DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's quite a tale. Way up in Webb County, above Laredo, along the Rio Grande, there's a stretch of land that's been keeping a secret since Spanish times. Coal.
Buried in those bluffs and breaks along the river, coal veins waiting to be found. And people knew it — they'd been pulling coal out of that country since the early nineteenth century, floating it downriver on barges or hauling it overland by sheer stubbornness. But stubbornness only gets you so far.
What the operation really needed was a railroad. And a railroad is what it got, when Alexander C. Hunt constructed the Pecos and Rio Grande Railroad right up to those coal mines.
Now the pieces were in place. Enter David Darwin Davis — a Welsh mining engineer, the kind of man who reads the earth the way other men read a newspaper. Davis discovered coal veins in Webb County, and that discovery set something in motion.
In 1888, Davis was named superintendent of the Cannel Coal Company, and a brand new town sprouted up around the operation, headquarters and all. They called it Cannel. By 1895, the mining operations were fully functional — not a promise anymore, a fact.
Then, between 1897 and 1900, miners began arriving from Mexico, and the population swelled. The boom years ran from 1900 to 1910, and Cannel — well, Cannel wasn't Cannel anymore by then. Here's where it gets a little wry.
Davis was notified that another Texas town already held a post office under the name of Cannel. So the town took the name Darwin, around 1900, honoring the man who'd found the coal in the first place. A general store went up.
Barbershops. Restaurants. Rooming houses, a meat market, a bakery.
Darwin had all the makings of a place that intended to last. But towns built on a single resource are always betting against time. By 1920, Darwin was in decline.
The town of Dolores had a more modern mine working nearby, and beyond that — something bigger was happening across Texas and beyond. Industry after industry was replacing coal with petroleum. By 1930, Darwin was nearly closed down.
All that boom, all those miners and barbers and bakers — gone quiet. What's left today is a mine dump, and the Darwin Cemetery, holding its ground out there above the Rio Grande. The marker says a few remnants are visible.
A few. That's the word it uses. A few remnants of everything that once was Darwin — which was once Cannel — which was once just a coal vein waiting in the rock since Spanish times.
What the marker says
Known since Spanish times, coal mining in this area of the Rio Grande above Laredo dates to the early 19th century. Coal was floated down river on barges or hauled overland until the Pecos and Rio Grande Railroad was constructed by Alexander C. Hunt to reach the coal mines upriver. Welsh mining engineer David Darwin Davis discovered coal veins in Webb County. Davis was named superintendent of the Cannel Coal Company in 1888, with headquarters in the new town of Cannel. By 1895, the mining operations were fully functional. Many miners came from Mexico, arriving between 1897 and 1900. The town underwent rapid growth during the boom years of 1900-1910 and added a general store, barbershops, restaurants, rooming houses, a meat market, and bakery. The town's name changed to Darwin about 1900 when Davis was notified another Texas town had a post office with the name of Cannel. By 1920 Darwin was in decline. Though the town of Dolores had a more modern mine, many industries replaced coal with petroleum. By 1930, the town was nearly closed down. A few remnants of the town are visible including a mine dump, and the Darwin Cemetery. (1996)