Sanderson, Texas

On the fateful morning of June 11, 1965, just after 7:00 a.m. following a night of continuous rain, a wall of water with a velocity of 100,000 cubic feet per second crested upon the railroad and ranching community of Sanderson. Twenty-six were killed during the natural disaster, demolishing around sixty homes, injuring dozens and causing many to be homeless. The force of the water washed away railroad and highway bridges and twisted heavy steel rails. Along with the destruction, there were also acts of heroism. Individuals risked their lives to save others and citizens quickly organized to provide relief to victims. (2015)

On June 11, 1965, a catastrophic flash flood destroyed much of Sanderson, killing 26 people. The flood waters, funneled through Sanderson Canyon, reached depths of 40 feet.

Born Virginia. Came to Texas 1852-Dist. Judge 1857-63. Entered confederate service 1863 as Lt. Col. Commanded Terrell's Texas cavalry. Assigned special duty to try to keep open vital supply sources of cotton-lifeblood of South. Led his unit in Red River campaign 1864 to prevent Union invasion of Texas, being wounded battle Mansfield. Promoted Brigadier General 1865. Went to Mexico rather than surrender at war's end, soon returned to Texas. As state legislator authored present primary election law. Minister to Turkey 1893-97. Outstanding lawyer and public servant. Texas made an all-out effort for the confederacy after a 3 to 1 popular vote for secession. 90,000 troops, famed for mobility and daring, fought on every battlefront. A 2,000-mile frontier and coastline was successfully defended from union troops and savage Indians. Wagon trains, laden with cotton-life blood of the south-crossed the state to Mexico to trade for medical supplies, clothing, military goods, state and private industry produced wagons, pots, kettles, leather goods, ammunition, guns, salt, hospital supplies. At home old men, women, children, slaves provided grain, meats, cotton, cloth to the army, giving much, keeping little. A memorial to Texans who served the confederacy erected by the state of Texas 1963.

John Edwin Conner, teacher, college dean, and author, the son of Harriet (Williamson) and William Trustan Conner, was born on November 21, 1883, at Field Creek, Llano County, Texas. Shortly after he was born, the family moved to Pontotoc, Mason County, where they lived until 1904 (except for the years 1888 to 1890, spent in Santo, Palo Pinto County). His father ran a general store, farmed, and occasionally built houses; his mother was postmistress at Pontotoc. In 1891 or 1892 a school district was formed at Pontotoc with William Conner as the first school board president. From 1890 onward, John Conner worked on the family farm and also did a variety of other work, learning at one point about setting type. During his youth his recreation included attending Mollie Bailey shows and playing baseball. With the shortened and sometimes missing school years at that time it was not until May 1904 that he graduated from high school, first in a class of two. In 1904 it was required that Pontotoc High School graduates pass the state examination for the first-grade teacher's certificate. During Conner's last two or three years at Pontotoc, the superintendent was E. C. Broyles, great-grandfather of the William Broyles who later edited Texas Monthly . Broyles had a profound influence on Conner, exciting his interest in history and teaching him how to write clearly and persuasively. Above all, he taught him how to edit his own work. Broyles, in addition to his other work, published more than one small-town newspaper, and in the early summer of 1904 he hired Conner to run for him the newspaper Broyles owned in Eden. Before the next year, Conner took a job in a one-room school at Katemcy at sixty-five dollars a month for five months. During the next two school years, he taught at two other one-room schools. In 1907 he went to Eden as principal and teacher of a three-room school, and in 1908 he became high school principal and teacher in Eldorado. There were eleven grades in Eldorado, and for the first time he found it feasible to teach only some, rather than all of the subjects the students were supposed to master. There were normal schools at several places by 1904, and Conner attended two of them (at Denton and at San Marcos). In 1911 he graduated from Southwest Texas Normal. On August 27, 1911, he married Fannie Johnson; they had three children. During the 1911–12 school year he was principal of the high school at Ozona, and in the fall of 1913 he became superintendent of schools at Sanderson, where he remained until 1918. The years at Sanderson were the years of Francisco (Pancho) Villa , and an unofficial militia was formed to defend the town, of which Conner was a leader. In the fall of 1919 Conner left Sanderson to become superintendent at Marfa, a somewhat larger and more prosperous place than Sanderson. Beginning in 1917 he taught in several summer sessions and teacher's institutes at Sul Ross Normal in Alpine. He became acquainted with Robert Bartow Cousins , who had been appointed president of the new college to be built in Kingsville, and in 1923 Cousins offered Conner a job there. To qualify for the position Conner entered the University of Texas in June 1923. In May 1924 he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and in August of that year was granted an A.B. degree in American history; his M.A. was granted in 1927. During the 1924–25 school year he was superintendent at Odessa. Conner and his family arrived in Kingsville on June 1, 1925, and South Texas State Teachers College (later Texas A&M University at Kingsville) opened on June 7 of that year. This school had been planned by the legislature in 1911 as a source of teachers for the local Mexican-American population. Cousins and his staff faced a formidable task in starting the new college. There were few potential students. More than half the population of the area spoke little English, and few of the English speakers had finished high school. What students there were had trouble ge

