DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Vicinity of Significant Neighbors Ford Trail, out here in Reeves County. Now, before there was a road to El Paso — before there was much of anything — somebody had to go first. And in 1849, two men decided they were the somebodies to do it.
Major Robert S. Neighbors and Dr. John S.
Ford — known to history as "Rip" Ford — were Texas Rangers and leading statesmen, which is a combination that tells you something about the era. These were not men who sat in comfortable chairs and drew lines on maps. They went and walked the lines themselves.
The mission: find the first wagon road from Austin to El Paso. Nobody had done it. And you don't find a road through unknown country without knowing the country, which is where two guides entered the story.
Jime Shaw, a Delaware, and Guadalupe, a Comanche. Without those two men, this road doesn't get found. The marker is clear on that point, and so am I.
They left the Pecos River and followed Toyah Creek up toward the Davis Mountains. Then they pushed west to the Rio Grande. West Texas in 1849 — the heat, the silence, the sheer scale of the thing.
You have to sit with that a moment before we move on. Now, the return trip. That's where the story gets its teeth.
Coming back past Guadalupe Peak, down along the Pecos River, through Horsehead Crossing — the rations gave out. Gone. And so they ate what the land offered.
Roasted mescal roots. Panther meat. And when things got truly lean — horse meat.
They made it back. And the route they carved out — with all that hardship baked into every mile — had something essential going for it: water and wood. In West Texas, that is not a small thing.
That is the whole thing. Because of it, that trail became a great stage road, a military road, an emigrant road. Thousands of people would follow in the wheel-ruts of that first 1849 journey, probably not knowing the full price that had been paid to make their path possible.
One road. Two Rangers. Two guides.
Panther meat and mescal roots. That's how the way to El Paso was opened.
What the marker says
First wagon road to El Paso from Austin. Opened 1849 by Maj. Robert S. neighbors and Dr. John S. "Rip" Ford, Texas Rangers and leading statesmen. With Indian guides Jime Shaw (a Delaware) and Guadalupe (a Comanche), they left the Pecos, followed Toyah Creek to Davis Mountains, then went west to the Rio Grande. On the return past Guadalupe Peak, Pecos River and Horsehead Crossing, rations gave out and they ate roasted mescal roots, panther and horse meat. Their route had water and wood and became a great stage, military and emigrant road. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1966.