Marfa and Presidio County, Texas: A Social, Economic, and Cultural Study 1937 to 2008 Volume One, 1937–1989

By Cecilia Thompson and Louise S. O'Connor

Authors Louise S. O'Connor and Cecilia Thompson present a simple encyclopedic study of the Trans-Pecos area of Texas with emphasis on Presidio County

VICTORIA, Texas In their quest to complete their study and to share a better knowledge and understanding of a part of Texas that is still somewhat a frontier, authors Louise S. O'Connor and Cecilia Thompson reveal the first volume of their book "Marfa and Presidio County, Texas: A Social, Economic, and Cultural Study 1937 to 2008 Volume One, 1937 - 1989." In a book that offers a closer look at the past and the present, readers will see how a place known as a tourist area and a center of contemporary art came to be. It returns to the pre-historic era of Far West Texas and bring readers up to the present with yearly reports on the region as well as extensive formal research and personal interviews with present day people who live in Presidio County.

A case study worth reading, this book is an eye-opener for a better understanding of how this small yet historically rich land is what it is now. Packed with the economic, social, and cultural history of Presidio County; this book gives readers, both lay and the historians, a clear and complete picture of the events that lead to the preservation, industrialization, and the improvement of one of the frontiers of the United States of America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493126286

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Copyright © 2014 by Louise S. O’Connor and Cecilia Thompson, Ph.D.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 04/22/2014

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One Prewar And Wartime Era, 1937-1946

Chapter Two Postwar Adjustment, 1947-1950

Chapter Three The Drought Years, 1951-1956

Chapter Four Years Of Further Decline And The Rise Of Border Issues, 1957-1963

Chapter Five Issues In A Modern World, 1964-1970

Chapter Six More New Issues And Situations, 1971-1979

Chapter Seven The Saga Of Donald Judd, 1971-1994

Chapter Eight A Dying Town And County, 1980-1989

Appendix A Towns And Communities In Presidio County

Appendix B Cloud Seeding

Appendix C Essential Air Service (Eas)

Appendix D: Federal-Aid Highway Act Of 1944

Appendix E Drought

Appendix F Peguis Dam Study

Appendix G International Bridge

Appendix H Ost Office Receipts: 1920-1961

Appendix I Amendments To The Texas Constitution In 1965

Appendix J Rootplowing

Appendix K The Rio Conchos River

Appendix L Predator Control

Appendix M Timeline Of Donald Judd’s Activities In Marfa

Glossary

Endnotes

To the new pioneers:

The early pioneers came to find a new land to graze their cattle. The new pioneers have come to find a new land to refresh their spirits and their creative talents.

The first were feeding their cattle and the latest are feeding their souls.

—

Presidio County is not only the most historical part of the Big Bend, but it is just as scenic and as interesting. A few of the features are the The Rimrock, Capote Falls, Pinto Canyon, Window in Big Bend Basin, Shafter and the Presidio Valley. Ojinaga in Mexico, just across from Presidio join many other sights. Marfa is the county seat, the home of the Highland Hereford Association and it is a darn good town. Come and see!

—From a Glass Negative, Marfa and Presidio County Museum.

A most singular country.

—Unknown Parry, 1852

Margins for error must be allowed for historical reporting.

—Cecilia Thompson

Acknowledgments

The authors are incredibly grateful to Vicente Celis, Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, Texas; the Marfa Public Library; the Marfa and Presidio County Museum; the Shannon Family Collection; the Evans Family Collection; the Brite-White Family Collection, Armando Vasquez and the Vasquez Family of Casa Piedra; Lee Bennett and the Marfa Junior Historians; Joe Cabazuelas and the Blackwell School; John Poindexter and Cibolo Creek Ranch; Georgie Lee Jones Kahl; the Glider Association; and all of the people who shared their history, feelings and thoughts with us. We especially want to recognize our hardworking assistants, Marilyn Sanders McCrory, who kindly volunteered to assist and has done a wonderful job for us; Liz Parker; Evelyn Luciani; Jenny Lynn Hamilton; Terry Bishop of Presidio and Edmundo Nieto of Presidio; David and Kay Crum. A special thanks to our interviewees and most of all, Shere Whitley, who spent endless days assisting both of us, far above the call of duty. To her we are eternally grateful for her loyalty, good humor, enthusiasm, patience, astute observations and honesty in the face of possible harm when she gave answers we didn’t like. Also for doing our tea ceremonies in the afternoons and, most of all, for just being the greatest in all ways. To Alison Tartt, for superb editorial guidance on all of this.

