Highway 90
Del Rio to Sanderson, 120 Miles

These unique Road Logs are available free to customers at all Gulf Service Stations on three routes across West Texas.

1. Hwy. 80 (I.S. 10 and 20) between Midland-Odessa and El Paso.
2. Hwy. 290 (I.S. 10) between Sonora-Ozona and El Paso.
3. Hwy. 90 between Del Rio and El Paso.

The purpose of these logs is to give you interesting information about the country between towns. The Gulf Service Stations across the area have full printed separate information for you about the towns themselves. Ask for the information about Del Rio while you tank up at one of the four fine Gulf Service Stations.

Mileage

0.0 Civic Center. North side of town on Hwy 90. Del Rio. El. 948 ft. Pop. 20,000

Record your speedometer reading here and add it to the figures given in the margin to get your speedometer reading at any point. Allow some mileage variation. Speedometers do vary and tire tread wear and inflation do make a difference.

2.8 Roadside Park

3.0 Road Fork. Take left and you are on the Old Spanish Trail to the West Coast and Northern Mexico. You are generally following a very ancient travel route. Cabeza de Vaca came this way in 1535, followed by Gaspar Castano de Sosa who came up the Rio Grande to Devils River and the Pecos in 1590. The development of a regular trail had to wait until the early 1850s when the route came from San Antonio to Del Rio, along where you are traveling now, then detouring up the Devils River and west again across the Pecos at either Pontoon or Horsehead Crossing east of Fort Stockton. The detour was necessary on account of the impassable barrier of the Pecos River Canyon which you will cross. The trail went on to El Paso and California, or south to Chihuahua, or north to Santa Fe. In the early years so many mules were lost to the Indians that the “Jackass Mail”was devised. Wild mules were used to pull the stages on the theory that they were harder to steal and cost less if stolen. Under this system the mules were blindfolded, harnessed up, pointed at the open gate of the stockade and the blindfold whipped off. That takeoff at a dead run must have been something to behold. The privilege of enjoying this kind of transportation cost $100 to El Paso, $200 to San Diego, taking 27 days. All this ended with the construction of the railroad in the 1880’s.

5.0 From here west in many places you’ll note that the right-of-way has been cleared and dragged inside one of the fences. Look like fire breaks, but they’re not. They are w_____ traps. The Border patrol prepares and watches these strips for footprints of illegal aliens headed north on foot.

10.3 Diablo East Recreation Area and Marina on Amistad Lake to your right. Worth a visit.

10.6 Intersection. Road to left goes to the site of the new Amistad Dam on the Rio Grande. Visitors are welcome, and there is an observation point. A dam site well worth seeing. It’s less than 3 miles. If you take it, add 5.2 miles to the following mileage readings.

Amistad means friendship and that’s the key word. Mexican contractors worked from their side and American contractors worked from the U.S. side. Finished in 1968 at a cost of 78 million dollars, not counting the power generating facilities. The U.S. paid 56.2% of the cost, Mexico paid 43.8%. Total height, 254 ft. over the riverbed, length 33,022 ft., that’s 6-1/4 miles. Power plants will generate 160,000 kilowatts. the reservoir will hold 5,660,000 acre feet of water and will extend 74 miles up the Rio Grande. It will be the largest reservoir in or bordering on Texas.

The heavy, massive beds of gray rock you see in the road cuts and canyons from here west are Cretaceous limestone laid down at the bottom of an ocean over 100 million years ago. It underlies much of Central West Texas and forms the Edwards Plateau. You will see it for the next 140 miles, nearly to Marathon.

11.8 The Amistad Lake comes up under this bridge. It used to be Devil’s River, shortest river in Texas, about 75 miles from its headwater springs to this point. It was named by a group of Texas Rangers in 1848 who found this country pretty rugged for traveling. Use your imagination to decide what it was like before road cuts, before bridges! This bridge is one mile long.

30.4 Comstock. El. 1,550 ft., Pop. 500. A ranch trading center.

41.0 The Pecos River Bridge. Excellent view and place for pictures at the Roadside Park observation point to your left. The highest highway bridge in Texas, 273 ft. down to the water. 1,310 ft. long. Cost of this bridge was $1,500,000.00. It took the state gasoline tax on 75 million gallons of gasoline to pay for it. Ed Buchanan, who played Judge Roy Bean on the TV series, helped dedicate it. The Pecos joins the Rio Grande just below here, and the cliffs on your far left are in Old Mexico. The Pecos, before irrigation water impounding upstream, was an impenetrable barrier to the early travelers. Even upstream, where the cliffs aren’t so high, it was 65 to 100 ft. wide, 8 to 10 ft. deep, with a rushing current. Add 1.3 mi. to your log if you make the Observation Park.

42.2 You are now WEST OF THE PECOS. - The last frontier, an arid country of monstrous canyons, mountains and deserts. Rich in wild and wooly history, a country practically unknown to the world until the opening of the railroad in 1882. History before that time centered on the great north-south Chihuahua-Comanche Trail, and the east to west Overland Trail of the pioneers. These crossed at Comanche Springs (now Fort Stockton). You will cross the Chihuahua-Comanche Trail near Marathon. This country knew Cabeza de Vaca, who with his three companions, walked from Galveston Island through here in 1535, finally to join his countrymen south of Chihuahua.

The Trans-Pecos, due to its remote location, rugged topography, and inaccessibility, was the place of the last stand of the Comanches and, farther west, the Apaches. These Indians sustained themselves by making raids from their sanctuary in North Texas and in the rugged Trans-Pecos down into relatively civilized Mexico around Chihuahua. In 1846 alone it was estimated that they drove off over 10,000 head of livestock. These marauding Indians were the reason for the establishment of the many forts in the area by the United States after the Mexican War. The forts were located usually at the springs, not only for a water supply, but to deprive the Indians of water in this arid country. It was not until the mid-1880’s that these forts could be closed.

46.1 Roadside Park and observation point for the Pecos River High Bridge of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The first rail crossing of the Pecos was by means of a water level bridge, and the railroad went down to it and back up in tunnels. Present bridge is 321 ft. above the water, highest railroad bridge in Texas. This bridge was such a potential bottleneck in transcontinental transportation that during World War II an anti-aircraft battery was stationed near it and trains crossed only after the undercarriage had been searched and all windows and doors closed to prevent bombing.

58.1 Loop 25 to the left goes through old Langtry. Less than a mile ut of your way and bery interesting. It’s on the banks of the Rio Grande and the cliffs to the south are in Old Mexico. the old railroad went down the main street. Judge Roy Bean’s original office and saloon is still there and now a free museum. If you don’t know about “Law West of the Pecos”.

Judge Roy Bean was a Justice of the Peace here in the 1880’s - the wild times of railroad construction. In one decision he turned a culprit loose after checking his one law book, remarking that he’d be damned if he could find any law against killing a Chinaman. You can still see that book at the museum. In another decision, after a bullet riddled body was found with a six shooter and $20 in its pockets he fined the corpse the $20 for carrying a concealed weapon. His marriage ceremony went something like this: “Both of you hold up your right hands. By the authorty of the Constitution of the United states, the great State of Texas and the law west of the Pecos, I, Roy Bean, Justice of the Peace of this district, hereby pronounce you man and wife. May God have mercy on your souls.”

Marvelous museum and visitor center. On February 21, 1896, Judge Roy Bean staged the World’s Heavyweight Championship prize fight here between Bob Fitzsimmons and Peter Maher. Texas Rangers had been sent in to stop the fight, so it was held on a sand bank on the Mexican side. It was pronounced a fizzle - Fitzsimmons in 3 rounds - in the days of 20 and 30 round battles to the finish, but it might seem long compared to some today! Add one mile to the log figures if you go through old Langtry.

58.8 The “new” Langtry on the highway. Pop. 100. Langtry was called Eagle Nest before Judge Roy Bean renamed it for the Actress Lily Langtry.

DON’T MISS the Texas Hwy. Dept. Travel Center and Museum in old Langtry.

70.1 Roadside Park. The mountains you se in the distance to the south are the Consuelo Range in Old Mexico. They are the east end of the Sierra Madre Oriental.

72.8 Highway 1865 intersection. Pumpville is 3 miles to the right on the Southern Pacific. It was one mile east of Pumpville, on January 12, 1883, that the silver spike was driven at the point where the eastbound and westbound railroad construction crews met. Don’t look for the silver spike. It was replaced with a regular one.

75.8 Crossing Lozier Canyon.

88.2 Roadside Park. You have probably noticed that this is drier country than that east of the Pecos. It gets even more arid as you go west until you start up into the higher elevations west of Sanderson.Just wish we had the space to tell you all about the desert type vegetation you will see.

Rainfall in this area amounts to about 12” a year. It is 16” at Del Rio and from there eastward rainfall increases quite uniformly to 56” along the Louisiana border. In fact, for each 11 miles east from Del Rio, rainfall increases pretty close to one inch. That’s one reason Texas has almost every sort of vegetation from the true desert type near El Paso, to the huge forests of East Texas. In the area you’re crossing, 60% of the rain falls June through September. Evaporation from an open water surface, such as a stock tank, is 96” a year or eight times the rainfall.

98.2 Dryden. El. 2,104 ft. Pop. - not many. after World War I the Army Air Corps established airfields each 100 miles or so along the border to accommodate the short-range planes, patrol the border, and for training purposes. One of these was 2 mi. west of Dryden. It was abandoned in 1942. Note that the little towns are about 30 miles apart. They grew up around water supplies (usually wells) developed by the railroad, as the old steam engines needed water about that often.

106.0 Through West Texas each 10 miles (from the next town) you’ll see a black and white sign on the right, giving the mileage. The Texas Highway Department realizes that this is a huge state, and they feel that people need encouragement once in a while so they’ll know they’re making some progress.

113.2 You are now entering Sanderson Canyon. You will be traveling up this canyon for 18 miles.

115.1 Roadside Park. If your car radio is dead, or below par along here, think nothing of it. You are probably farther from a broadcast station than you’ve ever been before. Your best bets are Del Rio, 1230, Ft. Stockton, 860, or Midland, 550.

118.9 Sanderson Gulf Station. El. 2,780 Ft. Pop 2,500. Another railroad-founded town, but it grew larger, since it was a division point with a roundhouse where engines and crews were changed. Freight crews still change here. North of Sanderson about 45 miles there are some of the largest natural gas fields in the world. The gas is piped to the west coast. The Sanderson Gulf Station is on your left toward the west side of town. Sam Marquez, the Newell-Gulf dealer, is one of the most accommodating fellows you’ll find. He’ll be glad to give you another one of these Newell-Gulf Road Logs to take you on to Alpine and Marfa. It is full of information about the country you’ll be going through. You’ll learn about one of the most exciting geological locations in the whole world. you’ll be told where you can see rocks 500 million years old. You’ll see where you cross over the old Comanche Trail and the Chihuahua Trail. You’ll learn about Progress City - laid out on top of an inaccessible mountain. You’ll learn about the disastrous Sanderson flood. You’ll enjoy your trip more when you know what you are seeing. Ask Sam Marquez at the Sanderson Gulf Station for the Sanderson to Alpine-Marfa Newell-Gulf Road Log. Dive Carefully.

This type of road log is a new idea and we’d surely like to know what you think of it. If you have time, drop a note or card to Johnny Newell, Box 390, Alpine, Texas, and give him your frank opinion about it. He’d also like to know how you learned about these logs. We like to put these logs out but we have a bit of a problem letting you travelers know that they’re available. We’d appreciate it if you’d help spread the word that these logs can be picked up at any Gulf Service Station in the area on the highways listed: Hwy. 80 between El Paso and Midland; Hwy. 290 between El Paso and Sonora; Hwy. 90 between El Paso and Del Rio. All are available eastbound and westbound. Thanks.

GET YOUR NEXT ROAD LOG
- FREE TO CUSTOMERS -
AT THE SANDERSON GULF STATION

Copyright © W. J. Newell 1967

Highway 90
Sanderson to Alpine 84 miles and to Marfa 111 miles.

These unique Road Logs are available free to customers at the Newell-Gulf Service Stations on your road west. Follow them all the way to El Paso.

Mileage

0.0 Sanderson Gulf station, west side of town on Highway 90. Sam Marquez can tell you about Sanderson while you have your gasoline tank filled. El. 2780, Pop. 2500. A ranching and railroad town. Freight crews change here.

On Friday, June 11, 1965, at 7 in the morning, a flash flood swept through Sanderson, destroying most of the homes and businesses in the east end of town. Water was 22” deep in the Gulf station driveway. there were twenty-six dead, of whom some are still missing. A very tragic disaster, but one which will not happen again, as flood control structures will be built upstream.

Record your mileage here and add it to the figures given in the margin to get your speedometer reading at any point. Allow some mileage variation. Speedometers do vary and tire tread wear and inflation also make a difference.

.5 Road Y, take left.

1.0 Quarry on your left is in Cretaceous (Edwards) limestone. Rock was used mostly for railroad road bed.

There are many Indian camps west of the Pecos River. To look for Indian Camps, you look for burned rocks where they had campfires.

