La Morita Ranch

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about La Morita Ranch, out in Presidio County. Now, some men come to Texas and leave a footprint. Milton Faver left something closer to a foundation.

Literally. Stone fences, adobe walls, a whole system of pools and ditches carved into the high desert, and three separate ranches spread across Presidio County. Three.

And La Morita was the third. Faver was a native of the midwestern United States, which tells you right there that West Texas was not where he started his story. He made his way to Presidio del Norte in the 1850s, and he did what a practical man does in a place where everything has to come from somewhere else.

He ran a mercantile store and a freighting business on the Chihuahua Trail. You learn a country hauling goods through it. You learn where the water is.

You learn where the grass holds. And Faver was paying attention. By 1857 he had moved his family into Presidio County proper, bought land, and established his headquarters ranch on Cibolo Creek.

That was the beginning. By the 1870s his ranching operations extended over thousands of acres, and a man with thousands of acres in that country is always looking for the next spring, the next creek, the next piece of ground that can hold a herd. He found it along Las Moras Creek.

He recorded title to that land in October of 1880, though the marker is careful to note that was probably well after he had already been occupying the site. That detail tells you something about how the frontier actually worked. The cattle and the sheep were already there.

The paperwork came later. La Morita became the headquarters for his large sheep and goat raising operations, and the reason was water. Abundant springs at La Morita provided a steady source, and Faver didn't just accept that gift, he engineered it.

He had a system of pools and ditches constructed to divert that water exactly where he needed it. Out in that country, controlling water is controlling everything. And he built to last.

Stone fences, corrals, pens, dwellings put up using traditional adobe building methods. This was not a man throwing up something temporary. He was building a place meant to outlive the moment.

In September of 1889 Faver turned over operation of La Morita to George Dawson, the husband of his wife's niece, Juliana. Three months later, just days before his death, Faver deeded the property to Juliana Dawson herself. Sit with that timing for a moment.

Days before his death. He knew what was coming, and he made sure the land went where he intended it to go. La Morita stayed in the Dawson family all the way until 1966.

That is what it looks like when a man builds something meant to hold. Milton Faver came out of the midwestern United States, hauled freight along the Chihuahua Trail, and turned that knowledge into thousands of acres and three ranches. La Morita was the last piece he put in place, and he put it in good hands on his way out the door.

What the marker says

Established in the 19th century, La Morita Ranch was the third ranch established in Presidio County by Milton Faver. A native of the midwestern United States, Faver had moved to Presidio del Norte in the 1850s, where he operated a mercantile store and a freighting business on the Chihuahua Trail. He moved his family to Presidio County by 1857, bought land and established his headquarters ranch on Cibolo Creek. By the 1870s Faver's ranching operations extended over thousands of acres. He recorded title to land along Las Moras Creek in October 1880 (probably well after his occupation of the site) and it became the headquarters for his large sheep and goat raising operations. Abundant springs at La Morita provided a steady source of water, and Faver had a system of pools and ditches constructed to divert the water for his ranching needs. Also built at La Morita were stone fences, corrals, and pens, as well as dwellings using traditional adobe building methods. In September 1889 Faver turned over operation of La Morita to George Dawson, the husband of his wife's niece, Juliana. Three months later, just days before his death, Faver deeded the property to Juliana Dawson. It remained in the Dawson family until 1966. (1995)