DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this one, and I'm just the voice carryin' it down the road. Now settle in, because this is a story about a town that was born as a lie and died as a punchline — and the people who got caught somewhere in between. Out here in Bailey County, there's a place called the Site of Virginia City.
Not Virginia City itself, mind you. The site. That word is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
It all got started in 1908, when a land promotion scheme came to life. Shrewd dealers — and the marker calls them shrewd, which is about the politest word you could use — began advertising this place as a future metropolis. Now, this is West Texas, and they were implying that good rains and bumper crops were typical of the region.
Typical. That word right there is where the scheme lived and breathed. But they didn't just send out pamphlets.
No, they treated naive buyers to tours through town. And when those buyers rolled in, they saw shops. They saw a lot reserved for the courthouse.
They saw a roadbed for the railroad. The whole picture was painted out nice and neat. A metropolis in the makin'.
The town itself was named for the wife of an early county landowner. Virginia. It had a real name, a real layout, real-looking ambition.
But here's the thing. A local cowboy had already sized the whole operation up. He remarked — and I love that the marker preserves this — that Virginia City's biggest crop was suckers.
That cowboy saw it clear as day. Still, many people bought land. They signed the papers, handed over the money, and came out ready to build a life in the future metropolis of Bailey County.
Then 1909 arrived. And with it, a drouth. A ruinous drouth that stretched all the way to 1912.
The rains that were supposedly typical of the region did not appear to have gotten the message. Most of the buyers soon moved, leaving the site vacant. Virginia City.
A courthouse lot with no courthouse, a railroad roadbed with no railroad, and a bumper crop of exactly what that cowboy said. Out here on the Texas plains, the land has a way of having the last word.
What the marker says
Part of a land promotion scheme begun 1908. Advertised as future metropolis by shrewd dealers, who implied that good rains and bumper crops were typical of region. Naive buyers were treated to tours through town, where they saw shops, a lot reserved for the courthouse, and a roadbed for the railroad. Town was named for wife of an early county landowner. Although a local cowboy had remarked that Virginia City's biggest crop was "suckers", many people bought land, only to face a ruinous drouth, 1909-1912. Most soon moved, leaving site vacant. (1969)