10.0 Roadside Park. You are still traveling up Sanderson Canyon. You’ll be taking pictures on your trip. Unfortunately, mid-day pictures in the entense light seem to flatten out the rugged landscape. Best pictures are taken early and late in the day, so shadows give relief and texture.

16.2 Longfellow. A railroad switch. The railroad president allowed his daughter to name many locations when the railroad was built and most of them were named after writers and poets.

20.6 Now you are coming into mesa country which extends from here many miles to the north. Mesas (means table in Spanish) are the flat-topped mountains. They are formed when rock layers are horizontal and hard layers are underlain by softer rocks. The soft rocks weather away, but in some spots the hard rock protects that underneath, leaving a mesa. Note the steep slopes.

22.6 Note sharp line with color variation on mountain to the left. These are fence lines and the color difference is caused by the fact that one pasture has more livestock in it than the other. You’ll see these from time to time all across the area.

30.3 The small, odd-shaped building on your right is a telephone amplifier station.

33.0 Roadside Park. There are lots of deer in this country, but you won’t see many near the road in daylight. Take care at night, as they may run in front of your car. We don’t have too many deer and you don’t have too many cars.

35.3 Note the vertical dip of the rock beds in the road cuts for the next 4 miles. You have just come over one of the most noted geological unconformities in the world. You are now on the Marathon Uplift, which you will continue on for about 15 miles.

Now to give you the world’s record, shortest geological history of the Marathon Uplift area. 530 million years ago there northeast-to-southwest trough below the level of the sea in this area. For 250 million years Paleozoic sediments were deposited — 21,000 ft. of them — as the trough sank lower. Heat, pressure, and time changed these sediments into sandstones, quartz-type rocks, shales, and limestones. These Paleozoic rocks were uplifted, squeezed, faulted, ripped on edge, tremendously deformed, during a mountain building age and then eroded down into a flat plain. These rocks and these mountains were the same age as the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma - Arkansas and as the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States, part of the same mountain system. Later, after the erosion, this area subsided again below the sea, and Permian and Cretaceous rocks were laid down horizontally over the cut-off edges of the Paleozoic rocks. In this area the Cretaceous rocks, mostly limestone, were 1200 ft. thick. Next, the whole area was lifted again and a great dome arched up in the Marathon area — The Marathon Uplift. The horizontal beds of rock weathered away from the top of the dome, leaving the Marathon area much as it is today. Later came the Rocky Mountain-building period just west of here. South and west of Marathon you can actually see the older Appalachian Mountains plunging down under the Rocky Mountains. East of here those horizontal Cretaceous limestones form the tops of the mesas. West of here for about 15 miles you travel across the uncovered edges of the older Paleozoic rocks. When you get near Alpine, you will see the dark colored volcanic lava flow rocks that poured out at an even later date and covered everything below.

Geologists come from all over the world to study this Marathon Uplift. Seven Texas universities send their geology students out here for summer field trips each year.

36.8 Note the scalloped-looking ridges to your left. These stand out all across the Marathon Uplift, as they are the hardest rocks.They are composed of lower Paleozoic novaculite, a hard, quartz-type of rock, and they are probably older than anything you’ve ever seen before — about 425 million years old.

38.7 Lemon Gap. El. 4,250 ft. You are now coming out onto the Marathon plain, extending 12 miles to the Glass Mountains which you see ahead of you in the distance. We didn’t understand all that geology either but it’s nice to know the importance of this area.

49.0 It is along here that you cross the Great Comanche War Trail. This trail started from the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red Rivers and ran 1,000 miles down through here to Chihuahua and as far as Durango in Old Mexico. The Comanches cam down to the relatively civilized areas of northern Mexico to plunder and steal, terrorizing the whole area. They were most active in the 1840’s, getting away with over 10,000 head of livestock in 1846. The old forts at Ft. Stockton, Ft. Davis, and Ft. Pena Colorado (3 mi. S. of Marathon) were established to put a stop to this and to protect west-bound wagon trains on the old Overland Trail from the Indians.

In 1860, Lt. Wm. H. Echols came through here, leading the historic camel expedition, testing the use of camels to replace pack mules in the desert areas. The camels did all right, but they were abandoned when the Civil War broke out, and there were tales of wild camels for years.

For a contrast to that type of history, we might mention that about along here you’ll be able to pick up Radio station KVLF at Alpine, 1240 on your dial. This is the only broadcasting station on Highway 90 between Del Rio and El Paso. Most of the towns do have TV cable systems.

The Overland Trail ran from San Antonio through Ft, Stockton, Ft. Davis, and along the south edge of the Davis Mountains to Franklin (now El Paso). A side trip from Alpine to Ft. Davis with its National Historic Site is recommended. This is the best-preserved of the old Indian frontier forts, and the site of more bloody Indian battles than any other. Marvelous scenery, canyons, wooded mountains, a fine scenic drive. You’ll see the Davis Mountains state Park and McDonald Observatory, third largest in the world.

52.7 Road to the left goes to the Big Bend National Park. A day to a week spent in the Big Bend is well worthwhile. A majestic, stupendous area of mountains up to 7,835 ft., painted deserts, and three sheer canyons down to an elevation of 1,850 ft. Ghost towns, a wild, largely unexplored, fantastic region — but with fine accommodations, including motel, camping areas, restaurant, and, of course, Newell-Gulf Service stations at four locations within the park. Telephone ahead to GR 7 2291 if you want rooms. Fill up with gasoline at the Marathon Gulf Station, a short distance ahead in downtown Marathon, before you leave Highway 90. It’s 70 miles to the next gasoline. Fine roads all the way. Big Bend is one our finest National Parks and the only one in Texas.

53.2 Marathon and the Big Bend Marathon Gulf Station. El. 4,043. Pop. 800. Juan Salmon can give you all the information about the area. If you look closely as you go through Marathon, you may see Bear Hollis riding his jackass around town.

55.0 The steep-sided flat-topped mountain directly to your left on the horizon is Santiago Mountain, an igneous intrusion pushed up through all the other rocks. El. 6,521 ft. Believe it or not, a land promoter bought the top and sold it off as town lots to gullible buyers in 1916. It was called Progress City. The longer flat-topped mountain farther to the west is Elephant Mountain, El. 6,200 ft. Sorry, no progress in Progress city, no elephants on Elephant Mountain!

61.8 You are about to go through a pass, El. 4,600 ft. These are the Glass Mountains (no glass), of Permian age, the same age as the formations in the Permian Basin around Midland-Odessa that produce such tremendous quantities of oil.

62.7 Straight ahead of the road is Altuda Mountain, El. 6,100 ft. There used to be a silver mine on the side of this mountain. You are about to go through Altuda Pass, El. 4,600 ft. From here on nearly to Van Horn look for pronghorn antelope. Herds of 5 to 25 are usually seen quite near the road. They look like small deer, but are of brighter color, white rump patch, and throat streaks, light brown back and legs. There’s a restricted hunting season in late fall, but they’re remarkably tame the rest of the year.

74.5 The sharp-pointed peak just left of the road in the distance ahead is Mitre Peak, another igneous intrusion, 8 miles north of Alpine. There’s a Girl Scout Camp in a watered canyon near the base.

75.0 Roadside Park and historical marker at the road Y which goes to Ft. Stockton. Keep straight ahead. South of the highway is Bullfrog Mountain. If you look closely, you’ll see the head-end antenna installations of the Alpine TV Cable system.

78.4 You are now in the Davis Mountains, named, as was Ft. Davis, after Jefferson Davis before the Civil War, when he was U.S. Secretary of War. The flat-bedded dark rocks you see are volcanic lavas. They make the dark soil.

82.3 You are entering Alpine. El. 4,485 ft., Pop. 5,200, the largest town in the largest county in the largest state in the United States IN the United States. The big buildings on your right are Sul Ross State College, named after Sullivan Ross, early governor of Texas. About 1,500 students in winter, 1,000 in summer. The Sul Ross Rodeo Team has been national intercollegiate champion a number of times. Baseball is another specialty. Sul Ross is a fine school, especially for teacher training, and the museum is excellent. Alpine is a fine area for rock hounds. Ask at a Gulf station.

83.5 It’s time now for a gasoline and rest stop. Two fine Gulf Stations in Alpine. The Sul Ross Gulf Station is on your right at the west corner of the college campus (Rex and Al, dealer) and the Gulf Servicenter on your left in the center of town (Red Patillo, dealer). Both of them are ready for you with free printed information folders on Alpine, the Big Bend Park, the scenic Ft. Davis area with its National Historic Site. They also have for customers a free Newell-Gulf Road Log to take you on west as far as Van Horn and Sierra Blanca. Stop and pick them up, it’s all free — or you can pick up the new log at the Newell-Gulf Station in Marfa. Ask one of these dealers how to see Kokernot Springs, formerly Burgess Water Hole. Not much water there now, but it’s the place Cabeza de Vaca visited in 1535. Only a mile out of your way.

86.5 As you come out of Alpine you start climbing higher. The mountains ahead to your left are Twin Sisters, El. 6,100 ft. Look at the top closely, and you’ll see the antennas of a TV translator relay station. As you came out of Alpine, the underpass was under the Santa Fe RR, which comes down this way from Sweetwater, San Angelo, and Ft. Stockton. They use the SF tracks through the mountains here to Paisano and then cut south to Presidio and over into Mexico — Chihuahua, and through the high mountains to Topolobampo and Pacific tidewater. It’s hard to realize, but this is the shortest rail line from Kansas City to the West Coast. The passenger trip over the Mexican mountains is one of the most spectacular in the world, and remarkably cheap for a round trip of several days. If you’re interested, see the Big Bend Travel Service in Marfa. They have packaged trips and will take care of your car while you’re gone.

89.6 Roadside Park.

95.0 On your left is Paisano Baptist Encampment, a descendant of the old-time cowboy camp meetings. Each summer several thousand people come from all over the west for a revival week.

97.3 You have just come over Paisano Pass. The Southern Pacific crosses just to your right at El. 5,078 ft., highest point on the transcontinental rail line between the Gulf and the Pacific. Juan de Mendoza camped here in 1684. Later on, an important point on the Chihuahua trail. A few miles ahead, look to your right for a rounded mountain on the skyline and you’ll probably see the dome of McDonald Observatory, on Mount Locke, El. 6,791. It is owned by the University of Texas and is the third largest telescope in the world. Ask at the Gulf Station in Marfa about visiting it and the scenic loop.

101.7 On your left is the Marfa-Alpine Airport. It was an advanced twin engine training base during World War II.

110.6 Marfa. El. 4,690 Pop. 3,000. A center of the famous Highland Hereford ranching country. If you didn’t make a gasoline and rest stop in Alpine, it’s a must in Marfa, since it’s 73 miles to Van Horn and not much in between in the way of accommodations. The Webb Bros. run the Newell Gulf Station here at the Signal Light, and they have an especially fine service department. They have full printed information ready for you on Marfa and its area. This is a good time to consider a side trip down to Presidio, oldest settlement in America, and Ojinaga, Mexico, an unspoiled old-world border town. The ghost silver-mining town of Shafter is on the way and it’s only 40 miles. This mine operated for over 50 years, and they took over $18,000,000 worth of silver out, plus some gold and other metals. The Webb boys will tell you all about it.

If you didn’t get one in Alpine, you’d better pick up another of these Newell-Gulf Road Logs for your trip on to Van Horn and Sierra Blanca. You’ll learn about the last Indian battles; you’ll see where you cross the old Overland Trail from San Antonio to San Diego. Geography, history, geology, points of interest, they’re free to customers. You’ll enjoy your trip more when you know what you’re seeing.

Get Log No. 3W to Van Horn and Sierra Blanca at the Webb Bros. Gulf Station.

Copyright © W. J. Newell 1967

GET YOUR NEXT FREE ROAD LOG AT A GULF STATION IN ALPINE OR MARFA

Highway 90
Alpine to Van Horn 100 miles and Marfa to Van Horn 74 miles

These unique Road Logs are available free to customers at all Gulf Service Stations on three routes across West Texas.
1. Hwy. 80 (I.S. 10 and 20) between Midland-Odessa and El Paso
2. Hwy. 290 (I.S. 10) between Sonora-Ozona and El Paso.
3. Hwy. 90 between Del Rio and El Paso.

The purpose of these logs is to give you interesting information about the country between towns. The Gulf Service Stations across the area have full printed separate information for you about the towns themselves.

Mileage

0.0 Alpine at the signal light. While you have your gasoline tank filled at one of the two fine Newell Gulf Service Stations in alpine, ask Red Patillo (at the Gulf Servicenter) or at the Sul Ross Gulf station for free printed information on Alpine and its vicinity. Consider — and ask them about the side trips to Ft. Davis, its National Historic Site (the old Fort), McDonald Observatory, Scenic Loop, and the Big Bend National Park.

