said, “Dave, I happen to know you got a lot of country records and you like country music and you can take that program.” Despite Pinkston’s protests that he knew nothing about broadcasting, the station manager insisted on the change. Thus “Dave Pinkston” became “Dave Stone,” proved himself a natural on the air, and the program was soon so popular that it was expanded to a full hour. Stone became known to his listeners as “the man with the smile in his voice,” and he began getting offers from other area stations. To keep him at KSEL, executives made him station manager in late 1948. The time-slot was again extended, and Stone initiated a live Saturday night show, known as the Western Jamboree . Audiences quickly outgrew the limited space at KSEL studios, and the show moved several times to larger venues, finally broadcasting from an old wartime hanger near the Lubbock Airport. The show featured such prominent Nashville acts as Little Jimmy Dickens, the Maddox Brothers and Rose, the Delmore Brothers, and Hank Locklin. With equal enthusiasm, Stone also promoted local and regional artists. Billy Walker , Tommy Hancock, and Sonny Curtis, among other up-and-coming acts, were given exposure on the Western Jamboree stage and in front of KSEL’s microphones. A bit later, Stone was the first to put Lubbock’s Buddy Holly on the air, as part of the Sunday Party , over KDAV. Stone was also highly instrumental in getting a demo tape of Buddy Holly to Decca executives, who promptly signed him to his first recording contract. The overwhelming success of the Western Roundup and the Western Jamboree on KSEL gave Stone the idea for a highly original business model: a radio station that played only country music. He formed a partnership with a local realtor, Leroy Elmore, and applied to the FCC for a license. A station that played only one type of music was practically unheard of at the time, especially in small markets like Lubbock, and the FCC was reluctant to grant the license. They eventually relented, however, and the license became official in the late summer of 1953. Construction began on studios and a transmitter tower at what had been a cotton patch on the southern outskirts of Lubbock, and KDAV went on the air on Sep

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Tillman, Floyd

1931

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and a pioneering figure in the development of honky-tonk music, Floyd Tillman was born on December 8, 1914, in Ryan, Oklahoma. The son of a sharecropper, Tillman was only a few months old when he and his family relocated to Post, Texas. He attended grade school from 1923 to 1929. As a young man, he worked as a telegraph operator and got his start in music around 1931, when he learned guitar to play with his brothers at local dances. During the 1930s Tillman began playing lead guitar with various western swing musicians throughout Texas. In 1933 he joined Adolph and Emil Hofner’s band and played at Gus’ Palm Garden in San Antonio. He joined Leon Selph ’s Blue Ridge Playboys in 1935 and recorded with them on the Vocalion label, and in 1936 he played with the Mack Clark Orchestra. Tillman sold his 1938 song “It Makes No Difference Now,” to Jimmie Davis for $300. The song went on to become a huge hit and was recorded by Cliff Bruner in 1938, Bing Crosby in 1940, and others, including Gene Autry , Eddy Arnold, and Burl Ives. Tillman signed with Decca in the late 1930s as a solo artist after his hit established him as a successful songwriter. During World War II Tillman joined the United States Army and served as a radio operator stationed near Houston, where he continued to write and record. Tillman also worked with such artists as Ted Daffan and Moon Mullican , who, by the 1940s were borrowing from western swing and more traditional country styles to forge a new sound that would come to be known as “honky-tonk.” He had his first Number 1 hit in 1944 with “They Took the Stars Out of Heaven” on Decca. Additional hits included “G. I. Blues,” “Each Night at Nine,” and “I Love You So Much It Hurts.” In 1949 he wrote the now classic “Slippin’ Around,” which epitomized both the new honky-tonk shuffle beat and what would become the common theme of infidelity in honky-tonk music. Ernest Tubb , Texas Jim Robertson, the duo of Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely, and numerous others performed and recorded “Slippin’ Around.” Tillman also penned the hit “This Cold War With You,” a play on words that reflected both the difficulties of married life and the escalating tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during the post-World War II era. During the 1950s Tillman retired from the music business, citing the financial and physical difficulties of life on the road, though he scored a hit in 1960 with “It Just Tears Me Up.” In the 1970s he returned to playing music, but he limited his performances primarily to the Lone Star State. In 1970 Tillman was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 1984 his friend Willie Nelson was on hand to help induct Tillman into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was honored with induction into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame in 1990. Floyd Tillman died at his home in Bacliff, Texas, on August 22, 2003. His final album, The Influence , was released in 2004 and featured Tillman in the studio in 2002 and 2003 with many of the musicians that he had inspired, including Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Ray Price, Hank Thompson , Justin Trevino, Mel Tillis, Johnny Bush, and George Jones .

