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Ghostie LbNA #56812 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Dec 28, 2010
Location:
City:Millican
County:Grimes
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Planted by:Mousepie
Found by: The Awkward Turtle
Last found:Jul 25, 2012
Status:FFFFFFam
Last edited:Dec 28, 2010
Ghostie:
Millican, Texas is on the Southern Pacific line at the intersection of Farm roads 2154 and 159, between the Brazos and Navasota rivers fifteen miles southeast of College Station in southern Brazos County. The rolling countryside is part of the East Texas timberlands. Good farmland, other natural resources, and abundant wildlife, including deer and wild turkeys, attracted settlers to Brazos County. The area had been known as Millican since it was settled by Robert Hemphill Millican and his son Dr. Elliott McNeil Millican in the 1820s. By 1845 the place was known as Millican Crossroads. In 1849 the community received a post office, and by 1850 a stagecoach line extended from Houston through Millican. Dr. Elliott Millican sold the northern part of his land grant, three miles north of the site of the older Millican Crossroads community, on December 14, 1859, and the new townsite was named in his honor. From 1860 to around 1867 the town was the terminus of the Houston and Texas Central Railway; the prosperous community built churches and schools. At this time Millican was reportedly the largest city north of Houston and Galveston. During the Civil War years the town became the site of a training camp for 5,000 Confederate troops. In 1864 Millican was incorporated and its population reached 3,000. Millican declined when the railroad resumed its northward expansion to Bryan around 1866; businesses moved north with the railroad. In 1867 the Millican population was further reduced by a yellow fever epidemic. Millican had 1,200 residents in 1868. In 1883 the town had a cotton gin, two steam gristmills, four churches, and a school, which in 1904–05 had eighty pupils and two teachers. In the 1920s the Phillips Petroleum Company drilled a 17,000-foot-deep well into a nearby salt dome, but no oil was found. Highway 6 bypassed Millican in 1930, and by 1940 its population had dwindled to 200. In 1990 Millican had a population of 100, a community center, a volunteer fire station, three churches and two cemeteries, a modern post office, and a fertilizer plant. By 2000 the population was 108.
The drive I usually take to Millican is one dotted by remnants of an era gone by, and left are ghostly remains of thriving towns and businesses. After searching the Internet for more information on Millican, I was even intrigued to find a site that listed ghost stories of Millican and surrounding areas.
Clues:
From Brenham, TX, take HWY 105 N and turn left at FM 159 N. Travel 13 miles to Millican. This driving adventure will take you through what my family called “the Millican bottom land” passed old “plantations” and tiny “ghost towns”. At the intersection of FM 159 N and FM 2154, turn right (south). About half a mile on FM 2154 S is Henderson. Turn right-there is also a Wheat Cemetery sign. Follow Henderson to the Wheat Cemetery located at 3434 Henderson. There are two gravel drives here. Take the one that says “entrance”. Follow the gravel road to the first bend and stop at the fence line. Follow the fence line on your left for 45 steps to a gnarled cedar tree. Walk around the back of the tree near Price’s marker and look about 5 ½ feet up to the cavity in the tree. Ghostie is hiding here concealed by sticks and moss. A geocache is also located in the same hiding spot.

*Note, the Millican information was summarized from the Texas State handbook. Moreover, I am not attempting to classify Millican as an official Ghost Town, for this is only our family’s story telling.