Record our mileage here. Add it to the figures given in this log to get your speedometer reading at any point. Allow some mileage variation. Speedometers do vary, and tire tread wear and inflation make a difference.

Alpine El. 4,485 ft. Pop. 5,200. The largest town in the largest county in the largest state in the United States IN the United States. First white man to visit was Cabeza de Vaca in 1535. He stopped at what is now Kokernot Springs, just 1 mile north of the Sul Ross Gulf Service Station on State Highway 223.

2.5 As you come out of Alpine you start climbing higher. the mountains ahead to your left are Twin Sisters, El. 6,100 ft. Look at the top closely, and you’ll see the antennas of a TV translator relay station. As you came out of Alpine, the underpass was under the Santa Fe RR, which comes down this way from Sweetwater, San Angelo, and Ft. Stockton. they use the SF tracks through the mountains here to Paisano and then cut south to Presidio and over into Mexico — Chihuahua, and through the high mountains to Topolobampo, and Pacific tidewater.

It’s hard to realize, but this is the shortest rail line from Kansas City to the West Coast. The passenger trip over the Mexican mountains is one of the most spectacular in the world, and remarkably cheap for a round trip of several days. If you’re interested, see the Big Bend Travel Service in Marfa. They have packaged trips and will take care of your car while you’re gone.

5.6 Roadside Park

7.0 Most of the rocks you see in this area are volcanic extrusives which came up from below in a molten state through local fissures rather than a common point. A few features in the region though have the appearance of having been major volcanoes.

11.0 On your left is Paisano Baptist Encampment, a descendant of the old-time cowboy camp meetings. Each summer several thousand people come from all over the west for a revival week. At other times it is used for a recreation area for youth meetings.

13.3 You have just come over Paisano Pass. The Southern Pacific crosses just to your right at El. 5,078 ft. highest point on the transcontinental rail line between the Gulf and the Pacific. Juan de Mendoza camped here in 1684. Later on an important point on the Chihuahua trail. A few miles ahead, look to your right for a rounded mountain on the skyline and you’ll probably see the dome of MCDonald Observatory, on Mount Locke, El. 6,791. It is owned by the University of Texas and is the third largest telescope in the world.

A new optical telescope is under construction on Mt. Locke as well as a radio telescope. Harvard University has an astronomical observatory nearby, and a huge new radio telescope is being built south of Marfa. This area will soon be possibly the largest astronomical center in the world.

17.7 On your left is the Marfa-Alpine Airport. It was an advanced twin engine training base during World War II.

26.6 Marfa. El. 4,690 Pop. 3,000. A center of the famous Highland Hereford ranching country. If you didn’t make a gasoline and rest stop in Alpine, it’s a must in Marfa, since it’s 73 miles to Van Horn and not much in between in the way of accommodations. The Webb Bros. run the Newell Gulf Station here at the Signal Light, and they have an especially fine service department. They have full printed information ready for you on Marfa and its area.

This is a good time to consider a side trip down to Presidio, oldest settlement in America, and Ojinaga, Mexico, an unspoiled old-world border town. The ghost silver-mining town of Shafter is on the way and it’s only 40 miles. This mine operated for over 50 years, and they took over $18,000,000 worth of silver out, plus some gold and other metals. The Webb boys will tell you all about it. Use Road Log 10-S.

If you just picked up this log from the Webb Bros. Gulf station in Marfa, deduct 26.6 miles from your speedometer reading and put that fig- in the margin. Add that figure to the log readings and you’ll get your speedometer reading at any point from here on.

28.6 You are in the great Highland Hereford cattle ranching country. The grass may look pretty thin to you, but it’s mostly grama grass, and so nourishing that the cattle do much better on it than they do on the water-filled grass down on the coast. Most of the calves are shipped in the fall to cattle-feeder areas in the mid-west and other grain-raising areas.

While you’re thinking about ranching, it might be a good time to give some consideration to the invention that made ranching, as we know it in the west, possible - the windmill. the distance cattle will travel between grass and water is very limited. Before drilled wells and windmills only small parts of these ranches could be used for raising cattle. Now windmills and hundreds of miles of water lines make all the country useful.

30.6 Roadside Park. Look for pronghorn antelope as you cross the plateau. They are smaller than deer, have white throat streaks and rump patch, light brown back and legs. You may see 5 to 25 of them together, often quite near the road.

32.0 You are driving over what is known geologically as the Marfa Basin. No oil or gas production yet but it has good possibilities and wildcat wells are drilled from time to time.

35.2 The isolated mountain mass far to your left is the Chinati Mountain Range. Chinati Peak, El. 7,730 ft. Far to the west, the long range parallel to the highway is the Vieja Mountains. These are largely old volcanic lava flows. On the far side of them there is a steep scarp dropping down to the Rio Grande. The area beyond these mountains is one of the roughest and almost unexplored areas left in the country. It was a bandit hideout. Highest point is 6,467 ft.

36.4 To your right is the highest section of the majestic Davis Mountain range, another area of intense volcanic activity. The highest point you see, Mt. Livermore, has an elevation of 8,382 ft. East of this mountain there is no higher point on the North American continent. You’ll be able to recognize Sawtooth Mountain by its distinctive shape. El. 7,748 ft.

These mountains are in Jeff Davis County, and make it the highest county in Texas. Average elevation is about 5,000 ft., and most of it over a mile high. The old Overland Trail from San Antonio to San Diego came along the southern edge of these mountains. It was the favorite route of those headed for the California gold rush in the 1850’s. From a plane it is easy to follow the exact route of the trail through most of this country. Wagon ruts can be seen in many places and, in others, the ruts have grown into arroyos, cutting across the normal drainage down from the mountains.

The Davis Mountains cover an area about 40 by 50 miles and are composed mostly of volcanic rocks, some limestone, deformed by broad folds. Higher slopes are wooded with pine, oak and black cherry. A very rough country, it contains white and black tail deer, bear, mountain lion, antelope, wolves and coyotes. There are deep canyons and springs. Mostly cattle ranching country, but with a few apple orchards. This was the last home of the Mescalero Apaches, finally driven out by the soldiers from Ft. Davis now a National Historic Site, and in process of being restored.

40.3 For some miles here, the highway goes along a ridge which is a divide. El. 4,750 ft. Water falling to the right flows back toward Marfa and, eventually, down to the Rio Grande. To the left, it flows northwest through the Chispa Flats, on to Van Horn and into the salt flat country. You travel down this drainage pattern for 60 miles, all the way to Van Horn.

45.3 To your left, near the clump of trees in the valley, you can see where Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor filmed many of the scenes of ‘Giant’. It’s the false front of the huge ranch house in the movie. A lot of the show was filmed in the area with locals as extras. It was quite a financial transfusion for Marfa at the time.

48.1 Roadside Park.

62.0 Valentine. El. 4,424 ft. Pop. 420. This used to be a big division point on the railroad. Freight crews still change here. A well drilled one mile NE of Valentine went through 7,000 ft. of volcanic rocks before entering the sedimentary series.

77.9 Roadside Park. The mountain ahead on your right is Chispa Mt. EL. 5,215 ft. The Van Horn Mountains are now ahead.

78.6 The road to the left follows an old railroad bed, built in the 1890’s, to the San Carlo Coal mine. There was too much ash in the coal, so it didn’t work out. The road goes through the old railroad tunnel into tremendously rugged country behind the Sierra Vieja.

79.6 Note Needle Peak on your left. El. 4,930 ft.

83.8 Lobo. The old auto road was down to your right, near the railroad in Lobo Flats. In the old days before pavement they were impassable after a rain, the whole place filling up with water. You are now in the Van Horn-Lobo irrigation area. About 19,000 acres are cultivated with water from wells around 600 feet deep. The wells produce up to 1,000 gallons per minute. Crops are cotton, alfalfa, grain, sorghum, onions and beans. The discovery of well water for irrigation here in the early 1950’s changed land worth less than $5.00 per acre into land worth hundreds of dollars per acre, almost overnight.

90.3 Old Van Horn Wells was a major stage stop and and watering place on the old San Antonio-San Diego Overland Trail in the Gold Rush Days. The trail was near the present highway just north of the mountain spur you just crossed. It went through the Van Horn Mountains along the present route of the railroad.

The trail, sometimes called the Emigrant Trail, was opened in 1849, connecting San Antonio with San Diego. The forts of the area were built to protect this trail.

95.0 The sun has riz, the sun has set, and here we is, in Texas yet.

98.0 The range on your right is the Wylie Mountains. High point is 5,332 ft., just over a mile high.

100.0 Van Horn. El. 4,950 ft. Pop 2,100. from the way this town is strung along the highway, you can tell that it is principally a service station, restaurant, motel center for travelers, although it is also a ranching supply center and county seat of Culberson County. At the caution light, you come to the end of Highway 90 and for El Paso you turn sharp left on Highway 80, which, from now on, will be U.S. Interstate 10.

Since you’ve come 74 miles from Marfa, or 100 miles from Alpine, it’s time for gasoline and rest stop at one of the three fine Gulf Stations. Mitchell’s Gulf, is a few blocks east on Highway 80. The Oilwell Gulf, is a few blocks to the west on Highway 80, and the West Side Gulf, is, of course, on the west side of town as you go out to El Paso.

Each of these dealers has information for you about the Van Horn area, and each also has for his customers another one of these free Newell Gulf Road Logs to tell you about the country from Van Horn into El Paso. Get it and learn about the oldest town in Texas —you’ll see it —-about the amazing Rio Grande, the old Indian missions, lots of points of interest. You’ll enjoy your trip more, when you know what you are seeing. Get Log 4W to take you to El Paso.

This type of Road Log is a new idea and we’d surely like to know what you think of it. If you have time, drop a note or card to Johnny Newell, Box 390, Alpine, Texas, and give him your frank opinion about it. He’d also like to know how you learned about these logs.

We like to put these logs out but we have a bit of a problem letting travelers know they’re available. We’d appreciate it if you’d help spread the word that these logs can be picked up at any Gulf Service Station in the area on the highways listed: Hwy 80 between El Paso and Midland; Hwy 290 between El Paso and Sonora; Hwy 90 between El Paso and Del Rio. All are available eastbound and westbound. THANKS.

get your next

FREE ROAD LOG

AT ANY GULF STATION

IN VAN HORN

Interstate 10

Van Horn to El Paso 120 miles

THESE UNIQUE ROAD LOGS are available in both directions for three routes across West Texas.

1. Hwy. 80 (I.S. 10 & 20) between Midland-Odessa and El Paso.
2. Hwy. 290 (I.S. 10) between Sonora-Ozona and El Paso.
3. Hwy. 90 between Del Rio and El Paso.

THESE LOGS are available only at Gulf Service Stations for customers. The purpose is to give you interesting information about the country between towns. The Gulf Service Stations across the area have full printed separate information for you about the towns themselves. Ask for it while you have your gasoline tank filled.

Van Horn El. 4,050 ft. Pop. 2,100. From the way this town is strung along the highway, you can tell that it is principally a service station, restaurant, motel center for travelers, although it is also a ranching supply center and county seat of Culberson County.

It’s time for a gasoline and rest stop at one of The three fine Gulf stations. Mitchell’s Gulf is a few blocks east on Hwy. 80. The Oilwell Gulf is a few blocks to the west on Hwy. 80, and the West Side Gulf is, of course, on the west side of town as you go out to El Paso. Each of these dealers has information for you about the Van Horn area. Be sure to tank up in Van Horn. It’s 120 miles to El Paso and very few accommodations on the new Interstate Hwy. No. 10.

Mileage

0.0 At the caution signal light in Van Horn.

Record your mileage here and add it to the figures given in the log to get your speedometer reading at any point. Allow for some variation as speedometers do vary, and tire tread wear and inflation make a difference.

As you go out of Van Horn, you start up through The Carrizo mountains. The pass is at 4,600 ft.

3.8 Roadside Park. In 1880 the last Indian campaign took palce at various locations around Van Horn. Best known was a hit and run battle at Rattlesnake Springs. It took 2,000 men under General Grierson, commander of Ft. Davis, and 2,000 men under General Travinio, working together, to dispose of the Indian Chief Victorio and 180 braves. Grierson finally drove the Indians into Mexico by occupying all the watering places, and Col. Terrazas, with a troop of soldiers and Indian scouts, ambushed the Indians in the basin of Tres Castillos, northern Chihuahua, on October 14, 1880. They killed Victorio and practically all of his band.

At the county line you leave the Central Time Zone and enter the Mountain time Zone. To avoid a lot of confusion farther up the road, you’d better set your watch BACK one hour. They tell me it has something to do with the Earth’s rotation. No wonder those astronauts are so busy. They have to change their watches 24 times each 90 minutes!

There is a good bit of mineralization in the Van Horn area. The Hazel mine north of here produced a lot of copper and some silver at one time. Sheet mica has been produced in the mountains near Van Horn. Manganese was produced during the World War II shortage.

5.0 Those green and white signs at the side of the road with unexplained numbers on them are mileage markers. They show the distance to the New Mexico state line by Interstate 10 when completed. Deduct 20 for the El Paso mileage.