Sincere gratitude and thanks go to the staff of Wexford Publishing, Victoria—Leah Glaze, Tommy Tijerina, and Liz Heiser for their devotion above and beyond the call of duty to getting this leviathan done. All three should be given purple hearts for their service to the cause.

Foreword

Cecilia Thompson’s two-volume History of Marfa and Presidio County, published in 1985 by the Presidio County Historical Commission, occupies a significant place in the historiography of the Big Bend. Earlier histories, such as Carlysle Graham Raht’s Romance of the Davis Mountains and the Big Bend Country, Barry Scobee’s several volumes about Fort Davis, and Alice Skillman’s Taming the Big Bend, drew almost exclusively on the memories of early settlers and the legends that they recounted. Dr. Thompson’s book was firmly grounded in documentary evidence. She brought her own heritage and the stories she heard growing up to the task—her grandfather, S.A. Thompson, was a pioneer surveyor and rancher in Presidio County—but she also brought her scholarly training and her experience as a university professor, and she painstakingly read all of the published sources and every manuscript source about the Big Bend that she could lay her hands on, including the records at Fort Davis National Historic Site; most of the county records in the Presidio County court house; and every surviving copy of every newspaper published in Marfa between 1887 and 1946. As a result, her first two volumes told a much broader and more inclusive story than the earlier publications. She explained the economic underpinnings of the region, with its dependence on national trends in the beef and wool industries, and she appreciated the importance of the Hispanic population of the Big Bend and its contribution to the region’s culture.

Thompson’s first two volumes ended in 1946. The ensuing years saw many changes in the Big Bend, not the least of which was the arrival of the New York artist Donald Judd in Marfa in 1972 and the subsequent development of Marfa as an international art center. When I first met Thompson in 2002, she told me how much she wanted to write a third volume of her history to chronicle these changes, but she was hindered by her failing eyesight and lack of funds for a research assistant. In 2006 Thompson met Louise O’Connor at a fortuitous Easter dinner in Marfa. O’Connor, a published historian, talented photographer, and fifth-generation Texan, felt an immediate empathy with Thompson and offered to help her complete the third volume. She enabled Thompson to hire a series of research assistants, and for the six years until Thompson’s death in 2012 at the age of 91 they were adversaries and collaborators, in O’Connor’s words, as they together interpreted the evidence they gathered about Marfa’s recent past. This volume is the result of those conversations. It tells a story of drought, decline, and rejuvenation, and the introduction of a new factor, the arts, into the story of the Big Bend. It is a fitting conclusion to what some are already calling the Big Bend trilogy.

Lonn Taylor

Fort Davis, Texas

December, 2013.

Preface

Dr. Cecilia Thompson published her two-volume History of Marfa and Presidio County, Texas, 1535-1946 in 1985, a work that was the product of scrupulous and extensive research and her love of the region.i For many years, a much-needed third volume of this work did not get written. As time went on, it became apparent that this might not happen as there was no funding and Dr. Thompson’s eyesight had begun to fail. Fate or cunning brought the two of us together at an Easter luncheon in 2006. While we chatted and got to know each other, it was learned that Cecilia felt strongly that the next volume should be done; but, because of her failing eyesight, was unable to proceed. Having developed a strong interest in the area, I offered to assist in the endeavor. On that very day, a lasting partnership of historical preservation and writing was born.

We immediately began work on this volume. The objective was to trace the history of Marfa and Presidio County from the prewartime era to the present day, a period that has seen an incredible rebirth and deserves to be studied fully. In our enthusiasm for our subject, our research led us to compile a photographic essay of Marfa, published as part of Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series.ii

The introduction to this book is dedicated to the earliest history of the region. It will be briefly revisited to give context to the continuation of its history. It will then segue into the era of 1937 to the present. Each chapter will cover the history of Marfa and Presidio County in relation to agriculture, business, environment, government, weather, and the arts. Other subject matter studied will be education, ethnic studies, land, the military, ranching, social life, transportation, communication, tourism, and the county’s contact with Mexico. It will follow the unique story of the many declines and rebirths of the county and its towns in respect to the development of the western part of Texas. Far West Texas continues to be quite different from any of the other five geographical regions of the state. On occasion, the discussion will include places and events in adjacent counties and across the border because of their importance to an isolated, sparsely settled area such as Presidio County. In order to explain how and why all of this happened, it will be necessary to show how each and every element that existed throughout time influenced, formed, and created the county and town as we now know it.

As in the previous two volumes, Marfa’s local newspaper, the Big Bend Sentinel, is the primary source for many of the chronological details. However, this volume differs from its predecessors, the previous two volumes. Much outside research has been done in the form of interviews that were held with relevant people who remember a time, an incident or place that add to the understanding of the information. We have done an extensive update of the history as much more information is now available through the Internet; and much new research has been done on the Big Bend region since volumes 1 and 2 were published.

