HISTORY OF PASCO COUNTY
Dixon’s Hill
This USGS map shows the dirt road leading NNE about a third of a mile
from the intersection of S. R. 52 and Ehren Cutoff to what is
most likely Dixon’s Hill (93 feet). In the article below, the last
sentence contains an error, in that Aripeka Saw Mills did not exist
until several years after Pasco County was formed.
High Hill in Pasco County Got Name From
Tragedy in Bygone Day of Mail Coach
Weary Traveler Walking to Tampa Killed by Panther While
Stopping for Rest—Site Offered for Courthouse
This article appeared in the Tampa Sunday Tribune on Jan. 16, 1927.
By CARL B. TAYLOR
DADE CITY, Jan. 15.—About a quarter of a mile north of the
highway connecting Dade City with the western side of Pasco county, and
almost opposite the spot where the hard road known as the Ehren cut-off
branches, is a small hill that rises from the surrounding level, and
frequently submerged plain that extends for some distance in all
directions. Part this hill runs a well defined, though now abandoned,
dirt road, once one of the important arteries of communication for this
entire section of the state, the old stage route between Brooksville and
Tampa.
Over this road in the days before the railroads had penetrated far
into the peninsular section of Florida the mails from the north were
brought once, twice or three times a week, the ox teams of early
settlers struggled as they pulled their loaded wagons in its sandy ruts.
The hill has for years been known as Dixon’s Hill, and it
stands out a notable landmark, visible from long distances. In the days
when huge herds of beef cattle ranged the surrounding planes, it was
noted as the assembling place for the cow hunters engaged in the
round-ups.
The naming of this hill goes back to the earliest days of white
settlement of the country lying between Brooksville and Tampa, and
perpetuates one of the tragedies that so frequently feature pioneer
life.
To Allan Pearce, one of the oldest residents of Pasco county, who
made the first surveys of this section, the writer is indebted to the
story of the tragedy that resulted in Dixon’s Hill receiving its
name.
“In 1853 and 1854,” Mr. Pearce said, “a prospector,
as we called them in those days, came through this country named John
Dixon. He was traveling on foot and carried with him a valise. Night
overtook him as he reached Fort Taylor, located near the present line
between Hernando and Pasco counties, and he stopped for the night at the
old Bill Whitfield place.
“Next morning he started on, following the stage road towards
Tampa. Between the settlement at Fort Taylor and that place there was
then nothing but wilderness. Dixon was never seen alive again, but his
fate can be deduced by circumstantial evidence that is too conclusive to
be disputed.
“Evidently Dixon turned aside from the road, which was simply a
pair of wheel ruts through the sand, when he reached the hill and sat
under a tree to rest. He had walked many miles and was hot and tired and
evidently fell asleep. While sleeping, a panther, of which there were
many in those days, attacked and killed him, and then, having satisfied
its appetite, dragged his body into a lake at the foot of the hill and
left it.
“The tragedy was discovered a day or two later when my father,
S. J. Pearce, in company with Henry Hancock, John Mizzell, and John
McNatt, Sr., who were returning from a trip to Tampa, stopped to camp on
the hill. They found Dixon’s valise, saw the tracks of the
panther, and the signs of the struggle, and following the trail made by
dragging the body, discovered it submerged in the muddy bottom of the
pond.
“It was impossible for them to recover Dixon’s body and it
was left where it was found, but they took his valise home with them
and, by examination of its contents learned that he had relatives in
Jacksonville, and sent it to them, together with a report of his fate.
Ever since then this place has been known as Dixon’s Hill. I was
only a boy at the time, but I can remember the event clearly.
“Dixon’s Hill,” said Mr. Pearce, “is located
at the center of Section 9, Township 25, Range 19, and is in the
geographical center of Pasco county. At the time the county was formed,
The Aripeka Saw Mills, owners or this property, offered it to the county
as a site for the courthouse and county seat.”
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