Crow Springs
Salt Flat, Hudspeth County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(15 miles north) Named for birds habitually there in abundance, Crow Springs was an oasis for Indians for centuries. The Butterfield Overland Mail in 1858 built a stage relay station at the springs, but used it less than a year before shifting the route south, to go by Fort Davis. During the Apache wars of the early 1880s, Texas Rangers and the U.S. 10th Cavalry camped at Crow Springs occasionally, to prevent Indians in New Mexico from joining the war leaders, Victorio and Nana, in Mexico. Today the springs are dry, the station has fallen to dust, and the Crows have disappeared. (1974)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Named for the birds that flocked to its water, Crow Springs was an oasis in the far West Texas desert used by Indigenous peoples for centuries. The Butterfield Overland Mail built a stage relay station here in 1858, though the route soon shifted south toward Fort Davis, and during the Apache wars of the early 1880s Texas Rangers and Buffalo Soldiers of the U.S. 10th Cavalry camped at the springs to keep New Mexico's Apaches from joining the leaders Victorio and Nana. Today the springs have gone dry, the station has crumbled to dust, and the crows are gone.
Why it matters
This vanished desert waypoint marks the collision of transcontinental mail routes, frontier cavalry, and the final Apache resistance that defined the closing of the Southwestern frontier.
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Related people
- · Victorio
- · Nana
Related events
- · Butterfield Overland Mail
- · Apache Wars
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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