DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, before there was a city here — before there was hardly anything here at all — there were cattle. And buffalo.
And the last of those buffalo were being exterminated right around 1877, when the first of the cattlemen started pushing their herds into this valley. Frank Byler, Clay Mann, Winfield Scott, C.C. Slaughter and others — names that carried weight out on the open range — they were already moving livestock through this country before most folks had even heard of the place.
A Texas Ranger unit was stationed in the area to guard against straggling Indians, so you understand: this was still raw, open, contested land. Then the Texas and Pacific Railway sent its locators out to stake a course through the valley, and that changed everything. Once the route was set, a rancher named George Waddell saw what was coming and made a move.
He persuaded a man named A.W. Dunn, over in Coleman, to come out here and build a store. Now, building anything out here in 1880 meant you were hauling lumber by wagon from Round Rock — about three hundred miles to the southeast — so you can bet every plank was treated like gold.
The store reflected that. Tarpaulin roof. Dirt floor.
It opened in the late summer of 1880, and by the time the sawdust settled, two saloons were already in business alongside it. Because of course they were. This is Texas.
Then the railroaders arrived in the fall — bridge crew of A.J. Coe among them — and the whole place started breathing differently. By April 16, 1881, the Texas and Pacific initiated train service to this site.
On that day, some 350 people were already living here — in tents, in dugouts — and they had managed to pull together a newly organized county government, a school, a post office, and a newspaper. Three hundred and fifty people in dugouts with a functioning newspaper. Let that sit with you a moment.
This place became the terminus for months while the river bridge was being built, and that made it the end of the line — literally — for cattle coming in from some of the most remote ranches in Texas. The operations of Charles Goodnight. The XIT, out near present-day Amarillo.
All of it funneled through here. The T. and P. freighted in tons of windmills and barbed wire, and shipped out thousands of cattle, and kept right on doing it through the late eighties. The railroad didn't just connect this place to the rest of Texas.
According to the marker, it made this the Cattle Capital of West Texas. A tarpaulin roof and a dirt floor in the summer of 1880. The Cattle Capital of West Texas by the end of the decade.
That's not a slow build — that's a West Texas sprint.
What the marker says
Railroad made this "Cattle Capital of West Texas" in 1880s. Cattlemen Frank Byler, Clay Mann, Winfield Scott, C.C. Slaughter and others brought herds here early as 1877, when last of the buffalo were being exterminated. A Texas Ranger unit was stationed in area to guard against straggling Indians. After Texas & Pacific locators staked course through this valley, rancher George Waddell persuaded A.W. Dunn of Coleman to build a store here. Lumber came by wagon from Round Rock (about 300 mi. SE), and was sparingly used. Store had tarpaulin roof, dirt floor, and was opened in late summer 1880. Soon two saloons were also in business. Railroaders--including bridge crew of A.J. Coe--arrived in the fall. By April 16, 1881, when the Texas & Pacific initiated train service to this site, some 350 people lived here in tents and dugouts, and had a newly organized county government, a school, post office and newspaper. This was terminus for months, while river bridge was being built. Then and until late 80s, this was shipping point for such remote places as ranches of Charles Goodnight and the XIT, near present Amarillo. The T. & P. freighted in tons of windmills and barbed wire, shipped out thousands of cattle--giving this city renown. (1970)