Terrell County is in the Big Bend area of southwestern Texas, bordered on the south by Mexico, on the east by Val Verde and Crockett counties, on the north by Pecos County, and on the west by both Pecos and Brewster counties. The center point of the county is at 30°15' north latitude and 102°03' west longitude. Sanderson, the county seat, is about halfway between San Antonio and El Paso. The county was named for Alexander Watkins Terrell . Terrell County comprises 2,357 square miles of rocky terrain with elevations ranging from 1,300 to 4,000 feet above sea level. The soils are of limestone origin. Most of the county is situated in the Stockton Plateau, a part of the Western Mountain region. The eastern and northeastern parts of the county consist of gently rolling to level plains. In the western part the land slopes much more and the rolling terrain becomes mountainous, with narrow canyons and valleys. In the southern portion, the rocky lands near the Rio Grande are cut by deep canyons that carry floodwater into the muddy Rio Grande, which defines the county's southern boundary. Deep canyons also traverse the eastern plains and empty into the Pecos river, which runs along the county's northeastern border. While the Pecos and Rio Grande are the principal waterways in the county, their accessibility to livestock is severely limited in many places by steep cliffs and deep canyons. There are a number of springs in the county, including Independence, King, Myers, Cedar and Geddes springs. Generally, windmill wells and tanks provide water for livestock. With an annual rainfall of only about fifteen inches, Terrell County lands generally are suited only for the grazing of livestock. Less than 1 percent of land in the area is prime farmland. The only trees of any size, primarily walnut and hackberry, grow along the dry creekbeds. The draws and creekbeds often are choked with underbrush that provides good browse for sheep and goats. The hills grow varieties of grama grass, sotol, juniper, lechuguilla, and various varieties of brush. Out on the grassy flats grow the ojasen (tarbush or greasewood), the gobernadora (creosote bush), and the ubiquitous mesquite . A number of plants that grow wild in the area are gathered for medicinal and other purposes. Ojasen and gobernadora leaves are used by many of the local people as medicinal teas, and the popotillo is highly regarded by some as a tonic for the liver and gall bladder. The candelilla is a good source of wax, and guayule has been used in the manufacture of rubber. Mule and whitetail deer are the principal game animals in Terrell County. Other game species are the javalina (collared peccary), wild turkey, mourning dove, white-winged dove, and blue quail. Furbearers include the grey fox, coyote, raccoon, bobcat, ringtailed cat, and mountain lion. Many varieties of ducks and other birds use Terrell County's stock ponds and pastures as resting and nesting places during their seasonal migrations. Almost all of the area's agricultural income derives from livestock, especially Angora goats and sheep; mohair and wool are the most important agricultural products. Some cattle are also raised in the area, and some local growers produce pecans. Mineral resources include limestone, salt, natural gas, and petroleum. In 1982 almost 31,016,000 cubic feet of gas-well gas, about 398,000,000 cubic feet of casinghead gas, and 47,330 barrels of crude oil were produced in the county. The county is on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and U.S. Highway 90 crosses the southern part of the county east to west. There are many burned-rock mounds, called middens, on the ranches of Terrell County. Numerous rockshelters and caves with smoked walls and ceilings, mute evidence of long habitation by early Indian peoples, also exist in the area. In some of the shelters Indian paintings are to be found. The most extensive pictographs, on the cliff wall above Myers Spring near Dryden, include drawin