Scrappin Valley

The northern edge of Scrappin' Valley blends into the Sabine National Forest. The southern half is divided by a long east-west ridge that drops off into the Sabine River bottoms. Flowing out of the ridge and running north into the valley are several creeks and branches: Rock, Big Sandy and Little Sandy, McKim, Dinkhorse, Hurricane, and Ole Doc, to name a few. The center of the valley, demographically if not geographically, is the community of Scrappin' Valley (at 31°09' N, 93°52' W) in the northwest corner of Newton County. The ridges, drains, and valleys were settled in the nineteenth century by Anglo-Saxons, the Weekses, Conners, Lowes, Fergusons, Smiths, and Easleys, who treasured their independence and isolation and set their own rules. Scrappin' was a part of their way of life in the maintenance of territory and dominance. The most famous scrap in the valley was the Smith-Lowe-Conner feud, which began with the killing of a Smith and a Lowe in 1883 and ended with Uncle Willis Conner and five of his six sons and one grandson dead and the remaining son in the penitentiary. A squad of Texas Rangers who went into the valley to arrest the Conners was soundly defeated-one killed, the rest seriously wounded-and they never returned to complete their business. A private detective working with the other feuding families pursued the fight to its conclusion. That bloody episode could very well have given Scrappin' Valley its name, but tradition says that it was not named until around 1905.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.