The loss of written history has been most daunting while in pursuit of the historical preservation of Marfa and Presidio County. Much has disappeared, never to be found, leaving large holes in the studies of the region.

The Center for Big Bend Studies and their journal, The Journal for Big Bend Studies, has been a major source of information for this book. It contains papers by numerous writers of history that were of incalculable value for research.

Books too numerous to be named have been written about Presidio County and the Mexican border. They provided a source for information that could have been lost permanently. Memoirs, monographs, and the files at the Marfa and Presidio County Museum were a source of information as well as trails to follow. It is these trails that have led to making it possible to compile this volume in spite of serious loss of information and sources through the years. Writings related to the extensive photographic collection and even notations on old photographs provided many clues.

The Marfa Public Library was a never ending source of files, books, and information that led to improved research information and resources. It contained the archives of the Big Bend Sentinel and the Marfa Junior Historian files.

Needless to say, the interviews provided firsthand experiences to back up information found in written research. As always, the voices of those who lived through an era, a situation, and a time and place are invaluable.

This volume of the history of Marfa and Presidio County is necessary for a complete understanding of the region. We all know the trite saying about knowing and understanding your history to avoid making the same mistakes. It is important to know the history of the area and the development of Marfa and Presidio County from its military history, the influence of border wars and revolution, as well as its rich ranching and agricultural past. There is also included, a study of prehistoric time, peoples, and formation of the land. This is an ageless land where the past is still living and old voices still whisper. These earlier times were the glory days of ranching, now in decline as it is in many places. As Marfa and Presidio County have been discovered and are growing at a faster rate now, it is even more important to take a look at their histories.

Because of the unfortunate passing of Cecilia Thompson, my coauthor, there will be numerous statements in the book that are direct quotes or personal comments by her. We would often chat about information that only she could know, having been born and raised in the area and having returned in 1982 to live here full-time. It is unusual for one author to interview another; but as this work began at her instigation, it was necessary to make it clear when a comment was based on her unique knowledge of the region.

It has been difficult to carry on without my beloved colleague, Cecilia, as she was the inspiration for this volume and slowly but surely taught me the history of the region. We became worthy adversaries and collaborators as we moved along over the six years we spent together. We would fuss and cuss until one of us saw the wisdom of the other’s stance. I would get the look from her on more than one occasion, and I would know, as did anyone who knew her and got the look, that it was time to back down and accept her judgment on some issue. We had a wonderful time every day. She fought the good fight to get this book finished. Her insights, knowledge, and enthusiasm were invaluable.

Now she can rest in peace knowing her treasured history and knowledge of Far West Texas and her love of the region will be presented according to her wishes.

Not only is this book dedicated to the pioneers past and present, but I would also like to leave this work

In Memory of Cecilia Thompson, PhD

1920-2012

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Introduction

Texans have long had a sense of the vastness of their state. Nowhere is the vastness felt more than in the Trans-Pecos region. It contains mountains that lead into undulating plains. A most complex natural region, it contains sand hills, the Stockton Plateau, desert valleys, wooded mountain slopes, and desert grasslands. The Trans-Pecos is the only region of Texas regarded as mountainous and includes seven named peaks in elevation greater than eight thousand feet. National parks include the Big Bend National Park, the Amistad National Recreation Area, and the Big Bend Ranch State Park. The region includes at least 268 grass species and 447 species of woody plants. The vegetation and wildlife has changed greatly over the last 120 years mostly due to livestock grazing and the suppression of fire, combined with frequent drought.iii

Presidio County is located in the Trans-Pecos and Big Bend areas of Far West Texas. The Trans-Pecos is considered to be the area west of the Pecos River, bounded by the Rio Grande on the south and west and by the thirty-second parallel on the border with New Mexico. It constitutes about eleven percent of Texas and has little in common with the rest of the state. Less populated than the remainder of Texas, it contains the most varied, spectacular, and distinctive scenery in the state of Texas. Most of the area was once covered by vast seas, and sea fossils can be found in most areas of the Trans-Pecos. It has higher elevations and greater local relief than found elsewhere in Texas.iv

The Guadalupe Mountains, the Franklin Mountains, the Delaware Mountains, and the Davis Mountains are the principal ranges in the Trans-Pecos. Elevations range from 2,000 feet in the Big Bend region to 6,700 feet average and the Guadalupe Peak rises 8,751 feet. Most areas lie in the four thousand feet range. Other notable ranges are El Capitan, Shumard, Bartlett, and Pine Top. Mount Emory in the Chisos and Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains are also high peaks at 7,825 and 8,382 feet respectively. Upland soils are mostly light reddish brown to brown clay loams, clays and sands over reddish, loamy to clayey, calcareous, gypsic or saline subsoils, with sizeable areas of deep sands.v

Most of the region is true desert, the northern part of the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico. Precipitation varies greatly throughout the region. Less precipitation occurs the farther west and inland one travels from the Gulf of Mexico. It contains the highest mean annual solar radiation in the United States and temperatures vary greatly from winter to summer.

