DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Midland County — and friend, this one's got layers. Before there was a county, before there was a railroad, before there was so much as a fence post stuck in the ground, this stretch of West Texas was known as the junction of many trails. Every trail seemed to find its way here, and the Comanches knew it too — this was the site of the last Comanche raid into Texas.
Let that settle a moment. The last one. The end of an era, right here.
Then came 1881, and the Texas and Pacific Railroad drove its way through, splitting the distance clean down the middle — equi-distant between El Paso and Fort Worth — and that's when this place became known as Midland. The railroad brought ambition, and ambition brought people. First one through the door was a sheepman, in 1882.
Cattlemen followed, arriving with Herefords in 1888. Then the small farmers came drifting in, drawn not by gold or glory but by something humbler and more honest — water wells and windmills. You find water in West Texas, you find life.
Now, the county itself was created and organized in March of 1885, right in the middle of all that settling-in. And it grew. Slowly, stubbornly, the way West Texas things tend to grow.
Then 1928 arrived, and Midland became headquarters for the Permian Basin oil discovery — one of the great fossil fuel finds this continent has ever seen. But here's the thing about Midland's own piece of that story: the county's first well didn't come in until 1945. Sometimes you're sitting on something extraordinary and you don't even know it yet.
But save the biggest revelation for last. In 1954, out of the ancient earth of Midland County, they found the Midland Man — the oldest skeletal remains in North America. Dated to eighteen thousand five hundred years before Christ.
Eighteen thousand five hundred years before anyone was building railroads or driving Herefords or punching holes in the ground looking for oil, somebody was here. Every trail leads to Midland. Apparently, they always have.
What the marker says
(Created and organized, March 1885) First known as the junction of many trails and site of the last Comanche raid into Texas. In 1881 the Texas and Pacific Railroad was built; equi-distant between El Paso and Fort Worth, this became known as Midland. First settler was a sheepman in 1882. Cattlemen came with Herefords in 1888. Water wells and windmills lured small farmers. Became headquarters for 1928 Permian Basin oil discovery. In 1945 its first well came in. The "Midland Man," oldest skeletal remains in North America (18,500 B. C.), was found in 1954. (1967)