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Charles W. Post

1906

(1854-1914) Internationally known creator of Post Cereals, advertising genius, inventor and innovator, founder of Post City in 1906. Through the purchase of the Curry Comb Ranch and adjacent land approximating 225,000 acres he began his dream of building self-contained model community of towns and farms. Mr. Post financed, supervised and built town without profit to himself. Settlers were offered ownership of business or farm sites far below cost. Mr. Post planned community of debt-free private ownership in every field of endeavor, and sought to make his vision true to its purpose. 1968

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Mrs. Merriweather Post

1888

Daughter of C. W. Post. Lived in Texas 1888-1891. Had part with father in locating colony here 1906; rescued local economy by aid after 1917 drought. Co-donor, site for Post Recreation Center. Donor, South Plains Council Boy Scouts Camp; books and paintings to South Plains College. A leading philanthropist in arts and humanities. Benefactress, C. W. Post College, Long Island University; founder "Music for Young America." Recipient of 30 citations for service, 3 honorary degrees, 6 foreign decorations. A woman endowed with true virtues of generosity and compassion. 1968

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Post, C.W., Home

1912

Home built 1912 by C. W. Post, Cereal Foods millionaire, founder of town of Post, who promoted Texas settlement and agriculture by selling land on liberal terms, founding industries. With theme, "I Want Quality", Post installed solid oak doors, woodwork, redwood' floors, leather wallpaper. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1964.

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Cash, Norman Dalton

1955

Norman Dalton "Norm" Cash, Major League Baseball player, was the subject of two trades four months apart that fostered long-lasting regrets for both teams that exchanged him. The son of Bandy Silas Cash and Mildred Violet (Woodward) Cash, he was born into a cotton farming family on November 10, 1933, in the West Texas town of Justiceburg (Garza County). He played high school football in nearby Post, the county seat. After playing football and baseball at San Angelo Junior College, Cash was awarded a football scholarship to Sul Ross State Teachers College (present-day Sul Ross State University) in Alpine. At Sul Ross he was an All-Lone Star Conference running back. After he set a school record by rushing for 1,255 yards, he was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the thirteenth round of the 1955 National Football League (NFL) draft. Yet when it came time to sign a professional contract, Cash chose baseball. Because the NFL was a much smaller operation in 1955, perhaps he thought baseball offered better long-term financial prospects. That was an important consideration as he was a married man, having wed Myrta Bob Harper, his high school sweetheart, on January 24, 1954. Chicago White Sox scout Mel Preibisch signed Cash to a contract on May 21, 1955. After toiling in the minor leagues with the Waterloo White Hawks and the Indianapolis Indians and fulfilling his military commitment (he was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso), Cash made his major league debut on June 18, 1958. Initially an outfielder, he began to play first base at the behest of manager Al Lopez. Because Cash was left-handed, first base and the outfield were his only options. Though Cash was used sparingly when the White Sox brought him up from the minor leagues in 1958, he did appear in the 1959 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a forgettable performance, as he went hitless in four pinch-hitting appearances in the six-game series won by the Dodgers. He profited greatly from the experience, however. Cash, an aspiring rancher, used his $7,257.17 World Series paycheck to buy livestock. After he made just 138 plate appearances in 1958 and 1959, the White Sox traded Cash to the Cleveland Indians in a multi-player deal on December 6, 1959, but he never played for them. A few days before the opening of the team's 1960 season, the Indians flipped Cash to the Detroit Tigers, for whom he played fifteen seasons and left a lasting mark in the franchise record book. In 1960 the Tigers had penciled in veteran Steve Bilko as the starting first baseman. When the season started, however, Bilko faltered. Manager Jimmy Dykes gave Cash more playing time, and he made the most of it. Tiger Stadium, or Briggs Stadium as it was called in 1960, was tailor-made for a left-handed power hitter, which may have been why the Tigers traded for Cash. In his first year with the Tigers he had 428 plate appearances, hit 18 home runs, and batted .286. The following year Cash put together one of the most productive seasons any left-handed hitter has ever enjoyed. His .361 batting average not only led the American League, it was the best average attained by any major league player in the 1960s. No Tiger surpassed that average until 2007, when Magglio Ordóñez hit .363. "Mr. Crash," as he was dubbed, also led the league in hits (193) and on-base percentage (.487). However, his tally of forty-one home runs was only sixth best in the league (this was, after all, the year Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle dueled to see who would break Babe Ruth's season record of sixty), and his 132 runs batted in (RBIs) placed him fourth in the league. As good as Cash was in 1961, Tiger teammate Rocky Colavito bested him in home runs with forty-five and RBIs with 140. Cash also led the American League in intentional bases on balls with nineteen, a good indicator of the respect opposing pitchers had for him. As further evidence, his total of 124 regular bases on balls was only two behind league leader Mickey Mant

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Post, Texas

Music in Post

Songs About Post

Artists From Post

Rivers & Roads in Song near Post

History of Post

The Rain Battles on the Caprock RoadyGoat

Can You Really Explode Rain Out of the Sky? RoadyGoat

The Great Stone Step Beside Town RoadyGoat

Pinkston, David Proctor [Dave Stone]

Tillman, Floyd

Charles W. Post

Mrs. Merriweather Post

Post, C.W., Home

Cash, Norman Dalton

Everything Near Post