Dense woodlands occupy the northern parts of the Trans-Pecos around the Davis Mountains while the southernmost reaches have the least vegetation and rain. Between the Quitman Mountains and Presidio, there is almost no water flowing in the rivers, and this is being considerably exacerbated by heavy usage of water for irrigation. Agriculture is an ever-deepening threat to the water depleted region. It is noted that only two percent of the cattle in Texas are in the Trans-Pecos region.

There are many natural springs, and the groundwater is located in bolsons that are extremely slow to recharge, if they recharge at all. The hydrology of the region is also of interest since most of it is characterized by internal drainage that remains in large bolsons of water. The hydrology of the region is characterized by internal drainage when most of the water evaporates and the remainder seeps into the basin to fill recharge aquifers.vi

Mining has been of consequence in the Trans-Pecos since the early settlement times and continues to a limited extent in certain areas like Shafter, Texas, near Presidio.vii Once again, the advisability of mining in the region is being questioned as the silver mines near Shafter have been reopened. Water usage and dumping once again being the issues.

The geology of the region is some of the most exciting in the state. This is due to the Trans-Pecos area having experienced the Laramide Orogeny that resulted in the basin and range topography. It also contains extensive tertiary volcanism and faulting.viii

The Big Bend area is defined as a region of southwest Texas on the Mexican border in a triangle formed by a bend in the Rio Grande. The area includes deep river canyons, desert wilderness, mountains rising to 7,825 feet.ix It is the most seismically active region of Texas and contains the Big Bend National Park and the adjoining Big Bend Ranch State Park.x

In 1850, Presidio County was first designated by an act of the legislature. In 1875, Texas and the United States settled the matter of the northern and western boundaries of Texas as a part of Henry Clay’s Compromise of 1850. By this treaty Texas was paid $10,000,000 for her disputed claims and the state legislature agreed to the boundary.xi

By passage of the Act of 1850, it was possible for the first time to define the boundaries of Trans-Pecos Texas. Those boundaries were the Pecos River on the east, the thirty-second degree of north latitude on the north and the Rio Grande on the south and west. During the same year the Trans-Pecos was divided into two counties of El Paso and Presidio.xii

Presidio County was organized as a county of twelve thousand square miles—making it the largest in the United States at that time. It is defined by contrasting landforms—from the high Chihuahuan Desert to lofty mountain ranges and from rocky canyons to the grasslands of the Marfa Plateau.xiii It was established from Bexar County in 1850. Fort Leaton became the county seat, containing twelve thousand square miles at the time.

In the 1880s, significant amounts of Presidio County were carved away to form Jeff Davis and Brewster Counties, but Presidio County still remained the fourth largest county in Texas. Before this division, the county seat of Presidio County was Fort Davis. Its present boundaries are Brewster County on the east, on the north by Jeff Davis County, and on the south and east by the Rio Grande and Mexico. The center of the county lies at 30°30¢ north latitude and 104°15¢ west longitude. Presidio County comprises 3,857 square miles. The average rainfall is twelve inches (in a really good year), and the temperatures can average from thirty-three degrees in January to over a hundred degrees in the summer months. The county has no oil or gas production, and the county currently contains around 7,304 people. It is considered one of the poorest counties in the United States.

When the county was first organized, settlement was concentrated along the Rio Grande. A major center was the area around the present town of Presidio, long known as La Junta de los Rios because of its location at the juncture of the Rio Conchos and the Rio Grande. It is thought to be the earliest known, continuously cultivated farmland in the United States.xiv Several miles downstream of La Junta was Fort Leaton, a trading post and fortification as well as the first county seat.

As traders, cattlemen, and other newcomers trickled into the area, communities formed around ranching headquarters such as the Spencer Ranch, the Faver Ranch, El Fortín del Cíbolo, and the stage stop at La Limpia in current Jeff Davis County as well as the infamous Fort Leaton.

Marfa, the present county seat, was established in 1883 as a water stop and freight headquarters for the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railway. Hanna Maria Strobridge, the wife of railroad engineer James Harvey Strobridge, suggested the unusual name of the stop, taken from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov—giving Marfa its unusual name.xv Mrs. Strobridge was one of the persons to drive the golden spike when the rail lines met from east to west.xvi It is rumored that she also named other places such as Marathon and Odessa.

