“That the said Otto Peterles shall not himself
or permit the same to be done by anyone holding
title or possession by, through or under him, keep
for sale as a beverage… upon the premises here-
in conveyed any spirituous or intoxicating liquors
under a forfeiture of the title to the premises as
above described to the grantor…”
In other words, the sale or trade of alcohol on
the property would cause ownership of the prop-
erty to revert to Ben Shepard – though there are
no records indicating that this ever happened, in
spite of the proliferation of saloons over the next
decade.
This is possibly due to the fact that in 1904
every lot in Marathon was declared delinquent
for state taxes for the years 1899 to 1901 by State
Comptroller J.W. Stephens, rendering the entire
town forfeited to the state. At the time all land
deals had been affected by quit-claim deeds,
which offer the recipient no guarantee that the
title to the land being purchased is free and clear
– or even that the grantor rightfully owns it.
Fortunately for the residents, John Stillwell filed
on the section as school land and then sold part
of the town to the Hess brothers and Tom
Burnham, all of whom recognized the quit-claim
deeds held by previous purchasers.
In 1887, the counties of Buchel, Foley and
Brewster were formed out of what had been one
vast Presidio County. Marathon was made the
county seat of Buchel County, but a decade later
Buchel and Foley Counties had yet to be organ-
ized. In 1897 the two were absorbed into
Brewster County, named for Henry Percy
Brewster, private secretary to Sam Houston. This
lost Marathon its status as a county seat but made
Brewster the largest county in Texas.
After establishing Iron Mountain Ranch,
Shepard imported 25,000 sheep from California
to stock the ranch, which in the fashion of the day
was unfenced. Shepherds herded the flocks pri-
marily on foot, warding off predators and mov-
ing the sheep constantly to find feed. Shepard’s
wife, Diantha Shepard, was the first woman in
Brewster County to register a brand, and though
sheep in Brewster County quickly gave way to
cattle for their hardiness and profitability, the
Shepards thrived, as evidenced by the large two-
story adobe house that still stands on Avenue D
North, complete with carriage house, which
Shepard built in 1890. It was renovated in 1994
and operated as an inn by Russ Tidwell. Captain
Shepard’s Inn has recently been purchased by the
Gage Hotel.
When Fort Peña Colorado was decommis-
sioned in 1893, the settlers there began to move
into the town. With the advent of the guayule
rubber processing plant in 1909, the only domes-
tic rubber production in the United States,
Marathon became economically the strongest
settlement of the half-dozen towns that once dot-
ted the railroad tracks between Alpine and
Sanderson. Soon the mines at Boquillas and
Terlingua were shipping their products to
Marathon, and the town slowly absorbed the
other settlements around it, until it remained the
only town between Alpine and Sanderson.
Whether Capt. Albion Shepard had an
inkling that Marathon might be the town to out-
last the booms and busts of the early 20th centu-
ry is unknown; but his affection for and efforts to
establish and strengthen the little hamlet nestled
in the hills that so resembled Greece gave
Marathon a beginning that has allowed it to sur-
vive that first tumultuous century and to greet the
present one with head held high.
HARPER ’ S
Hardware
Presidio’s favorite hardware store for almost a century
tools • plumbing supplies • home & garden
Monday - Saturday 7:30 am to 6 pm
701 O’Reilly Street • Presidio • 432-229-3256
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Fort Davis, Texas
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