DUANE
Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of the Elliott Ranch out in Upton County. Now settle in, because this one starts with a man and a whole lot of nothing. In 1880, a fellow named Geo.
Elliott came out from San Antonio and built himself a ranch near the old Butterfield Stage Road. And when I say he went far out on the open range — I mean far. He was one of the first to push that deep into that country, and the land wasn't exactly rolling out the welcome mat.
No water nearby. None. To get water, Elliott had to haul it from the head of the Concho River.
Fifty miles. Let that settle. Fifty miles to haul water.
Whatever this man was made of, they don't make a lot of it anymore. But he stayed. And that ranch became something.
When the time came to figure out what Upton County even was — and that happened in 1887 — Elliott's home was the first polling place for the whole territory. A ranch house at the edge of the known world, and people rode out to it to cast their votes. That's the kind of place it was.
Then the years turned, and from 1905 all the way through 1928, the ranch served as headquarters for Mayer Halff and his brothers — running the J. M. herd, the "Quien Sabe" herd, and the Circle Dot herd out of that same spot. After Upton County got itself organized in 1910, the old Elliott Ranch kept right on working — mail station, salt house, cowboys' bunkhouse.
It had been a landmark long before anybody called it one. A man hauled water fifty miles to plant something permanent in the middle of nothing, and it turned out he was right to.
What the marker says
Built 1880 near old Butterfield Stage Road by Geo. Elliott, from San Antonio, one of first to go so far out on open range. Had to haul water from head of the Concho, 50 miles. His home was first polling place in what became Upton County in 1887. Headquarters 1905-1928 for Mayer Halff and brother's J. M., "Quien Sabe", Circle Dot herds. After Upton County organized, 1910, served as a mail station, a salt house, cowboys' bunkhouse. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965.