Bovina

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, four thousand and seventy feet above sea level, out on the high plains of Parmer County, sits a town with a story that starts long before the town had a name. Before it had a post office, before it had a bank or a school or a hotel, it was just a camp.

The Hay Hook Line Camp, to be specific — one outpost in the vast machinery of the XIT Ranch. And the XIT was no ordinary ranch. That outfit received over three million acres of land — three million — as payment for building the Texas State Capitol, a project that ran from 1882 to 1888.

Division number eight headquarters of the XIT stood right here, four hundred yards northeast of where this marker sits. One of the earliest structures in all of Parmer County, and it rose up out of the prairie to anchor this corner of an empire measured in millions of acres. Now, the Pecos and Northern Texas Railroad arrived in 1898, and that changed everything.

Suddenly cattle destined for eastern markets were being loaded right here, at this spot, on the high Llano Estacado. Early in the twentieth century, this place grew into one of the largest cattle shipping points in the entire United States. Let that settle for a moment.

Not one of the largest in Texas. One of the largest in the country. The train crews had their own name for it.

They called it Bull Town. You can understand the sentiment — cattle everywhere, the smell of the pens, the bawling and the dust. There was a six-hundred-and-forty-acre shipping pasture sitting one mile to the east.

Six hundred and forty acres dedicated to holding cattle before they moved out on the rails. Bull Town fit just fine, as far as the railroaders were concerned. But the community had other ideas.

When it came time to establish a post office in 1899, they reached for something with a little more polish. Bovina. It was the first post office in Parmer County — a county that had been created back in 1876 and named for Martin Parmer, born 1778, died 1850, patriot and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.

A county with a distinguished namesake and, for a good long while, almost nobody living in it. Explorers had known the area as early as the eighteenth century, but the county had few inhabitants before 1907, when it was finally organized, with Bovina already standing as one of its leading towns. By 1915, the town counted two hundred people.

Two churches. A bank. A school.

And a hotel built specifically for prospective settlers — which tells you something about the optimism in the air out here. Bull Town became Bovina. A line camp became a county anchor.

A cattle-loading stop in the middle of the plains became a market and supply center for a rich stretch of irrigated farms — and it still produces fine cattle to this day. The XIT is gone, the Hay Hook Line Camp is a memory, but Bovina is still standin at four thousand and seventy feet, exactly where the railroad found it.

What the marker says

(Elevation: 4070 feet) Early in the 20th century, this was one of largest cattle shipping points in the United States. Originated as the Hay Hook Line Camp of the XIT -- famed ranch that received over 3,000,000 acres of land in payment for building Texas State Capitol, 1882-1888. One of the earliest structures in Parmer County, division number eight headquarters of XIT, stood 400 yards northeast of site of this marker. The shipping pasture, 640 acres in area, was 1 mile east. The Pecos & Northern Texas Railroad built to this point in 1898, and cattle for eastern markets were loaded here. Train crews called the place "Bull Town", but the community chose the name "Bovina" when establishing the post office in 1899. This was the first post office in Parmer County, created 1876, named for Martin Parmer (1778-1850), patriot and signer of Texas Declaration of Independence. Although known to explorers early as 18th century, county had few inhabitants before 1907, when it was organized, with Bovina one of its leading towns. By 1915, Bovina had 200 people, 2 churches, a bank, a school, and a hotel for prospective settlers. It is now market and supply center for rich area of irrigated farms, and still produces fine cattle. (1968)