The default gallery photo is of a section of the rock wall that was excavated for our bicentennial celebration in 1976, on display at the old Rockwall County Courthouse. A Texas Historical Marker here gives some background:
First settled in the 1840s, this region was a part of Kaufman County until 1873, when Rockwall County was created. With an area of 147 square miles, this is the smallest of Texas' 254 counties. The county and city of Rockwall were named for an underground formation of rock discovered in the early 1850s. Crossed by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, Rockwall County is an area of fertile farmland. The location here of the aluminum industry and the creation of Lake Ray Hubbard from the East Fork of the Trinity River diversified the local economy in recent years. (1976)
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by DAVID SCHECHTER
WFAA
Posted on December 13, 2013 at 11:09 PM
ROCKWALL -- It’s a North Texas mystery in search of an answer.
For 150 years, scientists have argued whether the rock wall that gives the town of Rockwall its name, is natural or manmade. Now, there is a new attempt to answer that question in a town where digging for ancient truth is a kind of local pastime, but not recommended sport for those with shallow pockets.
"I spent over $100,000 trying to find the answers, and so far, I haven’t found it," said Rockwall resident Kevin Richeson.
The rock wall is buried and not visible. So, in 1999, Richeson spent all that money and two-and-a-half years excavating part of it. He wanted to find the truth about the underground formation, but he never did.
"There’s too many questions still. I never got to finish the job. I went down 42 feet, but I needed to go down another ten," he said. "I’m hoping to finish it now."
Now, Richeson’s back at it with the help of Scott Wolter, host of a cable show called "America Unearthed." Wolter is a forensic geologist from Minnesota, expert in understanding the origins of stone artifacts and sites.
"I think in order to do a proper assessment, we’ve got to open up a big part of the hill," Wolter said.
But could a scientist really believe an underground rock formation is man made?
"One of the problems with these things we investigate on the show is a lot of people went into them with pre-conceived ideas, and in many cases, they were wrong," Wolter said.
Director Andy Awes said he brought his national show to Rockwall because there’s so much local curiosity about the truth.
"By far the most tips we got were about this rock wall in Texas," Awes said.
Wolter told News 8 we’d have to wait with everyone else until the episode airs to hear his findings. But no one may be more interested to hear than Kevin Richeson, who, even though he spent the time and money, learned buried truths sometimes like to stay that way.
"Somebody needed to do it," he said. "It was there to be dug up."
"America Unearthed" airs Saturday night on the History 2 channel, at 8 p.m.
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