7.0 Note the dark shiny, slick-looking rock in the road cuts. This is Pre-Cambrian Schist. These rocks, possibly 19,000 ft. thick, are steeply tilted and folded, and about as old a rock as you will ever see. They are probably 800 to 1,000 million years old.

8.0 The Gifford Hill rock quarry is on your right. It has been in operation for over 40 years. Its product is used to surface the roads in a large part of west Texas. Their crushed rock is the reddish brown gravel you see at the side of the pavement. The newest roads in Texas are amoung the oldest in the world since that gravel is about 900 million years old.

10.8 Allamore to the right on the Texas and Pacific Railroad. Hot Wells two miles to the left, on the Southern Pacific Railroad. The two rail lines join at Sierra Blanca. From there on in to El Paso the rail line is owned by the Southern Pacific, but both companies use it.

On your right is a talc-grinding plant. The mineral is mined in rock chunks, graded by color and then ground and shipped in paper bags. Yes, it’s what it sounds like. It’s ground up as a base for talcum powder, but most of it is used as a filler in paint and in making ceramic tile.

12.0 The Eagle Mountains are 8 miles to your left.Eagle Peak El. 7,496 ft. Complicated geology but mostly a series of lava flows. The Overland Trail of the gold rush days went along the north slope and there are ruins of a stage station at Eagle Springs. Fluorspar has been mined in these mountains. No activity now.

18.0 Eagle Flat Mesa on your right just north of the railroad. El. 5,000 ft.

22.5 Good view of Sierra Blanca Mountain ahead and the Quitman Mountains ahead to the left.

33.2 Sierra Blanca, El. 4,500 ft. Pop. 850. Named after the white mountain to the west, which was an important landmark for early wagon trains. A ranch supply town. Most of the country north of here is a bolson; that is, it has interior drainage with no outlet. This forms salt deposits in shallow lakes.

For the Sierra Blanca Gulf Station, take FM 1111 Exit and west on Highway 80. Easy return to the Interstate.

34.9 Sierra Blanca (white mountain) is the light colored one on your right. El. 6,894 ft. It is a volcanic intrusive; that is, molten rock came up from far below into other rocks which have since weathered away, leaving this harder rock standing up above the area. It is composed of micro-granite — very fine grained.

37.3 You are about to start down a long hill — 15 miles long — during which you descend from 4,700 ft. to 3,500 ft. Before the new road was built, this was one of the best radiator boilers in Texas for those who headed east. Heavy trucks still make a grind of it.

40.1 You are curving around the north end of the Quitman Mountains. The Malone Mountains to the right ahead contain deposits of gypsum. That’s hydrous calcium sulfate which is used as a soil dressing, to make plaster of paris, and building wallboard.

40.5 Road side Park. The Bonanza Mine and the Alice Ray mine in the Quitman Mountains at one time produced Silver, lead and zinc. Now abandoned. The mountains ahead of you are in Old Mexico. The lowest portion of the valley ahead of you is occupied by the Rio Grande. The country from here to El Paso is called the Upper Rio Grande Valley, to distinguish it from the Lower Rio Grande Valley down near the Gulf.

52.1 FM. road No. 34 to your left goes down the river. About 5-1/2 miles will take you to the site of old Ft. Quitman, established in 1858. Abandoned in 1877. This was an important way-station on the Overland Trail to the gold rush, and a headquarters for fighting Indians and outlaws. It was south of here that the Mexican army exterminated Victorio and his band of 180 Indian braves in the last Indian battle. Sheet erosion has removed the old fort; it’s very difficult even to locate it’s site.

52.5 The bottom of that long hill is marked by the bridge, and you are in the Rio Grande Valley. The rim rock of the Diablo Plateau is about 15 miles to the north. This side of the rim the drainage is into the salt flat country 50 miles north of Van Horn.

To the left is the irrigated valley. Contrast it to the desert (8” annual rainfall) you are going over. You will see it to your left all the way to El Paso. Some of the irrigation water comes from wells, but most of it is from the elephant Butte reservoir in New Mexico, north of the Texas line. Even in good years, water is scarce.

The Elephant Butte Dam and other irrigation projects north of it have about dried up the Rio Grande at this point. Along here much of the year it is possible to walk across the Rio Grande without getting your shoe soles wet. From here on downstream the river makes a come-back from mountain springs, and then a lot of water comes in from Mexico’s Rio Concho, which joins the Rio Grande just above Presidio in the big Bend Country.

The Rio Grande is a remarkable river. Over 2,100 miles in length, it is fourth longest river in North America, exceeded in length only by the Mississippi-Missouri, and the McKenzie-Peace and the Yukon in Canada. It rises in southern Colorado on the continental divide, at an elevation of 12,000 ft. For 1,300 miles it is the boundary between the Unites States and Mexico, the longest boundary river in the Western Hemisphere, and with one possible exception, the longest in the world.

At one point or another in its course it is every kind of river — snow-fed mountain stream, desert stream, canyon-enclosed torrent, meandering coastal river. Very few world’s rivers irrigate as much country. From a time before recorded history, it has been the determining factor in the growth of civilization, bringing water to areas of need. Its location determined the location of Indian camps, of transcontinental travel, and of the earliest white settlements.

60.0 The road along here and from here on in to El Paso is in a true desert area. The extremely low relative humidity causes a very high evaporation rate of 99 inches a year - 12 times the annual rainfall.

62.0 The Finlay Mountains are off to your right. Mountains to your left are in Old Mexico — note the folded structures.

65.0 You are now coming in range of the El Paso Radio Stations: Here they are: KROD 600 KC, KHEY 690 KC, XELO 800 KC, KELP 920 KC, KIZZ 1150 KC, KSET 1340 KC, KTSM 1380 KC, KINT 1590 KC.

88.7 Roadside Parks — two of them — one on each side.

90.1 Fabens interchange. Fabens is a farming supply town. El. 3,621 ft. Pop. 3,134. It might be a good idea to go left here and take old Hwy. 80 up the valley for the interesting sights, especially Ysleta. Jim Yearwood at the Fabens Gulf Station on the east side of town can give you lots of information about the area.

92.0 The mountains ahead are the Franklin Mountains with the city of El Paso at their base. they are the eroded remnants of an upthrust fault block with the scarp slope facing you. Highest point 7,167 ft. and 3,000 ft. above the surrounding terrain. the gap in these mountains made by the Rio Grande is the pass that gave El Paso its name. This is the lowest snow free route from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the rocky Mountains.

105.5 Exit here for a Travel Information Center on right. Lots of free information about El Paso and vicinity.

107.2 Ysleta Interchange. The oldest town in Texas. We recommend this side trip, only 2-1/2 miles to the fascinating old mission. In 1862 the Indians in New Mexico rebelled against their Spanish masters and drove them south to the presidio (military post) at El Paso del Norte (now Juarez). Some of them from Ysleta and Socorro, New Mexico, moved down the west bank of the river and founded Ysleta del Sur and Socorro del Sur, (south). Later, the course of the river changed leaving these settlements on the east bank. San Elizario was founded a little later.

Some of the mission buildings, around which these settlements clustered, are still standing. You can see them today. Four of the seven acres at the Mission de Corpus Christi de la Isleta del Sur (Ysleta) have been in constant cultivation since 1682. Each year on July 16th the descendants of the Tiqua Indians dress in weird costumes and perform the pagan dances of their ancestors.

108.0 Entering El Paso. El Paso del Rio del Norte. El. 3.393 ft. at the airport. Pop. of El Paso and Juarez, about 600,000.

The purpose of these Newell-Gulf Road Logs is to give you information mostly about the country between towns. Obviously, we just haven’t the space to cover the information about El Paso. BUT — the Gulf Service Stations in El Paso do have this information. All of the Gulf Service Stations on the highway in El Paso have full, printed information for you.

115.3 Geronimo Interchange. Large Basset Center Shopping area to right.

116.4 You are approaching the Raynolds Blvd. Exit. For the Gulf Station take exit to right and cross over. Easy return to the interstate.

120.2 Downtown Exit from the Interstate. Take this one for the Civic Center Gulf Station just ahead to your left.

This type of road log is a new idea and I’d sort of like to know what you think of it. It’s been a lot of work climbing those mountains to measure the elevation and counting all the people in those towns but it’s been fun too. If you have time why not drop a note or card to me, Johnny Newell, Box 390, Alpine, Texas 79830. Your frank opinion would be appreciated.

I’d also like to know how you got your first log. I like to put them out but it’s quite a problem letting travelers know they’re available. I’d appreciate it if you’d spread the word that these logs are available at any Gulf Service Station between El Paso and Midland, between El Paso and Sonora and between El Paso and Del Rio. All Are available eastbound as well as westbound.

May we wish you a very pleasant continuation of your journey? Have a good time and Drive Carefully!

When you return, stop at one of the Gulf Service Stations in El Paso and they’ll be glad to give you eastbound Newell-Gulf Road Logs, which we hope will make your trip more interesting and more enjoyable, since you’ll know what you are seeing.

Copyright © W. J. Newell 1967

These unique Road Logs are available in both directions for most of the highways in West Texas. They’re available only at Gulf Service Stations for customers. The purpose is to give you interesting information about the country between towns. The Gulf Service stations across the area have full printed separate information for you about the towns themselves. Ask for it while you have your gasoline tank filled.

PECOS. El. 2580 ft., Pop. 16,000. If you haven’t done it already, this town is worth looking over. The West of the Pecos Museum and the full size replica of Judge Roy Bean’s Saloon are especially noteworthy. There are two Newell - Gulf Service Stations on Hwy. 80 to give you information. The Gateway Gulf Station on east Hwy. 80, and the Bell Garage on west Hwy. 80. There is also the South Pecos Gulf Station at IH 20 and Hwy. 285.

Mileage

0.0 Start at the South Pecos Gulf station on Interstate 20 at the intersection of Hwy. 285 which goes to downtown Pecos and on to Carlsbad. That museum is just 2 miles north on Hwy. 285.

Record your speedometer reading here and add it to the figures given in the margin to get your speedometer reading at any point in the Newell-Gulf Road Log. Allow some variation as speedometers do vary and tire tread wear and inflation also make a difference.

0.1 Go west on the entrance ramp. Just after entering the ramp take the left at the split for IH 20. Take right for the service road if you want to see the City Park with its prairie dog town.

1.8 Here’s the exit for Hwy. 18 to Balmorhea, Ft. Davis, Alpine and the Big Bend areas. If it’s between July 1st and Sept. 15th, I’d suggest you take this exit, make a short right to Hwy. 80, then left to go by the cantaloupe packing sheds. This brings you back into IH 20 in a couple of miles. In season you can buy a huge sack with about 10 cantaloupes for $1.00. They’re culls with only surface imperfections but the taste is the same. Pecos cantaloupe are famous all over the country. Most are shipped out by express as gift packages at premium prices. They say that the minerals in the soil account for the distinctive flavor.

4.5 Entrance ramp from Hwy. 80 where you join this log if you came through Pecos. If you did, deduct 4.5 mi. from your speedometer reading and put that in the margin above.

6.0 You are now WEST OF THE PECOS. The last frontier, an arid country of monstrous canyons, mountains and deserts. Rich in wild and woolly history, a country practically unknown to the rest of the world until the opening of the railroads in 1882. History before that centered on the great trails of the Indians, the Spaniards, and the Emigrants to California. The “West of the Pecos” is a province itself. It is entirely different from the rest of Texas geologically, geographically, and scenically. The fauna, the flora, and the topography are also of a special kind.

8.0 You are now in the tremendous Pecos irrigation district. It’s about 10 miles wide here, extends 8 miles to your right and 25 miles to your left, and is underlain by 1200 ft. of water-soaked alluvium. All of this started in 1947 with the discovery of the water which turned $3.00 per acre land into $300.00 per acre land almost overnight. In 1947, 2500 acres were irrigated; now the total is 185,000 acres. Cotton is the main crop and production averages 2.4 bales to the acre, much of it long staple, pima cotton. There are also many feed crops and the famous Pecos cantaloupe. Much experimenting is going on in the area with various vegetables.

The wells are 500 ft. to 1,000 ft. deep, depth to water 130 ft. to 350 ft., produce 200 gal. to 2500 gal. per minute and have 16” to 18” surface casing. Each well costs $15,000 to $20,000. To raise a crop it takes 4 ft. of water on the land each year, including a certain amount to wash out the salts that accumulate. Each inch of water on the land costs 60¢ to $1.00 per acre. That’s 1,300,000 gallons on each acre each year, or about 120 billion gallons for the area. There are over 1,000 wells, between 100 and 200 acres to the well. This is really big business. Farms range up to 2,000 acres in size and a farmer may have $250,000.00 to $1,000,000.00 invested in the crop alone by harvest time. The water is produced from sand which gets its recharge from rainfall, from mountain run-off from the south, and from cretaceous limestone rock strata below the sand.

