A ranch that was once five miles southwest of downtown Lubbock holds vivid memories for the grandsons of pioneer rancher John Keithly Caraway.
And because of an unforgettable mulberry tree with a windmill beside it, most South Plains residents of later generations know where its headquarters were located.
Caraway started the ranch in 1891, and planted the tree as a three-foot sprig the following year at what is now 50th Street and Indiana Avenue.
He built the ranch headquarters at the same location, along with a windmill for the home's water needs. Then, he bought 40 acres north of that area to keep a road from coming too near the house.
Caraway was able to hunt antelope by spotting the herds from the top of his windmill tower.
Ultimately, he owned and leased approximately 13 sections in Southwest Lubbock County for the cattle ranch that became known as the Skillet, and also operated a livery stable in the newly established town of Lubbock.
But the abundance of life for the Caraway family often revolved about the incessant work of Martha Anna Caldonia Caraway. She became the wife of Caraway when she was 16 and he was 26, and managed to raise nine children while cooking, cleaning, keeping house and raising fish in an earthen tank to help with the food supply.
"Her name was Mammy," said Wesley Caraway, a grandson who was born at the ranch headquarters home.
John Key Caraway, a grandson named for the founder, most often refers to her as Grandmother: "We knew her as a lovely lady who loved us - how she loved us!"
Neither John nor Wesley knew their grandfather, but he was called Pappy by the family, or Uncle John by neighbors.
Joan Caraway, wife of Wesley, said there is one family account that the mulberry tree that so ably characterized the ranch, was brought back from a trip to Austin by Lou Stubbs, a daughter of the founder.
The tree's growth was massive, and it stood as an emblem of hospitality to all who came by.
The Ranch was laid out in contiguous sections, and it took in most of the southwestern portion of what is now lubbock.
Research done by Robbie Stevens, a great-granddaughter, found that the homestead itself was the area between 50th and 66th Streets, and from Indiana to Quaker Avenues.
Other sections on either side extended it generally from University Avenue to Slide road, then it went south to a point as distant as Farm Road 1585.
When the grandsons were children, they weren't much interested in how far south or west it went. They only knew that it was exhilaration to climb the mulberry tree.
Wesley remembers climbing it, and also falling out of it.
John said, "To the kids, it was a ship - we called it a ship."
They climbed its branches like ladders leading to an upper deck. "We would watch all the scissor tails flying in the wind. It was a wonderful place," he said.
"Part of the tree extended out over a big earthen tank. And once in awhile, we would jump off a branch down into the tank."
There also are other memories of the large earthen tank.
"Grandmother raised perch and catfish in it," John said.
Then in the spring, when water filled a lake that now is the Leftwich Park area, their grandmother would seine the earthen tank and take the fish to the lake where they could grow to a good size.
In turn, when the lake level began to drop in the summer, the fish were seined again for a gigantic fish fry.
"There would be all the neighbors and all the kinfolks up here underneath that tree, and a big wash pot to do the cooking in. It was a time of getting together and having a lot of fun with a big fish fry," John remembers.
Wesley recalls there were other times for feasts at the Skillet Ranch, also. "I had a lot of cousins, and they would gather on Sunday."
John said, "Grandmother cooked dinner on Sunday, and all of the families went to her house for lunch. She had a cookie jar back in the closet, and all of the grandkids knew where that cookie jar was. Believe me, that was full every Sunday when we went."
He also remembers seeing her cook when the light was not at its peak. "She had a little cook stove, and when she was cooking, she had a lantern in one hand and was stirring eggs with the other."
Joan said that people who were traveling through the Lubbock area in the early years would stop at the ranch to feed their horses and get water. And there also was a time when family members could sit on the front porch of the house and see all the way to where the airport area is now.
John notes that for most of the ranch history there were two windmills at the home site.
"People coming from the west would come, and here would be this place. They could camp under the tree and stay awhile and use the water," he said.
"And over and over again, neighbors whose windmills weren't working would come up there and fill their barrels full of water."
The territory of the ranch had begun to diminish when the founder traded an eastern portion for the fine fabric merchandise of a bankrupt business in Lubbock, according to family traditions.
Another section was lost to foreclosure by C.W. Post, John said.
In later years, remaining sections were divided among the children.
A portion of the headquarters property, which had become the Winchester Square Shopping Center at 50th Street and Indiana Avenue, remained in Caraway hands until it was sold in 1984.
But the tree that symbolized the ranch lived another 12 years. It was cut down at the age of 104.
John pointed out in an interview at the time that the tree was once five miles southwest of Lubbock.
On its last day, it was in the heart of Lubbock.