Valentine, Texas

Between 1847 and 1994 there were more than 110 recorded earthquakes of magnitude three or greater in Texas. No Texas earthquake has exceeded a magnitude of 6.0, and most have been fairly small and caused little or no damage. Damage has occurred in at least twenty-five of the recorded earthquakes, however, and one death has been attributed to a Texas quake. Almost all of the earthquakes in Texas have been caused by one of two sources. The major source is relief of tectonic stress along fault lines. These are most common in the Rio Grande rift belt, the Panhandle , the Ouachita Belt, and the Coastal Plain . Small earthquakes have also been attributed to well injections associated with oil and gas field operations and occur in areas near large oil and gas fields. The first known earthquake in Texas occurred in Seguin and New Braunfels on February 13, 1847. The largest earthquake in Texas occurred on August 16, 1931, near Valentine in Jeff Davis County; it measured about 6.0 on the Richter Scale. Many of the other West Texas earthquakes have occurred in El Paso, including the only Texas quake associated with a death; on March 7, 1923, in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, a few kilometers from the quake's epicenter, an adobe house collapsed and suffocated the man inside. Some of the larger earthquakes in the Panhandle include the 1917, 1925, and 1936 Panhandle and Borger quakes and the 1948 Dalhart quake. No earthquake in the Panhandle has exceeded a magnitude of 5.0. Earthquakes in East and Central Texas have been fairly small. Some notable ones have occurred at Manor (1873), Paige (1887), Creedmore (1902), Mexia-Wortham (1932), and Trout Switch (1934). Other significant earthquakes have occurred in Wellborn (1857), Hempstead (1910), and Anderson (1914) in the Southeast and in Rusk (1891), Center (1981), and Jacksonville (1981) in the Northeast. In April 1993 an earthquake of magnitude 4.2 that took place in Atascosa County damaged homes and a gas pipeline. On April 14, 1995, the second largest earthquake in Texas struck West Texas near Alpine. The quake measured 5.7 and caused alarm and minor damage in Alpine, Pecos, Fort Davis, and Marathon. The event generated widespread reports in the national media. Three years later, another tremor of magnitude 3.6 shook Alpine. The South Texas town of Alice reported a small earthquake of magnitude 3.8 on March 24, 1997, and in August 2000 Amarillo experienced a series of six earthquakes of magnitudes ranging from 2.7 to 3.3. The tremors caused hairline cracks in underground pipes and gas lines and in the walls of some buildings.

Permanent sculptural art installation by Elmgreen & Dragset resembling a Prada boutique, located on US Highway 90 near Valentine, Texas.

Camp Holland, twelve miles west of Valentine at Viejo Pass in Presidio County, was constructed in 1918 after the Brite Ranch and Neville Ranch raids by Mexican bandits. Viejo Pass was used by Indians in prehistoric times because of its good supply of water and grass. On June 12, 1880, the pass was the scene of the last Apache attack in Presidio County; on that day four Pueblo Indian scouts and Lt. Frank H. Mills of the Twenty-fourth United States Infantry fought off twenty Apaches. Camp Holland, named for the J. R. Holland Ranch on which it was built, was a base for packtrains that supplied Col. George T. Langhorne's Eighth United States Cavalry as it patrolled the Mexican border. On September 9, 1919, Troop B of the Second Squadron was assigned to Camp Holland. The buildings of the camp were made of stone and wood and cost over $16,000 to construct. Although soldiers seldom lived there, Camp Holland had two barracks that could house up to 400 men, four officers' houses, a mess hall, and a guardhouse. The soldiers' everyday needs were met by a bakery, a corral, a blacksmith shop, and a quartermaster store. Since the area afforded a good supply of springwater, the camp had a sewer system and a shower house. By 1921 the army began phasing out border patrols in Presidio County. Camp Holland was closed and leased to civilians including Texas Rangers and customs and immigration border patrols in January 1922. It was eventually sold at auction to C. O. Finley. The deserted buildings were still standing in the late 1960s.

