Midkiff

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Midkiff, out there in Upton County. Now, if you blink on the right stretch of West Texas highway, you might miss Midkiff entirely. It sits near the corner where Midland, Glasscock, Upton, and Reagan counties all come together — four counties meeting in some of the most remote country in the state.

And that remoteness, friend, is not a recent development. Settlement out here dates from the 1880s, when railroad companies building tracks through the region dangled inexpensive land in front of anyone willing to come try their luck. One man who took that invitation seriously was John Rufus Midkiff — one of the first cattle and sheep ranchers to homestead this stretch of hard country.

By 1902, he'd opened a general store right there in his home in Midland County, serving local cowboys and ranchers who didn't have a whole lot of other options. Now here's where it gets interesting. That store had a post office — named Midkiff — and it had the area's only telephone.

But getting a telephone signal out to that lonesome corner of creation required stringing wires thirty miles to Midland. And what did they string those wires along? A barbed wire fence.

Thirty miles of barbed wire doing double duty. Only in Texas. Nearby, a school operated briefly in a place called Dameron City, serving ranching families until about 1911.

After that, Midkiff settled into a long, quiet spell. Sparsely settled, wide open, patient as the land itself. Then came 1950, and everything changed.

Oil was discovered here. And when oil shows up in West Texas, it doesn't tiptoe in — an oil field camp rose up and grew into a full-blown town. They called it Hadacol Corner, and it had a motel, cafes, and other businesses humming with the energy of a boom.

Exploration pushed into the nearby Spraberry Field, and by 1952 the town had hundreds of active wells. Hundreds. In 1952, the town also got a post office — and this time, when they reached for a name, they went back to the old one.

Midkiff. Though now it sat in Upton County rather than Midland. El Paso Natural Gas Company came in during the 1950s and built a large processing plant east of town, complete with company housing.

It was a real operation — until safety concerns pushed the company to automate the plant later on. Meanwhile, the children of Midkiff were riding a school bus seventy-five miles round trip to Rankin, the county seat, every single school day. Seventy-five miles.

Round trip. That's not a commute, that's a commitment. The town kept building itself up.

Four churches at its peak. The 1960s brought cotton growers who built a gin, later organized as a cooperative. The 1970s brought a Woman's Study Club that started a public library — because out here, if you want something, you build it yourself.

Today, St. Thomas Catholic Church stands as the only active congregation. The economy still leans on ranching, gas and oil, and farming — the same three pillars that have held this corner of the world up for more than a century.

Midkiff never got big. Never made the front page. But it took a phone strung on barbed wire, a boom town called Hadacol Corner, seventy-five miles of school bus every morning, and a study club with the audacity to start a library, and it turned all of that into something that's still standing.

Out near where four counties shake hands, Midkiff endures.

What the marker says

The remote community of Midkiff is situated near the intersection of the Midland, Glasscock, Upton and Reagan county lines. Settlement dates from the 1880s, when railroad companies building tracks through the region offered inexpensive land to newcomers. John Rufus Midkiff was one of the first cattle and sheep ranchers to homestead, opening a general store in 1902 in his home in Midland County to serve local cowboys and ranchers. The store had a post office named Midkiff and the area's only telephone with wires strung 30 miles to Midland along a barbed wire fence. A school also operated briefly in nearby Dameron City, serving ranching families until about 1911. The Midkiff area remained sparsely settled until the discovery of oil here in 1950. An oil field camp developed into a town called Hadacol Corner with a motel, cafes and other businesses. Oil exploration in the nearby Spraberry Field continued, and in 1952 the town had hundreds of active wells. That year the town received a post office and revived the name of Midkiff, this time in Upton County. Since the 1950s, area children have ridden a bus 75 miles round trip to school in the county seat of Rankin. At its peak, the town had four churches, although St. Thomas Catholic Church is the only active congregation today. El Paso Natural Gas Company built a large processing plant with company housing east of Midkiff in the 1950s, but it later automated the plant amid safety concerns. In the 1960s, cotton growers built a gin later organized as a cooperative, and in the 1970s a Woman's Study Club began a public library. Today, the local economy relies on ranching, gas and oil, and farming. (2007)