9.0 Notice all the telephone and telegraph lines that parallel the road, and there are buried cables you don’t see. This is one of the most important communications corridors in the country between the East and West coast.

10.0 You can spot the irrigation wells as each one has an engine, usually fueled by natural gas. The drive shaft projects out from it to the gear head immediately over the well. That horizontal oil barrel contains “drip oil,” which lubricates the turbine at the bottom of the well. You’ll see a few shacks but no farmers’ homes. They live in town.

Watch the left side of the road for the abrupt change from irrigated country to ranch country. It all looked the same before the discovery of high yield water in 1947.

14.3 SALT DRAW BRIDGE. This draw empties (but only after a heavy rain) into Toyah Lake south of Pecos and then into the Pecos River.

20.0 TOYAH. El. 2909 ft. Pop. 294. Toyah is an Indian word meaning much water, but you’d not know it from looking around. This town was established as a division point on the railroad in 1881. Water for the steam engines had to be brought from Monahans 55 miles east in a daily water train until 1933 when a 6” to 14” water line was built, at a cost of a million dollars. This line comes from a spring-fed lake 40 miles southwest in the Davis Mountains in Big Abuja (needle) canyon. The elevation drop from 4200 ft. to 2909 ft. requires several pressure reducing stations. The old town is across the RR to your right.

22.0 TOYAH County Club Residential area on your left!

23.0 This country looks pretty grim but every bit of it is ranched. The ranches are about 20 to 40 sections in size - that’s 12,000 to 25,000 acres. they run 15 to 20 cows per section. With inflation, the value of the land has gone up to about $15.00 per acre, but that’s for the surface only. It can be very valuable if you add the mineral rights. These ranchers get high rentals for their oil leases. So it’s not true that this land was put here only to hold the rest of the world together.

25.0 Rainfall along here averages just about 10 inches a year which classifies it as a semi-desert. They get over 16 inches in the Davis Mountains and it increases to 16 inches at Midland. From there to the east, rainfall increases with remarkable uniformity toward the lower Texas-Louisiana border at the rate of one inch more of rainfall each 12-1/2 miles.

29.2 Ahead in the distance is the north front of the Davis Mountains. Highest part is on the South side beyond view from here. Mt. Livermore El. 8,382 ft. East of it there is no higher point on the North American continent. The Davis Mountains cover an area about 40 by 50 miles and are composed mostly of volcanic rocks, some limestone, deformed by broad folds. Higher slopes are wooded with pine, oak and black cherry. A very rough country, it contains white and black tail deer, bear, mountain lion, antelope, wolves and coyotes. There are deep canyons and springs. Mostly a cattle ranching country, but with a few apple orchards. This was the last home of the Mescalero Apache, finally driven out by the soldiers from Ft. Davis, now a National Historic Site, and in the process of being restored. The old Overland Trail went from the east up deep canyons to Ft. Davis and then around the southern edge of the mountains. The average elevation of Jeff Davis County is over 5,000 ft. Most of it is over a mile high.

30.0 If your car radio seems below par along here, don’t worry about it. You’re just pretty far from stations. Best bets are KIUN at Pecos 1400 kc, KCRS Midland 550 kc and Ft. Stockton KFST at 860 kc.

31.0 The sun has riz, the sun has set, and here we is, in Texas yet.

32.0 The flat topped mountains ahead are mesas and the word means table in Spanish. There are hundreds of them east of Ft. Stockton. They are formed by erosion when rock layers are horizontal and hard layers are underlain by softer rocks. The soft rocks weather away but in some spots the hard rock protects that underneath, leaving a mesa. Note the steep slopes.

34.0 You are now in the Western part of the Delaware Basin, the western section of the great Permian Basin of West Texas. It’s an underground geological basin in which sediments were deposited between 240 million and 200 million years ago. The Delaware Basin extends from the Glass Mountains on the south to about Carlsbad. New Mexico, on the north, and from the Delaware Mountains ahead of you on the right in the distance to about Pyote on the east. Sediments in the center of the basin are 25,000 ft. thick. The main significance of all this is the fact that this large area is just about the hottest oil exploration region in the country now. Dozens of oil and gas fields have been discovered including the deepest producers in the world at over 22,000 ft. and each month or two a new record is set.

38.2 Those horizontally bedded rocks are cretaceous limestone which underlies the country you have been coming over since east of Pecos. They are 100 million years old. West of Van Horn the Newell-Gulf Road Log will show you rocks 900 million years old.

42.0 You’re approaching the end of Hwy. IH 20 and its intersection with IH 10 which you will use to continue west. Elevation right here is 4,000 ft.

The people of West Texas are very farsighted. Just look at all the land they’ve reserved for the population explosion.

That’s Gomez Peak on the left. El. 6298 ft. On its slopes you’ll notice the light colored cretaceous rock with the dark colored, younger lava flows above. This is the northwest corner of the Davis Mountains.

43.2 ROADSIDE PARK ahead.

44.3 You are going through a pass between the Davis Mountains on the left and the Apache and Delaware Mountains to the right.

47.5 Before you take the curve to the right ahead, look back at Gomez Peak to the left. You’ll see the Apache Brave outlined at the crest of the mountain with his head to the left facing the sky, his neck, hands folded on his chest, knees elevated to the right. Definitely a brave. Old legends say that if he ever rises up, the Indians will reclaim this country. I say that if those rocky mountains ever rise up, they can have it.

51.3 HIGHWAY 118 loop comes back in from the Davis Mountains. This goes through the famous X Ranch, owned by the Reynolds Brothers. They have quite a herd of buffalo down that road.

51.6 KENT. El. 4200. Pop. 30.

57.9 Those picket fences on the hill crests at the right are snow fences.

63.3 Far ahead and to the left you can see the Beach Mountains and to the right the Baylor Mountains with the Sierra Diablo behind them. You’ll go through a pass in these mountains west of Van Horn.

64.7 The valley between you and the mountains ahead leads north 45 miles to a 35-mile long string of sometimes wet, but usually dry, salt lakes. You are in the farthest south and east part of the Basin and Range Province. The mountains are the upthrust blocks and the valleys are the down-faulted areas. Drainage in this basin heads up near the Chinati Mountains 110 miles south near Marfa, flows through here to the north. Since there is no outlet from the basin, the water evaporates in the lakes, leaving the salt.

66.3 APACHE MOUNTAINS on right. High point is El. 5696 ft.

69.4 The city of Plateau (locally pronounce Plat-two). In 1909-10 land promoters sold thousands of town lots in the East and some descendants are still paying taxes on them!

72.2 Entering a sand hill area. Note how the vegetation has held the sand in mounds while that around it has blown away.

76.4 Near range ahead on the left is the Wylie Mountains. Highest point is 5332 ft., just over a mile high.

78.4 WILD HORSE WELL irrigation area to the right.

80.3 Straight out to the right behind the easternmost edge of the Baylor Mountains and behind the Delaware Mountains you can see the Guadalupe mountain range’s southern edge which just comes into Texas from New Mexico. Guadalupe Mountain on the left is the highest point in Texas. El. 8751 ft. El Capitan with the steep bluff to the right looks higher because of perspective, but is “only” 8078 ft. These mountains are 60 miles from you.

81.5 Ahead on the right is a barite plant. This heavy mineral is used in drilling mud.

84.1 ROADSIDE PARK on right.

88.0 MITCHELL’S GULF STATION on the right.

88.3 Caution signal light and intersection of Hwy. 90.

88.7 OILWELL GULF STATION on the left.

89.8 HOLIDAY GULF STATION on the left.

VAN HORN. El. 4050. Pop. 2100. Strung along the highway, it is a service station, motel, restaurant center for travelers. Also a ranch supply center and County Seat. You’ve just come quite a distance and it’s 120 miles to El Paso, so it’s time for a rest stop and gasoline fill. The three fine Gulf Stations mentioned above will be glad to give you full printed information on the Van Horn area and also Newell-Gulf Road Log No. 4w, free to customers, which will take you from Van Horn on into El Paso.

Newell-Gulf Road Log No. 4W., Van Horn to El Paso, will tell you about the oldest town in Texas (you will see it), about the amazing Rio Grande, old Indian missions, lots of points of interest. You’ll enjoy your trip more if you know what you’re seeing.

This type of road log is a new idea and we’d like to know what you think of it. If you have time, why not drop a note or card to Johnny Newell, Box 390, Alpine, Texas, 79830? Your frank opinion would be appreciated. He’d also like to know how you found out about these logs. We like to put these logs out but we have quite a problem letting you travelers know they’re available. We’d appreciate it if you’d help spread the word that they can be picked up at

any Gulf Service Station in the area on the highways listed: Hwy. 80 (I.S.10) between El Paso and Midland; Hwy. 290 between El Paso and Sonora; Hwy. 90 between El Paso and Del Rio. All three routes are available eastbound and westbound. Thanks.

Copyright © W. J. Newell 1970

Get Your
NeXT ROAD LOG
-FREE TO CUSTOMERS-
AT ANY GULF SERVICE
sTATION IN VAN HORN

These unique Road Logs are available for most of the highways in the area from Midland, Sonora and Del Rio on the east to El Paso on the west. Free to customers at Gulf Service Stations.

The purpose of these logs is to give you interesting information about the country between towns. The Gulf Service Stations throughout the area have full printed separate information for you about the towns themselves. Ask for information about Midland or Odessa while you have your tank filled at one of the several fine Gulf stations in these towns.

Mileage

0.0 Log mileage starts at the intersection of IH 20 and Hwy. 349 which is 1.8 mi. south of the center of Midland.

Record your speedometer reading here and add it to the figures given in the margin below to get your speedometer reading at any point in the Newell-Gulf Road Log. Allow some mileage variation. Speedometers do vary and tire wear and inflation also make a difference. We’ll show you how to get the right reading if you’re joining us farther down the road.

MIDLAND. El. 2760 ft., Pop. 68,452. It’s called The Tall City and a look at the skyline will tell you why. More than 650 oil and affiliated companies maintain offices here. Midland man’s bones were found two miles south of town. He dates from 20,000 years ago, oldest human remains found on this continent. There’s a museum at the public library.

1.7 MIDKIFF ROAD exit ramp. One mile to the right if you’re looking for Midland’s Motel Row. We go straight. If you’re in Midland, go out Hwy. 80 to Hwy 1369 (1.7 mi. west of the Holiday Inn) take a left for one mile and join IH 20. Read your speedometer on the merging lane, deduct 4.7 mi. and record that figure on the line above to get in phase with the log mileage.

6.7 MIDLAND AIR TERMINAL coming up on the right. A former Air Force Base, it is the main airport of the region and there’d also an industrial area. On the west side of the field you’ll see KMID TV, NBC Ch. 2 under that tent-shaped concrete roof.

8.0 The most significant thing about the area covered by this log is the oil and gas production, so we’ll make an attempt at the world’s shortest geology lesson. Stating 400 to 500 million years ago a great sea, like the present Mediterranean Sea, covered an area about 800 miles long with its northern tip in western Kansas and 300 miles wide. From time to time the sea level varied, dropping to expose parts of the area as land and the rest as basins. This was caused by either the great amounts of water tied up in glaciers during glacial periods, or by movements up and down of this part of the earth’s crust;possibly both happened. During the Permian period - 240 to 200 million years ago - great thicknesses of sediments were deposited in this warm sea. Lime was precipitated to form limestone; coral-like creatures built tremendous reefs something like the great barrier reef in Australia. Anhydrite and potassium salts were deposited in the shallow portions behind the reefs as water evaporated. The teeming creatures of this sea died and sank to the stinking bottom to be covered by sediments, to decompose, and later become oil and gas. In this area the most significant underground structures are:

1. The Delaware Basin which extends from the Delaware Mountains about 40 miles west of Pecos to about Pyote. This underground basin has deposits in excess of 25,000 feet thick ans is just coming into its own as far as oil and gas production is concerned.It is about the hottest exploration area in the country today. This basin is ringed by the Capitan Reef which is exposed in Capitan Mountain 60 miles north of Van Horn.

2. The Central Basin Platform extends from about Pyote to east of Odessa. This was a persistent structural “high” area which spent part of the period as a peninsula or possibly an island. Deposits were thinner here, making the depth to the oil deposits shallower so this area has been more thoroughly explored by wells and it contains most of the oil reserves discovered so far.

3. The Midland Basin extends from a short distance east of Odessa to beyond Big Spring; you are over it now. This is similar to the Delaware Basin, but the thickness of the sediments is less - around “only” 18,000 feet.

The Permian Basin is the second largest oil field in the United States, with over 2,800 producing reservoirs, more than 88,000 producing wells, a daily production in excess of 1,500,000 barrels of oil, so much natural gas, (25 trillion cubic feet) that the imagination can’t comprehend it. This basin contains 12.4% of the nation’s gas and 19.6% of the oil reserves - 7 billion barrels. If you’d like to know more, visit the Odessa Public Library, read and study their 16,000 volume geological collection as I did to prepare this log.

