Back before the white man had total control of hte Texas frontier, two fur traders were making their way down the headwater of the Brazos river. Their pack animals were loaded down with trinkets and firewater to use as barter in case they met up with any friendly Indians with a thrist for firewater and eye for beads and mirrors. On the first day of a rainy spell they came upon an encampment of friendly Comanches who had an ample supply of deer meat and smoked buffalo and were eager to do some trading. After several days of bartering, the two traders noticed that the best furs were in the Indians pile. Being perfect shystersm the trasders decided it was time to give out complimentary samples of their firewater to the Indians. Late that night all members of the tribe has passed out and were sleeping if off while the traders slowly and quietly loaded up the Indian's furs on their pack burros and headed south down the Brazos. They had gone only a few miles when a burro broke his leg. Another burro had to then carry a double load and soon gave out. Finally, the last burro, so heavily burdened, lost its footing and fell into the canyon below and perished. By this time the traders realized that the Indians they had stolen from would be sober enough to come after them to reclaim the furs and scalp then alive. Smoke signals could be seen from a short distance and the traders knew that the Indians would be closing in for the kill. They finally reached a point on the Brazos where high limestone bluffs were divided by a small creek forming a natural rock gateway to the river. Thinking only of saving his own hide, one of the traders threw down his heave load of stolen furs and made his way up the high cliff. The other trader, however, was so stubborn and mean that he swore he would go through the Gates of Hell before he would allow the savages to retrieve their furs. The band of enraged Indians finally caught up with the traders and finished them both off with a shower of arrows. Henceforth, that point on the Brazos became known as Hell's Gate.

Ike Sablosky was a businessman from Pennsylvania who came to Texas in 1906 to regain his health. At the time, Mineral Wells, TX was famous for the Baker Hotel and Spa, which offered mineral water treatments rumored to cure various ailments. While living in Mineral Wells, Ike discovered the business of Cedar hacking. Cedar wood was extremely valuable because of how resistant it was to rot- this made it excellent for building. Ike hired two men to do the hard labor of cedar hacking out at Johnson’s Bend for him.  The men had to ride for three days on horses from Mineral Wells before they could start their work. While out there, they encountered large amounts of ill-tempered, giant possums. They captured the possum and took them to show Ike. Once Ike saw the beautiful cream-colored fur on the possum, he went into the fur trading business. The two men became so good at capturing and skinning possums that Ike began to refer to them as “The boys from Possum Kingdom”. The area soon became known as an excellent place to trap and trade possum hide. When the lake was created in the 1940’s, officials named the lake Possum Kingdom Lake after the legend of our giant, fierce, possum population. Because our name attracts those seeking out the giant possum, the population has taken a ginormous hit. It is extremely rare to see these animals in the area today. 

One day, back when he was much younger and simply known as Riley, he was out hunting when he saw a truly magnificent buck.  He was about to raise his rifle and shoot when Riley realized that the buck's horns were ensnared in tangle brush and the buck was unable to escape.  Riley decided it would not be fair to shoot the buck and instead slowly and carefully cut the buck free.  Once free, the buck bounded off but not before taking a long look back at Riley.  Many years later, when he was old, Old Man Riley was out for a slow hike when he walked up on and surprised a grizzly bear.  Not just any bear- a mean grizzly bear.   The bear chased Old Man Riley up and down and across and back hills and streams for most of the day.  Finally, the bear cornered Old Man Riley up against some rocks and it looked like there was no way out except to try and fight his way past the bear.  Old Man Riley was not as tough or as strong as he once was, but he took a deep breath and figured, "if this bear is gonna whup me, he is in for a fight!".  Just then, out of the corner of his eye, the brave old man saw a flash of brown and heard the bear growl out in pain.  A magnificent buck- the same buck Old Man Riley had saved years ago- had lowered his antlers and crashed right into the side of that grizzly bear!  Old Man Riley watched as the buck butted the bear again and again, only backing away when the bear swung his massive claws into the buck's shoulders and back.  Still, the buck kept charging forward.  The bear finally turned and left.  Old Man Riley was safe.  The kindness he had shown years ago was repaid that day and Old Man Riley never forgot it.

As I recall, the story teller was then supposed to somehow relate the moral of the story to mean that each camper should make sure to use soap when they took a shower that night and that it was not cool to eat your own boogers.