RAILROADS IN THE
BIG BEND
Just as the coastline and rivers of East
Texas created its town sites, so the railroad
created a lifeline for Big Bend settlement.
Prior to 1882, the only major
settlements in the Big Bend region were
the small village of Presidio, at La Junta,
and the town of Fort Davis, which was
protected by the soldiers stationed at the
military post there. With the coming of
the railroad, however, the towns of
Sanderson, Marathon, Alpine, Marfa
and Valentine all came into existence.
The town of Alpine can trace its origins
to when the first railroad workers
set up their tents in 1882 along the
spring-fed creek which ran through the
area. For a short time the tent settlement
was named Osborne, after the
railroad engineer on duty when the
tracks were laid. However, the primary
water source for the trains was on property
owned by Daniel and Thomas
Murphy, of Fort Davis, and later that
year the railroad agreed to rename the
settlement “Murphyville” in exchange
for rights to Murphy’s Spring. The
town grew slowly but steadily and by
1888 had “a dozen houses, three
saloons, a hotel and rooming house, a
livery stable, a butcher shop and a
drugstore, which also housed the post
office” (Clifford B. Casey, Handbook of
Texas). That same year, the residents
petitioned the U.S. Postal Service and
officially got the name of the town
changed to Alpine. In 1920, Alpine
changed dramatically with the opening
of Sul Ross State Normal College, and
today, with a population of around
6,000, it is the educational, banking,
tourism, government and commercial
center of the Big Bend.
The town of Marathon also began
in 1882, when railroad track-layers
reached the area and pitched a camp
some four miles north of the Army post
and mountain spring located at Camp
Peña Colorado. Railroad surveyor
Albion Shepard, who had previously
been a sailor, bought land in the area
and petitioned for a post office, which
was built the following year. Shepard
named the site Marathon because the
terrain reminded him of Marathon,
Greece. The windmill in town was the
first jail – drunks and other minor
wrongdoers were shackled to one of its
legs, while more serious criminals were
taken to Alpine. Marathon quickly
became the principal cattle- and oreshipping
point in the region. As the primary
“gateway” to the Big Bend
National Park, tourism is now an
important addition to the economy of
Marathon.
The town of Marfa was established
as a water and freight stop for the
GH&SA Railroad in 1882. According
to local tradition, the wife of a railroad
executive was reading The Brothers
Karamazov and suggested the name
Marfa from a character (Marfa
Ignatyevna) in the Dostoyevsky novel.
The post office bearing that name was
established the following year. In 1885, a
local land developer built a magnificent
three-story Renaissance-style courthouse
to attract settlers, and the seat of
Presidio county was moved from Fort
Davis to Marfa that same year. In 1911,
the U.S. Army established Camp
Marfa, which in 1930 became Fort D.
A. Russell. During World War II,
Marfa Army Air Field was built to train
pilots and Fort D. A. Russell was
enlarged to house German prisoners of
war. Due to the presence of the military,
Marfa’s population peaked at around
5,000 in 1945. The population dropped
dramatically when the military closed
the bases the following year. Since then,
however, Marfa has rebounded due to
tourism and the establishment of a
major Border Patrol center there and
has a population of around 2,000.
The town of Valentine was established
in 1882 and was named for the
day that the railroad crews arrived
there – Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day. The
post office was established in 1886. The
population peaked at around 600 in the
1920s, but on Aug. 16, 1931, the town
was severely damaged by 6.0 magnitude
earthquake, the strongest earthquake
ever recorded in Texas. No one
was killed, but every building in town
was damaged to some extent. The
town continues to be a cattle-shipping
point for local ranchers and presently
has a population of around 200.
The town of Sanderson came into
existence when railroad workers arrived
and built a roundhouse there in 1882.
Originally named Strobridge, it was
renamed Sander son the following year
in honor of Thomas P. Sanderson, the
engineer in charge of building that portion
of the railroad. The post office of
Sanderson was established that same
year. In 1905, the Texas legislature created
Terrell County and designated
Sanderson as the new county seat.
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MEXICANS AT NIGHT ‡ JASON BLUM ‡ TOPAZ &
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2 NIGHTS OF CAMPING & COMMUNITY
1 DAY OF MUSIC & FESTIVITIES
PRESIDIO, TEXAS
OCTOBER 28-30
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Fourth Quarter 2011
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