15.1 LOOP 338 EXIT RAMP. Take this for one mile for Odessa’s Motel Row or if you want to go through town. Not much traffic either way. The Odessa Country Club is over there too and as is proper and fitting for this area, it has its own oil wells on the golf course!

15.9 Ahead to the left you’ll see the great Odessa petrochemical complex. Rexall, Shell, El Paso Natural Gas Co., Southwest Cryogenics and American Cryogenics make all sorts of things, especially plastics.

19.5 ODESSA. El. 2936 ft., Pop. a bit over 100,000 but growing so fast that any figure we’d give you would be out of date, and from a population of around 3,000 in 1930! Cleanest city in the U.S. in its population category for three straight years. Absolutely impossible to tell you in this log about Prairie Dog Park, the Petrochemical complex, the dozens of things of interest. Stop at one of the fine Gulf Stations and they’ll give you full printed information about Odessa.

22.3 EXIT for the Odessa Meteor Crater about 4 miles south of here and the 2nd largest in the U.S., 6th largest in the world. A mass of 1,000 tons struck the earth, exploded or shifted 43 million cu. ft. of rock and made a crater 500 ft. in diameter and 100 ft. deep with a rock buttressed rim. The road to it is improved but not paved.

24.0 Merging traffic. If you’re joining us at Odessa, come out Hwy. 80 west and join IH 20 at this point. Deduct 24.0 mi. from your speedometer reading, put the result in the margin, add this to the log readings to get your mileage to any log point.

24.5 The next 10 miles you’ll see lots of radio towers. Most of these are for communications for oil companies and oil field supply houses. You’ll notice lots of transmitting antennas on cars in this area.

27.4 That black smoke ahead on the left is coming from the Sid Richardson Carbon Black Plant, the largest in the world, producing 60 million pounds a year. You and I adjust our gas burners for a nice clean blue flame — and here they do just the opposite because soot is their product. Soot is so fine that a trillion particles would make a dot the size of a pinhead. Figures get so astronomical in this plant that they lose their meaning. They burn two billion cubic feet of natural gas a month in 560 burner houses, each 12 feet wide and 148 feet long and each with 3,000 burner tips — that’s 1,680,000 burner tips. Ninety-three per cent of the carbon black goes into rubber products, mainly tires in which it acts as a binder and as a wearing surface. Without carbon black you’d get only one tenth of the mileage. A 700 x 16 passenger tire contains about four pounds of carbon black. Used as a coloring agent, it absorbs 98% of the light that strikes it- about as deep a black as exists anywhere. A single pound, mixed with 11 pounds of mineral oil will print 20,000 newspaper pages, and as a coloring agent it’s used surprisingly enough, in chocolates and licorice. As a filtering agent it makes brown sugar into white sugar, makes your salad oil colorless and removes the gasses from radio tubes. The list of uses would take up a couple of pages and includes shoe polish, typewriter ribbon, carbon paper, blackboards and the melting of harbor and river ice by absorbing heat. A little known but very widely useful product. As you get closer You’ll notice that it doesn’t do the vegetation any good and we’ll bet this is one of the few places in the world with black jack rabbits.

Copyright © W. J. Newell 1970

31.4 That white structure ahead on the left is the Southwestern Portland Cement Co. plant. To make that cement, limstone is crushed, a little clay and other material is added and it is put into the high end of the kiln, that’s the long horizontal tube you see. As the kiln rotates at one revolution per minute, the rock travels to the lower end against a tremendous blast of burning natural gas which heats it to incandescence - 2700 degrees - or more than one fourth the temperature of the surface of the sun. Other materials such as gypsum are added to control the setting time and it is crushed so fine that it will pass through a sieve with 105,000 openings per square inch, a sieve that will actually hold water. It is then loaded into paper bags which have both ends sewed up before the cement is put in. This neat trick is performed by blowing the cement in through a hole in the corner of the bag which has a flap seal to hold the cement after the tube is removed. At this plant the kiln is 400 ft. long, 11-1/2 ft. in diameter, one of the largest pieces of moving machinery in the world. Each 24 hours the kiln burns 3-1/2 million cu. ft. of gas, and each day 2,400 tons of rock are used. The silos are 121 ft. high - as high as a 10 story building and store 3,760,000 pounds of cement. They put a mountain through a sieve - literally.

33.5 You’ve just come down a hill which is the edge of the caprock underlying most of the area behind you and the panhandle. Look back to the left and you’ll see where all that limestone for the cement plant is coming from.

34.8 PENWELL. El. 2970, Pop. 400. Gulf Service Station is on the left and there’s a crossover so you can go over if you need anything.

36.0 The “pecking grasshopper” machinery you see all through the area is oil well pumping equipment. Most of the wells flow under natural pressure and are not visble from the highway.

40.0 ROADSIDE PARK with crossover coming up on the left.

49.1 You’re entering the Monahans Sandhills. They’re about 10 miles wide and run 40 miles north to south. You’ll see some picket fences on the left ahead which attempt to keep the sand off the highway, much as snow fences are used.

50.6 PARK ROAD NO. 41 and HISTORICAL MARKER. This is the Monahans Sandhills State Park and Museum and worth the very short side trip. The museum is operated by a local group, admission 25¢ and 15¢. Admission to the park road and concessions center 50¢ per car. The 1-1/2 mile road takes you into the center of the Sahara-like dune area where you can take a ride on a converted jeep dune buggy. Picnic spots. Whis was a stop on the Comanche War Trail used by the Indians of North Texas and Oklahoma to raid down into the relatively civilized areas of northern Mexico in the 1700’s and up to 1850. Some of the raiding parties numbered as many as 1,000 Indians. In 1846 alone they drove 10,000 head of stolen livestock north out of Chihuahua.

56.0 EXIT to MONAHANS at the Hwy. 18 interchange. This is the better exit because the Southside Station is here. They can service your car if you need anything and they have full printed information for you on Monahans. Easy exit and re-entrance to the interstate.

MONAHANS. El. 2611 ft., P.p. 9252. Named after Pat Monahans who dug the first water well between the Pecos River and Big Spring in 1880. You can still see the well. Nice clean oil well servicing city.

During the oil boom’s wildest days in 1928 Shell oil Co. built a million barrel (42 million gallon) concrete bowl here for storage of oil while awaiting shipment. It’s 522 ft. long and 425 ft. wide. It was used for several years but didn’t work very well. The oil evaporated and seeped out of cracks. Later they tried to use it as a recreation lake but they couldn’t make it hold water either. It’s been called the world’s biggest bathtub.

58.1 Ahead on the right you can see the Permian electric generating plant of the Texas Electric Service Co. A very large one.

61.1 The gulf tanks on your left are what is called a tank battery. This is a collecting station on an oil lease where the oil is collected and measured before being put into a pipe line. The Permian Basin is underlain by uncounted miles of pipe lines for both oil and gas.

That red tank and white silo on the right are the remains of an old carbon black plant.

66.5 ROADSIDE PARK REST AREA coming up ahead on the right. The historical marker tells you that Ward County was named for Thomas William Ward.

70.0 Ahead on the left you see the water tank and the buildings of the old Pyote Air force Base, unofficially known as Rattlesnake Bomber Base in World War II. They trained crews for B-17’s and B-29’s.

70.5 Part of the old base has been rebuilt, and is now the West Texas Children’s Home. The home cares for dependent and neglected (not delinquent) children. West of this is a warehouse area.

71.9 After World War II those fields to the left were covered as far as the eye could see with “pickled” and stored planes, including the Enola Gay which dropped the first atom bomb at Hiroshima.

72.0 To the far left on the skyline is the Pyote Air Force Radar Station. Built in the 1950’s, now abandoned. You are now over that Delaware Basin we told you about back at 8.0 miles. You’ll be over it for 60 miles.

73.0 If you’re in a hurry, that’s one thing, but if you want to see West Texas we’d strongly advise you to consider turning left at Pecos on Hwy. 17 and visiting the Davis Mountains and the Big Bend National Park. Deserts, canyons, mountains, the fascinating old Fort Davis, now operated by the National Park Service, McDonald Observatory, the Rio Grande, the Camino del Rio, the key geological spot of the continent. More things than we can even list here. Well, if you don’t do it this trip, it’s well worth a trip back for that area alone.

84.8 BARSTOW, off to the right. El. 2551 ft., Pop. 707. This was the county seat 1892 until 1938 when the population increase at Monahans caused by the oil development enabled them to outvote Barstow. Irrigation from the Pecos river was started here in 1894.

87.5 THE PECOS RIVER ahead. Before irrigation and water impounding upstream, the Pecos was a very difficult barrier to travel. It was 65 to 100 feet wide, 8 to 10 feet deep, with a rushing current and high banks. Best spot to cross was Horsehead Crossing about 60 miles southeast of here and this was the focal point of most of the early trails. The Goodnight-Loving Trail came from northeast of Aniline to near San Angelo to Horsehead Crossing, then up the west bank of the Pecos near here to Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, and Colorado. That’s the route the cattle took to market. Earlier, in 1583, Antonio de Espejo came down the Pecos along here on his return to Mexico from an exploration of New Mexico. The Butterfield Overland Mail Route was started in 1857 with a $600,000 subsidy from the U.S, Government. It went from St. Louis to Los Angeles and San Francisco, crossing to Pecos at Horsehead Crossing and up the Pecos to about the New Mexico line and on to El Paso. This stage line operated twice a week, took 25 days for the trip, cost $200 one way, a lot of money in those days.

92.0 EAST PECOS INTERCHANGE. Take this if you want to go through Pecos. Not much traffic either way and several Gulf Service stations where you can get Newell - Gulf Road Log No. 5W to take you from Pecos to Van Horn, also printed information on Pecos.

94.3 INTERCHANGE INTERSECTION of IH 20 and Hwy. 285 north to Carlsbad ahead. Easy exit and immediate re-entry at the South Pecos Gulf station on your right.

94.7 THE SOUTH PECOS GULF STATION. Center of town is just 1.6 miles north.

PECOS. El. 2580., Pop. 16,000. This was an old frontier town and it has a fascinating history, and many points of interest, especially the West of the Pecos Museum and the full size replica of Judge Roy Bean’s Saloon. This was the site of the world’s first Rodeo, July 4, 1883, and they still hold that rodeo for four days, including July 4th each year. At this point we might as well set straight the pronunciation of Pecos and Rodeo. It’s pay-cuss with the accent on the Pay, and it’s rodio as in radio with the accent on the ro.

BE SURE to pick up Newell-Gulf Road Log No. 5W at one of the Gulf Service Stations in Pecos to take you to Van Horn. You’ll read about and see one of the largest irrigation areas in the country, the Davis Mountains, the desert, the salt lakes, history, geology and geography. You’ll enjoy your trip more if you know what you’re seeing.

GET YOUR NEXT NEWELL-GULF ROAD LOG
AT ANY GULF SERVICE STATION IN PECOS
• FREE TO CUSTOMERS •

Highway 290

To El Paso Via Van Horn 125 Mi.

Mileage

0.0 Ft. Stockton, El. 2954, Pop. 7500. While you get your tank filled at one of the two fine Newell-Gulf Service stations here,ask at the Gulf station for full printed infor- about Ft. Stockton.

Record your speedometer mileage at the Gulf Super Service where Hwy. 290 crosses the railroad. Add it to the mileage given in the margin below to get your speedometer reading at any point on the log. Allow some variation as speedometers, tire inflation, and tire-tread wear do vary and make a difference.

0.4 Stockton Gulf station on your right. If you start from here, deduct 0.4 miles from your speedometer reading and put that figure above.

1.0 Hwy. 285 takes off to the right for Pecos.

2.1 The tanks on the hill ahead to the left are brine tanks. Water is pumped down to a salt layer below and comes up brine, which is used to make oil well drilling mud heavier. The mud is forced down the center of the drill pipe to lubricate the bit, cool it, and bring cuttings to the surface around the outside of the drill pipe. It needs to be heavy to hold down the high pressures encountered and to seal the walls of the hole.

4.5 Twelve mile mesa to the left.

6.6 3.7 miles ahead Hwy. 67 takes off to the left for Alpine and the Big Bend country. Might be a good idea to consider a trip to the Big Bend National Park on the Rio Grande. It’s a wildly beautiful, rugged country and well worth seeing. Full information is available at the Newell-Gulf stations in Alpine. You can continue your trip west on Hwy. 90 and you’ll find Newell-Gulf Road Logs at the Gulf Stations there for Hwy. 90.

7.0 Leon Springs is 2 miles to your left. This was a stage stop on the Overland Trail.

8.2 Note irrigated area to the left. Wells provide the water.

10.3 Highway 67 Y off to the left for Alpine and Hwy. 90.

11.9 The Glass Mountains are in the distance straight to your left and the Davis Mountains are ahead to the left. You’ll be in sight of them for 100 miles.