Valentine, the smaller of Jeff Davis County's two towns, is on U.S. Highway 90 and the Southern Pacific Railroad in the southwestern part of the county, thirty-six miles west of Fort Davis. It was founded and named when the Southern Pacific Railroad crew, building east, reached the site on February 14, 1882. Trains began running the next year, and a post office was established in 1886. In 1890 Valentine had a population estimated at 100, two saloons, a general store, a hotel, and a meat market. Two years later only one saloon was left, but the population had risen to an estimated 140. Valentine became a shipping point for local cattle ranchers, and by 1914 the town had an estimated population of 500, five cattle breeders, a news company, a real estate office, a grocery store, a restaurant, and the Valentine Business Club. A decade later the population had fallen to an estimated 250, but it rose again to 500 by the late 1920s and to 629 by the early 1930s. In the late 1970s the town had an estimated population of 226, a high school, an elementary school, and two churches. The estimated population rose to 328 in the early 1980s; in 1990 it was 217. In 2000 the population was 187.

Porvenir was a community in remote northwest Presidio County on the Rio Grande. In the midst of military conflicts and raids across and along the international border and in the immediate area during the Mexican Revolution, the small farming and ranching settlement was the site of a notorious tragedy in 1918. A group of Texas Rangers from Company B in Marfa, U.S. Army soldiers from Troop G of the 8th Cavalry, and local ranchers arrived at Porvenir in the early morning hours of January 28, 1918. They came to the ranch of Manuel Moralez and separated fifteen able-bodied men and boys from the women, children and other men. Though initial accounts denied any wrongdoing, later testimony confirmed that these 15 victims were shot and killed. Family members crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico to bury Antonio Castañeda, Longino Flores, Pedro Herrera, Vivian Herrera, Severiano Herrera, Manuel Moralez, Eutemio González, Ambrosio Hernández, Alberto García, Tiburcio Jáquez, Róman Nieves, Serapio Jiménez, Pedro Jiménez, Juan Jiménez, and Macedonio Huertas. In June 1918, Governor William P. Hobby and Adjutant General James A. Harley disbanded Company B, dismissed five Rangers for their actions at Porvenir, and forced Captain J.M. Fox’s resignation. State Representative J.T. Canales filed charges with the Texas Legislature against the Texas Rangers, for the oppression and murder of hundreds of ethnic Mexicans along the Rio Grande. At an investigation beginning January 31, 1919, legislators heard and received testimony regarding several incidents including Porvenir. As a result, the Texas Rangers were reorganized and reduced in size. In the aftermath of the attack, approximately 140 remaining residents of Porvenir abandoned the community. (2015)

Davis Mountains State Park, which covers 1,321 acres in the Davis Mountains , is two miles west of Fort Davis in south central Jeff Davis County (its center is at 30°36' N, 103°56' W). The highest elevation in the park, on the western boundary, is 5,600 feet above sea level. The land was donated by private parties, most prominently local ranchers Jesse W. and Richard K. Merrill. The park was established in 1933. In addition to its panoramic views of the Davis Mountains, the park offers a four-mile hiking trail linking it to the Fort Davis National Historic Site , which abuts the park on the east, as well as camping facilities and an interpretive center, open during the afternoon from June to August. The interpretive center features plant and animal displays, both live and mounted; a bird observation window; and a wildlife watering station. The most distinctive feature of the park is the fifteen-room, pueblo-style Indian Lodge, built by companies 879 and 881 of the Civilian Conservation Corps between June and November 1933. The adobe bricks used in constructing the lodge were made on-site, and the timber was cottonwood cut in Keesey Canyon. Authentic cedar furniture was made at Bastrop State Park , and the ceilings were of reeds gathered along the Rio Grande. In 1967 the lodge was renovated, and twenty-four rooms, a meeting facility, a heated swimming pool, and a restaurant were added. Each year the Indian Lodge hosts a Christmas open house. Special celebrations are held on several other holidays as well. Davis Mountains State Park attracts more than 155,000 visitors annually.