Mentone

Duane's take

Now, I'm retelling this one straight from the official marker — you decide what to make of it. Alright, pull over and let that sink in for a second. Six miles east of where you're sitting right now is Mentone — the smallest county seat in the entire state of Texas.

And that's not even the strangest part of the story. Mentone is the only town in Loving County. The only one.

And Loving County holds the distinction of being the last organized county in Texas, the most sparsely populated county in Texas by total count, and the most sparsely populated county in Texas per square mile. All three titles. One county.

You start to get the feeling this place is playing a game by rules nobody else bothered to show up for. Now, Mentone as you find it today was established in 1931. But there was an earlier town — ten miles north of the current one — and that's where the name comes from.

Legend says — and the marker is careful to call it legend — a French surveyor-prospector named it after his home on the Riviera. A French surveyor-prospector, out here in this sun-scorched corner of West Texas, thinking of the Mediterranean coast. You can't make that up.

Well, somebody might have, which is precisely why they called it a legend. At the time this marker was put up in 1967, Mentone had a population of forty-two people. Forty-two.

And those forty-two souls were hauling in every drop of water they drank, cooked with, and washed in — because Mentone has no water system. None. Hauled in.

Every. Drop. And if you thought that was the full extent of what Mentone was working without, the marker keeps going.

No bank. No doctor. No hospital.

No newspaper. No lawyer. No civic club.

And — here's the one that really sits with you — no cemetery. In the entire county of Loving, there are only two recorded graves. Two.

For a county seat, that's a particular kind of quiet. There are Indian skeletons and artifacts found in the area, which tells you people have passed through and made their mark on this land long before 1931 or any French surveyor ever arrived. The land itself holds oil, farming, and cattle — the backbone of this corner of Texas.

Forty-two people. No water. No doctor.

No cemetery to speak of. The smallest county seat in Texas, named — if legend's to be believed — for a town on the French Riviera, sitting alone in the last organized, least populated county in the state. Some places earn their reputation by what they have.

Mentone earned its by what it doesn't — and somehow, it's still the only town in the county, which means it's also the biggest.

What the marker says

Smallest County Seat in Texas Mentone (6 mi. east) Only town in Loving County -- last organized, most sparsely populated (both in total and per square mile) county in Texas. Established 1931 and named for an earlier town (10 miles north) which legend says was named by a French surveyor-prospector after his home on the Riviera. With population of 42, Mentone has no water system. (Water is hauled in.) Nor does it have a bank, doctor, hospital, newspaper, lawyer, civic club or cemetery. There are only two recorded graves in county. Some Indian skeletons, artifacts are found. Oil, farming, cattle country. (1967)