12.4 Firestone Tire Test Center ahead on the right. They have an oval track in there, 8 miles long, 80 employees, and they rack up 5 million miles a year. Tire-testing is quite an industry in West Texas. The Automotive Proving Ground up near Pecos is largest in the world, a 10-mile perfect circle. Cars and trucks roll around 24 hours a day with only one purpose, to wear out tires. They test B.F. Goodrich, Sears and Armstrong tires. Goodyear has a track near San Angelo; an independent testing company has a track near Marfa; there’s another near Uvalde, and U.S. Tire Co. is at Laredo.

13.0 From here on, from time to time, you will see oil drilling rigs off to the right. You are now in - or rather over - the Delaware Basin. This is the western section of the great Permian Basin of West Texas. It’s an underground geological basin in which sediments were deposited between 240 and 200 million years ago. The Delaware Basin extends from the Glass Mountains on the south to about Carlsbad, New Mexico, on the north and from the Davis and Delaware mountains on the west to Ft. Stockton on the east. Sediments in the center of the basin are 25,000 ft. thick. The main significance of all this is that this large area is now the hottest oil exploration area in the country. Dozens of oil and gas fields have been discovered, including the deepest producers in the world at over 22,000 ft. and each month or so a new record is set.

15.0 You are passing through another irrigation area. Note wells and pumps.

26.1 Roadside Park on right.

35.1 Good view of the eats end of the Davis Mountains.

Highest point is Mount Livermore, El. 8382 ft. on the south side and out of view. East of Mt. Livermore there is no higher point on the North American continent. The Davis Mountains cover an area about 40 by 50 miles and are composed mostly of volcanic rocks in contrast to the limestone you have been seeing. There is some limestone in the Davis Mountains and all of it is deformed by broad folds. The higher slopes are wooded with pine, oak and black cherry. A very rough country, it contains white and black tail deer, bear, mountain lion, antelope, wolves and coyotes. There are deep canyons and springs. Mostly a cattle-ranching country with a few apple orchards. This was the last home of the Mescalero Apaches, finally driven out by the soldiers from Ft. Davis, now a National Historic Site in the process of being restored.

35.2 Barilla Draw bridge. Drainage from Ft. Davis and higher in the mountains comes down Limpia Canyon and through here. This draw can fill with water after a rain in the mountains. Exploer Antonio Espejo took this route through the mountains in 1583. Later it was the route of the Emigrant Trail of the Gold Rush and the Overland Trail and the Butterfield mail and stage route. There was a stage station just south of the road here.

37.8 You are about to leave the mesa country which you have been in since you crossed the Pecos River.

38.6 Ahead and to the right you can see the edge of one of the largest and most important irrigation areas in the country. Irrigated by wells, the area is 10 miles wide by 25 miles north and south, all the way beyond Pecos, and underlain by 1200 ft. of water-soaked alluvium. Crops are cotton, feed crops, the famous Pecos cantaloupe, and much experimenting is going on with various vegetables. Wells are 500 to 1,000 ft. deep, depth to water 130 ft. to 350 ft., produce 200 to 2500 gallons a minute, have 16 in. to 18 in. surface casing. To raise a crop it takes 4 ft. of water on the land each season, including that used to wash out the salts that tend to accumulate. That’s 1,300,000 gallons on each acre each year, or about 120 billion gallons a year for the area. In this County (Reeves) there are 111,000 acres irrigated by 975 wells, an average of 114 acres per well. This is BIG business. Farms range up to 2,000 acres in size and a farmer may have $250,000.00 to $1,000,000.00 invested in his crop alone by harvest time. The water is produced from sand which gets its recharge from rainfall, from mountain run-off from the south, and from cretaceous limestone rock strata below the sand. Unfortunately the recharge is not enough to make up for the heavy irrigation pumping, and water levels have dropped since irrigation was started in 1947. The discovery of this water field caused quite a change in land values. It changed $3.00 per acre land into $300.00 per acre land almost overnight.

42.5 Through this irrigated area you’ll see barrels with round fluorescent tubes on top. These are bug catchers. Insects attracted by the light at night are pulled in by a fan and killed by chemicals.

47.6 Hwy. 17 Y to Pecos through the irrigation district.

47.7 Roadside Park at the west side of the Y. You are now out of the well-irrigated district and in an area irrigated by gravity from springs west of Balmorhea. More about it later.

48.4 Trees, on road ahead to left, mark former state of Texas agricultural experiment farm. Now a private farm.

51.3 Entering Brogado settlement. This was originally a Mescalero Apache village; later the Spanish built a fort. Note the shrine at right of the road at the railroad crossing. That’s the explanation for the cross on the hill to the left and others like it in the area.

52.9 Balmorhea El. 3205 ft. Pop. 1000. Jimmy’s Gulf Station and store is on your right. A good place to tank up or take on a fine supply of everything you’d need for a picnic. There are some very nice picnic spots ahead. The town was laid out in 1910 by a Mr. Balcom, a Mr. Morrah and a Mr. Rhea, hence the name. It’s supply center for the farms and ranches.

53.0 Road to left goes to Balmorhea Lake, about 2 miles.

57.0 Entrance to Balmorhea state Park, motel, restaurant camping, picnicking and plenty of room for swimming.

That’s the world’s largest walled swimming pool and San Solomon Springs, 26 million gallons of water a day, tear round at 72 degrees, is right in the bottom of the pool. Indian campsites are found in the area and old Indian irrigation ditches can be seen from the air. This spring and two others provide the water for the gravity irrigation district. Development began in 1870. There are 10,608 acres of irrigable land, but the water supply limits the use to about 5,000 to 8,000 acres. Season is mid-March to mid-October. About 31 inches of water is used to make a crop.

57.2 Toyahvale. El. 3350. Pop. 16. Toyah, an Indian word, means much water. This isn’t exactly our idea of what a railroad terminus should look like, but it is one. It’s the terminus of the Pecos Valley Railroad, station off to the left. This RR, built in 1910, goes 40 miles north to join the T & P and the Santa Fe at Pecos.

57.4 Hwy. 17 to the left goes to Ft. Davis in the heart of the Davis Mountains. You might consider a loop trip up to Ft. Davis and then back into this highway via No. 118 at Kent. It’s 54 miles farther, but you’ll see the National Historic Site at Ft. Davis, Limpia Canyon, Ft. Davis state Park, McDonald Observatory, beautiful scenery and possibly some buffalo. If you take this loop, be sure to stop at Gulf Observatory Service Station at Ft. Davis. He can give you all sorts of information about the area.

60.7 Phantom Lake Springs are about a mile off to your left in the base of that low hill.

62.0 If we seem to talk a lot about water, it’s because what you ain’t got much of becomes pretty important. For 375 miles across West Texas there are only two streams that run all the time, the Pecos and the Rio Grande. They’re called rivers only through courtesy and in contrast to the dry beds that carry water only during rains. Fortunately there is underground water throughout the whole area. Wells range from a dribble of a few gallons a minute in windmill stock wells to the tremendous 2500 gallons a minute in some irrigation wells.

63.7 Note the light colored soil to the right and the dark to the left. The light colored soil is weathered-out cretaceous limestone and the dark colored soil is from weathered volcanic rock, mostly lavas. You’ll see a good bit of this contrast.

64.2 The northernmost peak of the Davis Mountains is Gomez Peak ahead to the left. You can see an Indian maid’s face outlined, profile toward the sky with her hair running down the mountain to the right. Lighting changes during the day and it’s more distinct at some times than at others.

74.3 You can see the cretaceous limestone on the left in the base of Gomez Peak with the younger dark lava flows higher on the mountain.

76.0 Roadside Park on left.

77.9 Intersection with I-H 20 . Take left. This is the end of Hwy. 290 and you’ll be on Hwy. 80 and Interstate 10 to El Paso.

79.9 Roadside Park

81.0 You are going through a pass between the Davis Mountains on the left and the Apache and Delaware Mountains to the right.

84.2 Before you take the curve to the right ahead, look back at Gomez Peak to your left. You’ll see the Apache Brave outlined at the crest of the mountain with his head to the left facing the sky, his neck, hands folded on his chest, knees elevated to the right. Definitely a brave. Note that neither the Apache Brave nor the Indian Maiden is smiling. That’s because they’re on opposite sides of the mountain. Old legends say that if these two ever rise up, the Indians will reclaim this country. I say that if those rocky mountains ever rise up, they can have it.

88.0 Highway 118 loop comes back in from the Davis Mountains. This goes through the famous X Ranch owned by the Reynolds Brothers. They have quite a herd of buffalo down that road.

88.2 Note the odd-looking structure on top of a sharp hill to the left ahead. If you ask the locals what it is they’ll tell you that it used to be a water tower and that it’s now a watch tower. If you ask to watch for what, they’ll tell you to watch for customers.

88.3 Kent. El. 4200. Pop. 30

94.6 Those picket fences on the hill crests at the right are snow fences.

100.0 Far ahead and to the left you can see the Beach Mountains and to the right the Baylor Mountains with the Sierra Diablo behind them. You’ll go through a pass in these mountains west of Van Horn.

101.4 The valley between you and the mountains ahead leads north 45 miles to a 35-mile long string of sometimes wet, but usually dry, salt lakes. You are in the farthest south and east part of the Basin and Range Province.The mountains are the upthrust blocks and the valleys are the down faulted areas. Drainage in the basin heads up near the Chinati Mountains 110 miles south near Marfa, flows through here to the north. Since there is no outlet from the basin, the water evaporates in the lakes, leaving the salt.

102.5 Black Peak ahead on the left. El. 4779 ft.

103.0 Apache Mountains on the right. High point is El. 5696 ft.

106.1 The city of Plateau (locally pronounced Plat-two). In 1909-10 land promoters sold thousands of town lots in the east and some descendants are still paying taxes on them!

108.9 Entering a sand hill area. Note how the vegetation has held the sand in mounds while that around it has blown away.

113.1 Near range ahead on the left is the Wylie Mountains. Highest point is 5332 ft., just over amile high.

115.1 Wild Horse Well irrigation area to the right.

117.0 Straight out to the right behind the easternmost edge of the Baylor Mountains and behind the Delaware Mountains you can see the Guadalupe mountain range’s southern edge which just comes into Texas from New Mexico. Guadalupe Mountain on the left is the highest point in Texas. El. 8751 ft. El Capitan with the steep bluff to the right looks higher because of perspective, nut is *only* 8078 ft. These mountains are 60 miles from you.

118.2 Ahead on the right is a barite plant. This heavy mineral is used in drilling mud.

Roadside Park on right.

124.7 Mitchell’s Gulf Station on the right.

125.0 Caution signal light and intersection on Hwy. 90.

125.4 Oilwell Gulf Station on the left.

125.5 West Side Gulf Station on the left.

126.0 Van Horn El. 4050. Pop. 2100. Strung alongthe highway, it is a service station, motel, restaurant center for travelers. Also a ranch supply center and county seat. You’ve come quite a distance and it’s 120 mile to El Paso so it’s ime for a rest stop and gasoline fill. The three fine Gulf Stations mentioned above will be glad to give you full printed information on the Van Horn area and also Newell-Gulf Road Log No. 4W, free to customers, which will take you from Van Horn on in to El Paso.

Newell-Gulf Road Log No. 4 W, Van Horn to El Paso, will tell you about the oldest town in Texas (you’ll see it). about the amazing Rio Grande, old Indian missions, lots of points of interest. You’ll enjoy your trip more if you know what you’re seeing.

This type of road log is a new idea and we’d like to know what you think of it. If you have time, why not drop a note or card to Johnny Newell, Box 390, Alpine, Texas 79830? Your frank opinion would be appreciated. He’d also like to know how you found out about these logs. We like to put these logs out but we have quite a problem letting you travelers know that they’re available. We’d appreciate it if you’d help spread the word that they can be picked up at any Gulf Service Station in the area on the highways listed: Hwy. 80 (I.S 10) between El Paso and Midland;Hwy. 290 between El Paso and Sonora; Hwy. 90 between El Paso and Del Rio. All three routes are available eastbound and westbound. Thanks.

GET YOUR NEXT ROAD LOG
- FREE TO CUSTOMERS -
AT ANY GULF SERVICE STATION IN VAN HORN

Copyright © W. J. Newell 1967

Highway 290

Sonora and Ozona to Ft. Stockton - 149 Miles

These unique Road Logs are available in both directions for three routes across West Texas.

1. Hwy. 80 (I.S. 20 & 10) between Midland-Odessa and el Paso.

2. Hwy. 290 (I.S. 10) between sonora-Ozona and El Paso.

3. Hwy. 90 between Del Rio and El Paso.

The logs are available only at Gulf Service Stations for customers. The purpose is to give you interesting information about the country between towns. The Gulf Service Stations across the area have full printed information for you about the towns themselves. Ask for it while you have your gasoline tank filled.

Sonora. El. 2120 ft. Pop. 2839. Only town in the county and a center for ranching, wool and mohair, and quarter horses.

Mileage

0.0 Rex Merriman’s Gulf Service Station at intersection of Hwys. 290 and 277. Fill your tank at Rex’s Station. His cooperation helped make these logs possible.