By 1885, Marfa had one or two saloons, a hotel and a general merchandise store—Humphris and Company. Poker bets in the saloons were often made with deeds to town lots. Traveling salesmen, known as drummers, established their headquarters in the St. George Hotel and made stagecoach trips to Shafter, Fort Davis, Valentine, and Presidio to show their wares. Humphris and Company’s store also contained the bank, the post office (established in 1883), and a restaurant. In 1885, Marfa replaced Fort Davis as the Presidio County seat; and in July of that year, the public records were moved from Fort Davis to Marfa. Also in 1885, a three-story Renaissance-revival courthouse was built at Marfa at a cost of $60,000. In the early 1990s, it still housed county offices. In 1885 and 1886, Marfa gained churches, a school and a newspaper. C. M. Jennings began publishing the New Era, the town’s first weekly newspaper, in 1886. Over the years, it changed hands several times until the weekly finally merged with the Big Bend Sentinel, owned and published by Remer C. Mecklin in 1928.xvii

A description of the lesser-known towns and communities in Presidio County can be found in appendix A.

In 1882, the first newspaper was founded in Presidio County. Since then, there have been seven newspapers in Marfa and six in Presidio. In 1882, Presidio consisted of what is now the three counties of Jeff Davis, Brewster and Presidio. The first newspaper was the Apache Rocket printed in Fort Davis. It was first established on May 17, 1882. It was then bought by James Kibbee on May 31, 1884 and the name was changed to Presidio County News. The New Era was begun in Marfa in 1886 by C. M. Jennings. In the early 1890s, O. L. Niccolls bought the New Era and was editor until 1906. Henry Schultze then bought the newspaper and kept it for two years when it was bought by L. C. Brite. R. B. Smith was his editor. For a time, there was a constant and frequent turnover of editors.

There then was a new rival newspaper in town, the Big Bend Sentinel. Later, the two newspapers consolidated into The Sentinel.

The New Era had had competition before from the Presidio County Light in 1913. There were numerous consolidations of newspapers over the years. The arrival of the army around World War I stimulated the establishment of several newspapers. The Saber was printed for soldiers in Presidio County and in 1919, the newspaper was The Stars and Stripes. In 1924, the soldiers stationed in Marfa began the Black Hawk. The Highland Bulletin was begun as a cattleman’s weekly. The Bulletin went out of business in 1924. Juan Rivera thought of starting a Spanish language newspaper, La Voz de Marfa, but it did not succeed.

The first newspaper in Presidio, Texas was not established until January 28, 1926. Edwin Moss began the Presidio newspaper and called it Border Times. The actual printing of the paper was done in Marfa by the New Era Publishing Company. This newspaper lasted only a few months. Next, the Presidio Journal was founded by S. A. Pipes on February 3, 1928. The Marfa Publishing Company bought it in 1935. Ralph England became the editor, but lost the position soon after that. The publication rights to this newspaper were suspended and England became the correspondent for the Big Bend Sentinel.

The first edition of the Presidio International began in November of 1947. In June 1961, Juan Rivera, the publisher discontinued the International and began the Presidio Voice. The Voice was supposed to come out every other month, but since it was hand-set and Mr. Rivera was almost eighty years old, the actual publication dates varied erratically. The years 1953 to 1969 were the only surviving files found from The Presidio International and The Presidio Voice. The rest of the archives appear to have been lost. The main concerns of the south part of the county are based in international traffic and exchange, farming, especially cotton, fruits and vegetables, its connection to Ojinaga and the Rio Grande, cattle crossings and drug-related issues. There is also frequent mention of the drastic changes along the border towns due to new immigration laws and drug trafficking. The last newspaper to be founded in Presidio had a very short life—Presidio Jimplicute.

In 1928, the Big Bend Sentinel, became the last newspaper to survive and does survive to this day. It was established by Remer C. Mecklin. It went through a number of owners over the years until it was finally bought by Rosario and Robert Halpern of Marfa in 1993.xviii

In 1900, the population of Marfa was nine hundred. Eventually the town had literary clubs, fraternal organizations, telephone service, and a bank. By 1920, Marfa reported 3,553 residents.xix

When the military came in, it brought an unusual amount of contact with the outside world for an isolated frontier culture. The military men married into the women of the town, and this changed society very quickly. This created a society in the early days that was much more receptive to change and outside ways. Marfa developed into a more sophisticated culture than one would expect on a frontier. When the military left, the effect was just as profound in that it caused serious economic problems after the loss. It could also be said that there was not only loss of economic support but also a loss of friends and a return to a less-exciting way of life.

