Posts

Corral at the tracks, Marathon, Texas

, ,

What is: Marathon Texas, The train doesnt stop anymore and the corral and cattle chute are empty. A dusty little ranch town is being turned into a new tourist destination.

What was: Marathon was founded after the Southern Pacific railroad came through Texas in 1882 after threats of Comanche and Apache attacks were squelched in the region. Marathon was a major shipping center for cattle. One rancher ran as many as 25,000 head of cattle in the open range around Marathon. The train also picked up silver, zinc and quicksilver. Around World War I it also had a processing plant for a desert shrub that was used to make rubber. The town had its own newspaper, a bank, several mercantile stores, and a bustling main street. Until recently Marathon was a string of empty storefronts with tumbleweed blowing across the highway and the trains passing through.

 

/0 Comments/by

Terlingua Ghost Town, Texas

, ,

What is: Terlingua Ghost Town, Texas.  Abandoned and crumbling adobe and rock houses from the mining town of Terlingua, TX. Today official population 58, an artists community and Texas’ most visited ghost town. They say “Stop by, sip a cool drink, enjoy the shade of our front porch, and hang out. You’ll go home with some stories to tell.” Home of the national chili cookoff that draws thousands every year.

What was: In the mid 1800s cinnabar was discovered here. It is the key element from which metal mercury is extracted. For a period of time in the early 1900s it was the largest area producing mercury in the United States and the company installed a 20 ton Scott furnance to advance its industrialization and productivity . Prior to the use of vehicles in the early 1930s, mule-drawn wagon trains delivered the quicksilver to the railroad at Alpine, Texas. The Chisos Mining Company ran the “large general store, provided a company doctor, operated the post office, the Chisos Hotel, a commissary, erratic telephone service, dependable water service, and a school. Later, it would also operate a gasoline station, a theater, and a confectionary shop. Growing to a population of close to 2000 people. It was estimated that by 1934 the company had sold over $12 million in mercury and one employee claimed the company averaged daily profits of $2,000 during the early war years.” (source: legendsofamerica.comhttps://www.legendsofamerica.com/tx-terlingua/). It closed in 1945 after World War II.

/0 Comments/by

Contrabando, Texas

, ,

What is: a church and a few other buildings with a dirt road, west of Lajitas Texas on Texas Highway 170 (considered one of the most beautiful drives in America)

What was: Contrabando is a ghost town within the Big Bend Ranch State Park. The Contrabando consisted of an original adobe building called ‘La Casita’ and several later additions that became part of the Contrabando during its use as a movie set. The movie set was constructed in 1985 for the Roy Clark film Uphill all the Way. The site has been used as a set for nine movies including John Sayles’ 1996 movie Lone Star; as well as Dead Man’s Walk and Streets of Laredo, which were part of the Lonesome Dove miniseries based upon the novel by Larry McMurtry.

In September 2008, heavy rains and flooding occurred in Ojinaga, Mexico. The rain, and the ensuing release of water from local flood control structures, caused widespread flooding, and resulted in damage to the movie set buildings at the Contrabando. The original Casita was not damaged. In 2015, the buildings, except for the Casita, were removed for safety reasons.

/0 Comments/by

St Agnes Chapel, Terlingua, TX.

, ,

What is: St Agnes Chapel, Terlingua, TX…the ghost town of Terlingua Texas, a small single and simple one room adobe church,  in some disrepair, with plain hard wooden benches, a worn pine floor, simple altar and stain glass windows. Apparently in 2016, the church got some repair work done to its adobe walls

 

What was: The ghost town of Terlingua is in the heart of the Chihuahuan Desert, one of the most rugged and hostile environments in Texas. The discovery of quicksilver in the mid-1880s turned Terlingua from a sleepy little village into a town of a thousand-plus residents. Cinnabar is a red stone from which using a chemical process, mercury is extracted.  By 1913, Terlingua had a dependable water supply, mail delivery, somewhat reliable telephone service, a hotel, and a physician. As the mining continued, by the 1930s, the town was home to 3,000 people and became the leading producer of mercury.  Slowly, however, the mines ran out of ore and closed and the town began its decline in the 1940s. In 2010 census there were 60 people officially living in the town.

In 1914, St. Agnes Church, also known as Chisos Mission, was established and became a focal point of the Terlingua mining town. The adobe building was constructed on a raised stone foundation on the side of a hill overlooking the town. The building has survived the ravages of time and remains an iconic symbol of the importance of faith in this remote place.

Itinerant priests held services at the church once a month and also officiated at baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Church records indicate the priests adopted the Terlingua Cemetery. Although the burial ground is listed as St. Agnes Chisos Cemetery on church records, the official death records continued to list it as the Terlingua Cemetery. While the town was once segregated with Mexican families living east of the company store and Anglo families to the west, both Mexicans and Anglos were laid to rest in the same cemetery.

/0 Comments/by