Record your speedometer reading here and add it to the figures given in the margin below to get your speedometer reading at any point in the Newell-Gulf Road Log. Allow some variations as speedometers do vary and tire tread wear and inflation also make a difference.

1.8 Roadside Park on left. You are 7 miles from the turn-off to the caverns of Sonora so it’s time to consider this side trip. They are 7 miles from this highway on an excellent paved road. Open 8 AM to 6 PM. Among the most beautiful in the entire world, they are well worth the time. Take your camera. You’ll never have to wait more than 30 minutes for a tour, and the trip through takes an hour to an hour and a half. Free picnic and trailer camp sites, a zoo, snack restaurant, free barbecue pits and wood.

6.1 Roadside Park on left. You are traveling over the Edwards Plateau, an area of horizontally bedded cretaceous rocks, mostly limestone, which covers most of central West Texas. You’ll be on it until you come to the Pecos River.

8.7 Hwy. 1989 to the left goes to the Caverns of Sonora.

21.9 Roadside Park on left and liquor store on right. This is the county line and you are about to enter Crockett County which is bone dry. Not even beer.

33.2 Roadside Park and Historical marker on right just over the crest of the hill.

36.0 Note the very fine homes as you come into Ozona. This town is reported to have 32 millionaires, more than any other tow of its size. They made it in ranching. Only town in the county. County seat but not incorporated. Only schools in county, only post-office. No RR station in county.

36.6 Ozona. El. 2348. Pop. 3500. Bud Harrison’s Gulf Service Station. If you didn’t fill up at Sonora, you’ll need gasoline here; long jump ahead and Bud is helping make these logs possible. He has full printed information for you on Ozona and Crockett County (named for Davy).

If you are joining us at Ozona, check your speedometer reading at Bud’s gulf Service station, deduct 36.6 miles from that reading and put the result in the margin. This will get you in phase with the mileage from Sonora where this log started. From here on add the log figures to the figure you wrote down in the margin to get your mileage at any point.

37.4 Gasoline plant ahead to the left. This takes liquids, propane, and butane out of natural gas.

39.5 Roadside Park on right.

45.1 A Texas and New Mexico Pipe Line Station. there are four 80,000 bbl. tanks and one 120,000 bbl. tank for a total of 18,480,000 gallons of storage. This is a 12-inch diameter line, small by today’s standards. Pumping stations like this one are located each 50 miles or so from Jal, New Mexico, to the terminus at Houston. At Jal the line connects with the Basin system that comes all the way from Utah. Three 600 horse-power diesel-power pumps force the oil into the tanks at the next station down the line and so on. Various types of oils are shipped through in batches with practically no mixing and segregated in the tanks. The line is buried 18” to 24” deep and is patrolled by an airplane once a week looking for possible leaks. Oil travels only about four miles an hour. This pipe line station has remote control over the next two stations down the line which are unmanned.

56.2 Look for the painted fence posts at each side of the road. These mark a pipe line crossing and are a warning to road crews and others to be careful when digging nearby.

66.8 You are starting down the scarp of the Edwards Plateau to the Pecos River. Now you see the edge of that limestone slab you have been traveling over.

67.1 Very nice Roadside Park on left with a nice view.

69.3 Entrance to ruins of Old Fort Lancaster about a mile to right. A cavalry camp that protected the Overland Trail 1854 to 1861 when it was abandoned on account of the Civil War. Chimneys and ruins can be partially seen from the highway a bit farther on.

70.2 Live Oak Creek Bridge. The creek joins the Pecos about 3/4 mile to your left. It was near here that Cabeza de Vaca, first white man to come this way, crossed the Pecos in 1535.

73.3 The Pecos River. As late as the 1880’s Pecos was 100 feet wide, 6 to 10 feet deep, had steep banks and a strong current, making it quite an obstacle to travel. The Pontoon crossing north of here was one of only two practical river crossings in all of West Texas. To the south the Pecos enters a canyon with sheer 350 ft. walls.

75.0 You are now WEST OF THE PECOS. — The last frontier, an arid country of monstrous canyons, mountains and deserts. Rich in wild and wooly history, a country practically unknown to the world until the opening of the railroads in 1882. History before that centered on the great trails which we’ll tell you about a little later. The West of the Pecos is a province itself. It is entirely different from the rest of Texas geologically, geographically, and scenically. The fauna, the flora, and the topography are also of a special kind.

78.0 Sheffield. Pop. 350. Hales Gulf Station on your left. He’s a specially good mechanic. This was a real ‘western’ town in the early days. Home of Black Jack Ketchum and his brothers who figured in many post office, train and bank robberies.

82.6 Hwy. 339 to the right goes to Iraan (named for Ira and Ann Yates) location of the great Yates oilfield. When discovered in 1926 this was the largest oil field in the world. Wells produced up to 200,000 barrels of oil a day; total production is now over a half billion barrels of oil and still producing after 40 years. Wells average only 1150 ft. deep compared to many that go to 22,000 ft. today. 632 wells were drilled in the 25,000 acre field and 500 are still flowing under natural pressure. You can loop through Iraan on Hwy. 349 and back to this road on Hwy. 29. This is only 10 miles out of your way.

85.0 Trails. From the Pecos River to Ft. Stockton you follow the general path of the Overland Trail. This is the country of many ancient trails. Determining factors for the routes were water supply in this arid country and avoidance of natural barriers such as mountains and river gorges. There were just two practical crossings of the Pecos. One was Pontoon Crossing near which you crossed. The other, and better one, was Horsehead Crossing, 14 miles east of Imperial, Texas, and about 60 miles northwest of your present location. The huge water supply at Comanche Springs (now Ft. Stockton), the flat country and the proximity of two river crossings, made Comanche Springs the crossing point of many trails; if you’ll look at your road map, you’ll see that they still cross at Ft. Stockton, since the highways followed the trails.

1. The Great Salt Trail. Used by Indians of prehistory who came from northern Mexico through Presidio, along the present route of the Santa Fe RR, through Comanche Springs and on up to the salt lakes of Crane County, about 30 miles northeast of Ft. Stockton. They also hunted buffalo, which were more numerous eat of the Pecos.

2. First white man through here was Cabeza de Vaca in 1535. He crossed the Pecos near where you did, came along the general route of this highway to Comanche Springs, then turned southwest through what is now the Big Bend National Park, eventually rejoining his countrymen near the west coast of Mexico.

3. In 1583 Antonio de Espejo came down the Pecos River, through Comanche Springs on his return to Mexico after an exploration of part of New Mexico.

4. The Comanche Trail. During the 1700’s and early 1800’s Indians from North Texas and Oklahoma made raids down through Comanche Springs into the relatively civilized areas of northern Chihuahua for livestock and plunder. In 1846 alone it is estimated that they drove off over 10,000 head of livestock. These marauding Indians were the reason for the establishment of the many forts in the area by the United States after the Mexican War. The forts were located usually at springs, not only for a water supply, but to deprive the Indians of water in the arid country. It was not until the mid-1880’s that these forts could be closed.

5. The chihuahua Trail came up nearly the same route as the Salt Trail, from the city of Chichuahua to Comanche Springs and Horsehead Crossing, then turned east to San Antonio and Indianola, a port on the gulf of Mexico. This 1150 mile route was first used in 1839; by 1848 it carried much more traffic than the better publicized Santa Fe Trail.

6. The Overland Trail, sometimes called the Emigrant Trail, was opened in 1849 as people pressed westward in the gold rush. This trail crossed the Pecos at Pontoon Crossing, went on through Comanche Springs (now Ft. Stockton), and turned southwest at Barilla Draw, 33 miles west of Ft. Stockton. It went through Limpia Canyon and around the south side of the Davis Mountains to El Paso and on to San Diego. The forts were built to protect this trail.

7. The Butterfield Mail Route. Started in 1858 with a $600,000 a year subsidy from the U. S. Government. It went from St. Louis to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Originally it crossed the Pecos at Horsehead Crossing, then up the Pecos to about the New Mexico line and on west to El Paso. For better water stops the route was changed in 1859 to bring it through Comanche Springs and from there to El Paso over the Overland Trail. This stage line operated twice a week, took 25 days for the trip and cost $200.00, much money in those days.

8. The Old Spanish Trail. Both Hwy. 290 and Hwy. 90 claim to be the Old Spanish Trail, but there’s no mention of it in history unless they mean the Chihuahua Trail. Of course, we’ve no doubt that many old Spaniards did trail around out here so maybe they’re both right.

100.8 Roadside Park on left.

109.5 Hwy. 2886 intersection. Squaw Teat Peak ahead.

111.5 Note how the plateau has now been broken up by erosion into a mesa country. Mesas (means table in Spanish) are the flat-topped mountains. They are formed by erosion when rock layers are horizontal and a hard layer in underlain by a softer one. The soft rock weathers away but in some spots the hard rock protects that underneath, leaving a mesa. Note the typical steep slopes. You’ll see lots pf these for the next 90 miles.

113.5 Bakersfield. El. 2500. Pop.50. Hwy. 11 north to Imperial. This is the Taylor-Link Oilfield, quite old and shallow, wells 900 to 1700 ft. deep and still producing. Note unusual situation with well in highway right-of-way and old wooden tanks. Note that most of the wells are pumping. They are the ones with the walking beams that look like pecking grasshoppers.

118.4 Northern Natural Gas Co. pipeline crossing with the yellow fence posts. This is a 20-inch line at 850 lbs. pressure.

120.9 The J. T. Baler Ranch and site of old Escondido (hidden) Springs.

124.9 Darrell’s Peak on the left. Look around you for wide scars that go up impossibly steep mountains. These are the locations of pipe lines.

128.9 Roadside Park on the left. This is Tunis Springs with the Ranger Station rebuilt with the original rock. Its first location was 1/2 mile southwest under the hill. A stage stop on the Overland Butterfield trails 1850 to 1882 when the completion of the Texas and Pacific Railroad put the stages out of business. If you look ahead to the west across the valley you can see to the left a pipeline scar and then nearest the highway the exact location of the old trail just south of the present highway.

131.4 Hwy. 2023 to the left goes to the Puckett Gas Field, 14 miles, one of the largest in the entire country. Gas is treated to remove sulphur and carbon dioxide and then piped through very large pipe lines to California. You have passed over some of these lines and there are more ahead.

134.8 Highway No. 67 to the right goes to San Angelo and Dallas. Very nice Roadside Park here with a sign that says “Use of Firearms in This Park Prohibited.” Is it a coincidence that the draw to your left is named “Six Shooter Draw”? Anyway, this shows that you are sure enough west of the Pecos!

136.6 This is the Transwestern Pipeline crossing. A 20-inch line picks up gas in the Puckett Field and takes it up through Roswell, curving west south of Albuquerque and on to California. Pressure right here is 900 lbs. per square inch. There are five compressor stations along the way and four more are being built to increase the capacity of the line which is now “only” 140 million cubic feet per day. The gas at this point is traveling about 15 miles an hour. Gas going under you right now will be burning in California in a little less than a week.

140.0 Ahead to your right is Seven-Mile Mesa and to the left is Three-Mile Mesa.

149.0 Fort Stockton, El. 2954, Pop. 7500. A very interesting town and both of the Newell-Gulf Service stations here have full printed information about it for you. Read about and see the exact location of Comanche Springs. See the old Fort Stockton, the Fort Cemetery, the Riggs Museum, historical courthouse square, and the zero stone.

149.2 Gulf Super Service Station operated by Red Spence on your left, at the crossing of Hwy. 290 the railroad and Main street.

149.6 The Stockton Gulf Station on your right, also operated by Red, at the intersection of Hwy. 290 and Hwy. 18 to Monahans.

It’s time for a gasoline fill and a rest stop, so stop at one of these Newell-Gulf Stations and get Road Log N0. 7W which will take you from Ft. Stockton to Van Horn. Both of these dealers have cooperated in making these logs possible. You’ll read about one of the largest irrigation districts in the country, the Davis Mountains, the National Historic Site at Old Fort Davis, Indian fights, the Delaware Basin, greatest new oil area, salt lakes, lava flows, tire testing tracks, world’s largest walled swimming pool, lots of points of interest. Get Log No. 7W from Red Spence. You’ll enjoy your trip more when you know what you see. They’re free to customers.

This type of road log is a new idea and we’d surely like to know what you think of it. If you have time, drop a note or card to Johnny Newell, Box 390, Alpine, Texas, and give him your frank opinion about it. He’d also like to know how you learned about these logs. We like to put these logs out but we have a bit of a problem letting you travelers know that they’re available. We’d appreciate it if you’d help spread the world. that these logs can be picked up at any Gulf Service Station in the area on the highways listed: Hwy. 80 between El Paso and Midland; Hwy. 290 between El Paso and Sonora; Hwy. 90 between El Paso and Del Rio. all are available eastbound and westbound. Thanks.

GET YOUR NEXT FREE
NEWELL-GULF ROAD LOG
AT EITHER GULF STATION
IN FORT STOCKTON