Within a span of twenty years, from the early 1880s to the early 1900s, the county progressed from a wilderness area inhabited by a few hardy pioneers to a place where citizens could indulge in the mid-American pastime of sipping sodas on Highland Avenue in Marfa.xx However, the real change in Presidio County came after 1914 when farmers began growing cotton.

As Presidio County entered the 1930s, it was not deeply affected by the Great Depression until the summer of 1932 when the drought, unemployment, and the closing of Fort D. A. Russell left the economy of the county depressed. Economic recovery began by 1936 as new businesses opened, postal receipts increased, and Fort D. A. Russell and the Presidio Mine at Shafter reopened.xxi Silver mining contributed greatly to the economy of the county from the 1880s to the 1940s.xxii

Today Presidio County, after a serious economic drop in the postwar era, is once again stabilizing and coming back to life. It continues to be one of the lowest-income counties in the state, but willingness to change with the times will determine its future growth and security.

Early Inhabitants

The earliest residents of the area that encompasses present-day Presidio County were the indigenous hunter-gatherers living in a continuum for twelve thousand years, beginning with the Clovis hunters. These early people left petroglyphs and pictographs in rock shelters, boulder falls, and on canyon walls throughout the Trans-Pecos region.xxiii Eventually, other groups began to farm. The land along these rivers was fertile; as a consequence, pueblos were established along the Rio Grande and the Rio Concho. Nomadic hunters and gatherers continued to live there, adjacent to the agricultural settlements.xxiv

Since La Junta was located on an ancient and heavily traveled north-south trade route, its settlers absorbed the cultures of the many travelers. The Julimes and Junames were the principal tribes that inhabited the area when Cabeza de Vaca and his companions, the first Spaniards, arrived in 1535. These and other indigenous groups were either absorbed by the new Spanish population or wiped out in subsequent conflicts.xxv

The arrival of the Spanish marked the beginning of the region’s modern history, which stretches over three major eras: the Spanish Period (1536-1821), the Mexican Period (1821-1848), and the American Period (1848 to the present). It should be noted that the Mexican period stretches to 1848, when the Mexican War ended and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo recognized the 1846 annexation of Texas to the United States.

In early March 1598, Juan de Oñate led an expedition for the Spanish crown of five hundred people and thousands of head of livestock across the Chihuahuan Desert. When they arrived at the banks of the Rio Grande in the Elizario area, it became their salvation after enduring many hardships on their fifty-day journey. Oñate ordered a day of thanksgiving for the survival of the expedition, celebrated on April 30, 1598, well before the Jamestown Colony of Virginia was established in 1607.xxvi

The Spanish established seven missions at pueblos in the La Junta area and in 1683, Father Nicolaás López celebrated the first Christmas Mass ever observed in Texas. However, Spanish efforts to Christianize the Indians of La Junta ultimately failed, and the warlike Apaches and Comanches discouraged further settlement. The latter came from the Great Plains and raided large areas of sparsely populated West Texas. The Apaches, who lived in the Davis Mountains and in New Mexico, did the same. The two tribes were bitter enemies.xxvii

However, as one scholar warns, it is unwise to make generalizations about indigenous tribes and their relationship with the Spaniards: By the latter eighteenth century Spaniards knew Apaches in many contradictory roles on this frontier: as vengeful foes and rapacious raiders; as allies, indispensable scouts, guides and couriers; as residents—though often erratic—of presidial communities and occasionally missions; as peaceful traders and sometimes poachers. Those contradictions posed a grave dilemma for Apaches and Spaniards at that time. They pose a tremendous challenge to our historical understanding now.xxviii

The Jumano Indian tribe is considered the indigenous tribe of the Presidio County area, but their prehistoric roots are uncertain. They hunted with bow and arrow and traded with the early farming villages in the region for produce. For a time, after the beginning of the Spanish era, they became middlemen, supplying Spanish goods and horses to the tribes of central, southern, and eastern Texas. The Jumanos eventually lost their territory to the Apaches and were absorbed into other tribes.xxix

There are no substantial records of the Jumano language and their linguistic identity has been the subject of considerable debate. A recent study has argued that the Jumanos spoke a Tanoan language. If they did, this would link them with the eastern Pueblos of New Mexico and would imply that their ancestral ties lay within or near the Rio Grande Valley. Although few direct connections between historic and prehistoric sites have been demonstrated, clues of geographical distribution and cultural similarity suggest that the Jumanos were descendants of a prehistoric Jornada Mogollon population indigenous to this region. The Jumanos hunted with bow and arrow and supplied corn, dried squashes, beans, and other produce from the farming villages in exchange for pelts, meat, and other buffalo products. They also traded such items as piñon, mesquite beans, and cactus fruit.xxx

Documentary evidence focuses three geographical regions for the Jumanos: Nueva Vizcaya, New Mexico, and Texas. The Coronado expedition found Apaches and Teyas at war in the plains east of the northern Pueblo villages in what is now Texas. The Teyas may have been Jumanos.

