MARATHON

“ Fort Peña Colorado , the last active fort in this area , on the old Comanche Trail , about 4 miles to the Southwest was established in 1879 .

“ Marathon was founded in 1881 . Named by an old sea captain , A . E . Shepard , for the plain of Marathon , in Greece , of which the hills here reminded him .

“ Cradle of West Texas Cattle Industry . Among the first noted ranchers here were Mayer M . Halff and brother , owners of the famous Circle Dot brand . “ Original gateway to the Big Bend National Park .”

It was in fact Mayer Halff and his brother , Solomon , who leased the land at Rainbow Springs to the U . S . military as a camp . Halff ’ s ranch near Peña Colorado was 100,000 acres , but his total holdings were over 1,000,000 acres and extended in scattered parcels from west of San Antonio into eastern New Mexico .

Born in 1836 in Alsace , France , to a family of cattle industry workers , Halff came to the United States in 1851 to join his older brother Adolphe in Galveston . When his brother was lost at sea in a shipwreck in 1856 , Solomon emigrated to join his older brother and the two became business partners .

Halff was a prominent member of the Jewish community in Texas . At one time he was the third-largest cattle owner in the state . He was also the owner of the Quien Sabe ranch near Midland , which was a holding of 300,000 acres and one of the largest remaining open range ranches in the Southwest . He died in 1905 .

( Highway 90 , one mile east of Marathon , 1965 )

Cenizo Spring 2021

Mayer Halff