DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at the site of Vinegarroon tells it — and it is some kind of story. Now, if you ever wanted to understand just how big a task it was to stitch together a southern transcontinental railroad line linking New Orleans all the way to San Francisco, you'd do well to stop right here in Val Verde County and look west toward the Pecos River Canyon. Because that canyon — that last great gash in the earth — was the last major obstacle the Southern Pacific Railroad faced in completing the whole route.
Everything else, they'd handled. The canyon was the thing. So in 1882, they went to work.
Tunnel Number Two was excavated on the west side of that canyon, and right there near the site, a camp rose up out of the desert almost overnight. Thousands of workers — primarily Chinese laborers — needed somewhere to sleep, somewhere to eat, somewhere to be when the day's digging was done. That camp became their temporary home.
Somebody named it Vinegarroon, after a type of scorpion found in the area. And if the name alone doesn't tell you something about the charm of the place, well, maybe nothing will. Now, no camp of thousands goes without its commerce, and Vinegarroon had Roy Bean.
He ran a saloon there, and on top of that he served as Justice of the Peace — which means Roy Bean was simultaneously pouring the whiskey and dispensing the law, a combination that probably kept things interesting on both ends. But a railroad camp lives and dies by the railroad. Once that rail line was complete in 1883, Vinegarroon was abandoned.
The scorpions got it back. All that remains now is the story — and this marker to make sure somebody tells it.
What the marker says
Crossing the Pecos River Canyon was the last major obstacle in the Souther Pacific Railroad faced in completing its southern transcontinental route linking New Orleans and San Francisco. At "Tunnel No. 2" was excavated on the west side of the canyon in 1882, a camp for the railroad workers was established near the site. Named Vinegarroon for a type of scorpion found in the area, the camp served as a temporary home for thousands of primarily Chinese laborers. Roy Bean had a saloon and served as Justice of the Peace in Vinegarroon until it was abandoned after the rail line was complete in 1883. (2001)