As the Apaches took control of the region of West Texas, the Jumanos moved to New Mexico, others to the San Angelo area. The Apaches also occupied the Guadalupe Mountains. The Jumanos became middlemen in supplying Spanish goods and horses to the tribes of central, southern, and eastern Texas. They had long been traders with farmers in the Rio Grande Valley and engaged in reciprocal activities in the region. As the Apaches moved into the region, they competed with the Jumanos for hunting and trade. Their war with the Apaches was for defense as well as for control of trade. Eventually, the Jumanos had to retreat. They had lost their territory and failed to get assistance from the Spanish. Over time, they became incorporated into other Indian bands.xxxi

Permanent Anglo Settlement

In spite of the dangers from warlike Indians, the Chihuahuan Trail opened in 1839 as a trade route from Mexico across Presidio County and north to Missouri. The Chihuahuan Trail is a millennia-old corridor for human passage across the northern Chihuahua Desert. Some 550 miles long, the trail connects Chihuahua with Santa Fe. It devolved during the eighteenth and nineteenth century from the northern segment of the main artery of the old 1,500-mile long Camino Real, a Spanish roadway that began at Mexico City and ended in Santa Fe. After crossing at El Paso, the original trail led northward for some fifty miles through the desert valley, between the range of hills on the west and the Shelter Mountains on the west. It followed the Rio Grande upstream some forty-five miles to Juarez and El Paso. The other branch veered northeast for roughly forty-five miles to the south bank of the river. Today the trail lies beneath or beside Mexico’s Federal Highway 45.

After Texas joined the Union in 1846, many began to realize the economic potential of all parts of the state. Ben Leaton and Milton Faver were the first true Anglo settlers of the area.xxxii They created and lived in feudal-like estates in Presidio County that were not necessarily modeled after the European ones but were markedly similar in execution with a Texas twist.

Ben Leaton

Throughout this story of Ben Leaton, John Burgess, and John Spencer, you will see numerous conflicting versions. There is no way to determine which is correct, but all versions lead to an explanation of one kind or another of their stories. There will be duplications and conflicting versions throughout all their stories. It will be necessary to present them that way.

The beginnings of the story of Leaton, Burgess and Spencer all begin with the acquisition of the Ronquillo Grant by Juana Pedrasa in 1833. Hippolita Acosta accepted the offer to sell the grant that encompassed most of what is now Presidio County in 1833. It is rumored that she was Ronquillo’s daughter.

John Burgess, along with John Spencer and Ben Leaton, laid plans to establish themselves at La Junta. All three acquired property on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, opposite Presidio del Norte. They married Mexican women and founded clans that inhabited the Big Bend for several generations. The fort was built five miles down the river from present day Presidio, Texas. All engaged in questionable commerce with the Comanches and Apaches. This activity prompted Mexican officials to protest to the commander of the new U.S. military post at Franklin, across the river from El Paso del Norte.

Leaton’s history is clouded. His birthplace, his youth, how he got to Big Bend, how old he was, and where he was buried remain unanswered. He was the leader of the first group of American settlers to come to Presidio, Texas. He was a member of the Doniphan group, led by Colonel Doniphan in 1847 who led the Missouri Volunteers. This group attacked the Mexican Army around Chihuahua City in Mexico.

The editor of The Diary and Letters of Josiah Gregg described Leaton as a desperado who committed outrages. It is not known if he detached from the group and began a life of crime on his own. Another story states that a small group journeyed to Presidio del Norte after the war that included Ben Leaton. Still another source says that Leaton, Burgess, and Spencer were all Mexican War veterans and decided to establish a mercantile business in Presidio.

Rumor number two starts with the statement by someone in Presidio that Juana Pedrasa was twenty-one and lived in Chihuahua City with her family before Ben Leaton arrived there in the 1840s. A curious set of circumstances apparently brought Leaton and Pedrasa together in the late 1840s. Pedrasa had acquired the grant from Hippolita Acosta in 1833, the title was not validated then, but she did not discover that for a number of years. She and Leaton were married by 1848 and moved to Fort Leaton with their three children. Here again, there is conjecture as to whether they were legally married, what man was the children’s father, and was she married before. What is true and what isn’t will probably never be discovered. As mentioned before, there are several conflicting stories mainly regarding marriages among Leaton and Pedrasa and stories that they were and were not married, the children were and were not his, she had been married in Mexico and had not been married in Mexico, and the children were not legitimate in the old sense—they were born out of wedlock.

