Marathon

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it: my job is just to do it justice. Now, before we get too far down this road, let me set the scene. You're deep in Brewster County, out where the land gets serious and the sky gets big, and the story of Marathon goes back to a time when this whole stretch of West Texas was still being written.

Fort Pena Colorada sat about four miles to the southwest, right there on the old Comanche Trail; the last active fort in this area, established in 1879. Two years later, in 1881, a town took root nearby, and the man who named it was about as unlikely a figure as you'd expect to find out here: an old sea captain by the name of A.E. Shepard.

Now think about that for a second. A sea captain. Out here, where the nearest ocean is several hard days in any direction.

But Shepard looked out at those hills rolling across the horizon, and something in him recognized them. He'd seen hills like that before; on the Plain of Marathon, in Greece. And so Marathon it became.

There's a certain poetry in a sailor naming a West Texas town after an ancient Greek plain, and I'll just let that sit with you. What grew up around that name was something substantial. They call this place the cradle of the West Texas cattle industry, and that's no small claim.

Among the first noted ranchers here were Mayer M. Halff and his brother, running cattle under the famous Circle Dot brand. And when the Big Bend country started drawing travelers from the wider world, it was Marathon that served as the original gateway to Big Bend National Park.

One old sea captain, one Greek plain, one cattle cradle, and one gateway to some of the most dramatic land in the state. Marathon earned every syllable of its name.

What the marker says

Fort Pena Colorada, 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. (1964)