Indian remains found on Brushy Creek in 1938
Indian remains found on Brushy Creek in 1938
Written by Karen R. Thompson Thursday, 17 April 2008
When the Texas Highway Department (today the Texas Department of Transporation) was constructing RM 1431 in 1982, they unearthed a skeleton of a female in an ancient family burial ground. Most people thought it was the first and only such Paleo-Indian burial ground in this part of Williamson County.
In 1938, however, an Indian burial ground was discovered just two miles downstream on Brushy Creek from where the Leanderthal Lady, as the skeleton came to be called, was found.
The remains of a male were discovered on the Walsh Brothers Ranch, along Brushy Creek east of Cedar Park. According to the anthropology museum record of the J. J. Pickle Research Campus of the University of Texas at Austin, the remains were that of a male about 35 years of age.
The State of Texas received the remains at their laboratory on Burnet Road Feb. 15, 1938. 
The anthropology records show there was a skull, mandible and skeleton. It was in fair condition and found and dug by “treasure hunters at a depth of 3 feet in a sitting position – flexed.” These treasure hunters were undoubtedly trespassing on the Walsh property.
According to information on the Texas Historical Marker located on Highway 183 near Leander, carbon testing on the Leanderthal Lady suggests the remains are from 10,000 to 13,000 years old. In addition she is thought to be about 30 years of age at the time of her death. She was 5’ 3” in height. The Walsh Ranch Indian remains have not been carbon dated, but the close proximity of the finds suggests similar dates.
Most of the prehistoric sites along Brushy Creek suggest they were camping grounds for the nomadic tribes. The name often given to these tribes of Indians was Tonkawas. Other later Indian tribes that lived in Williamson County were Lipan Apaches, Comanches, and Tawakonis of Caddoan stock.
William Walsh (1837-1908) founded the Round Rock White Lime Company in 1896 and purchased hundreds of acres of land, much of it along Brushy Creek east of Cedar Park. It became the property known as the Walsh Brothers Ranch. Today the site of the 1938 skeletal find is owned by his great-grandson Chris Walsh.
The Alexander Stuart Walker ranch, also known as Block House/Tumlinson Fort, is a few miles up Brushy Creek. That property contained more than fifty documented Indian midden sites, and thousands of arrow points and flint tools.
Another William Walsh property site on Lake Creek in Round Rock was excavated by Roy Bedichek for The University of Texas in 1918. Two Indian mounds contained more than 1,500 artifacts including 700 projectile points (arrowheads), 74 axes, and 150 scrapers for skin dressing.
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