Ben Leaton could have bought up land scripts for a legal right to the land. Since the land he desired had to be surveyed before he could be given rights to it and the property being so far away from the nearest surveyor or state land office, he chose to acquire it by illegal means.xxxiii

The alcalde gave the grant to a long-dead person and then forged the transfer of the land to Leaton. Headright laws only benefited someone who had arrived in Texas before 1842. The use of land script was, at this time, a dubious proposition across the board.xxxiv

Leaton was only interested in acquiring the land and chose to work out the details later. He managed to acquire the large Ronquillo Grant through these methods. The Ronquillo Land Grant, now part of Presidio, Brewster, and Jeff Davis Counties, became important more than thirty years later when John Spencer discovered silver there in 1880.xxxv In 1832, the Mexican government awarded Lieutenant Colonel José Ygnacio Ronquillo a 2,345-square-mile grant of land in the La Junta area. He sold it that year to Hippolita Acosta, who sold it to Juana Pedrasa in 1833.xxxvi When the United States was awarded their property on the left side of the Rio Grande by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the three men moved their mercantile business to the American side of the river—present-day Presidio.

The first American settlement in Presidio was launched by Leaton, Spencer, and Burgess who probably had received word that the Chihuahua trade would soon be on the Chihuahua Trail leading to San Antonio and the Texas Gulf area. This trail led directly in its path.

In 1849, Texas was awarded Presidio County. In August of that year, Ben Leaton was awarded the El Fortín property. This land also formerly belonged to Juan Bustillos. It appears, however, that this land was obtained fraudulently by a title that was drawn up by Cesario Herrera and constituted the Bustillo Grant. The Bustillo Grant was found to be void when this land passed to the United States.

The land was not legally transferred and recorded until 1851, when Leaton was probably already dead. The customary conditions of the times were such: a four-year occupation of the land, constructing improvements and manning it with enough people to protect the property. All these requirements were forged and appeared legal.xxxvii There was also no law of Texas or the United States in La Junta. There wasn’t even a road into the United States from there.xxxviii

John Coffee Hays, former Texas Ranger, mapped the route between Chihuahua to San Antonio and arrived at Fort Leaton to acquire provisions. Apparently, Fort Leaton was well established at that time. Leaton’s style of living approached baronial.

Soon, Leaton ran off the Mexican farmers then occupying the land, probably with the use of firearms. In 1849, these farmers wrote the governor of Chihuahua for relief from this situation, but he was unresponsive. They had no title papers, and as we know, by hook or crook, he managed to put together his holdings.xxxix This persistent lack of proper titles, to this day, causes problem with the understanding of who owns what land.

Leaton, as a U.S. citizen living on the Texas side of the river, was beyond the governor’s jurisdiction. Fort Leaton was an official headquarters of the U.S. Army in this time and served both the public and private enterprises of the region.xl After constructing the trading post, Leaton made several trips to San Antonio to hopefully legitimize his fraudulent land titles. In 1851, on his third trip, accompanied by his family and Edward Hall, he died of yellow fever. Upon Leaton’s death, he left his property and possessions to Pedrasa and their three children.

However, Leaton was in debt when he died. The fort passed to the holder of the mortgage, John Burgess. Also, following his death, an immaculate postmortem marriage had to be performed to give Pedrasa the title of widow and ensure that she could inherit Leaton’s estate. Pedrasa soon married Edward Hall in 1852, and they returned to the fort some time between 1856 and 1860 to reopen the trading post. Their family continued to live in Fort Leaton and operate it as a trading post until the 1860s. Needing money, Hall secured a cash loan from John Burgess, using the fraudulent Fort Leaton mortgage as collateral. When Hall defaulted on the loan, he refused to relinquish the property.

In 1864, Burgess managed to acquire clear title to the property and sent a group of men to evict the Halls. At some point during the encounter, Edward Hall was shot and killed. Burgess was able to move his family into the fort afterwards; but in 1876, an angry William Leaton, (conflicting year) the youngest son of Ben Leaton and Juana Pedrasa, shot and killed Burgess. Despite Burgess’s untimely death, his family continued to occupy Fort Leaton for the next fifty years.xli Edward Hall also had a bad reputation in the region. He was controversial and considered unsavory along the border.

The fort also served as the first seat of the unorganized Presidio County. Although Fort Leaton was not a military fort, it was the lone outpost of defense along the 450-mile stretch of the Rio Grande from Fort Duncan at Eagle Pass to Fort Quitman southeast of El Paso.xlii As a result of financial difficulties, a