Figure 2 Ranch
Van Horn, Culberson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The lands which now lie within the boundaries of the Figure 2 Ranch were occupied in the 19th century by nomadic Native American tribes. One of the last battles between Texas Rangers and Apaches Indians occurred in the mountains west of this site in 1881. James Monroe Daugherty (18501942), who came to Texas from Missouri as a small child in 1851, served as a Confederate express rider at age 14. Following the Civil War he returned home to Denton County and became interested in the cattle business. He participated in numerous cattle drives and by 1872 purchased his first ranch. He was a charter member of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. As his empire grew, Daugherty acquired additional ranches in several states. In 1890 he purchased land here and founded the Figure 2 Ranch. Taking up residence here by 1905, he was active in local politics and served as one of Culberson County's first commissioners upon its creation in 1911. Due to his failing health, Daugherty sold the Figure 2 Ranch in 1933 to legendary millionaire businessman James Marion West, Sr. (1871-1941) of Houston. Although West did not live at the ranch, he visited often and the property remained in his family until 1992.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This far West Texas rangeland was Apache country into the 1880s — one of the last clashes between Texas Rangers and Apaches unfolded in the mountains just west in 1881. In 1890 James Monroe Daugherty, a Confederate express rider turned cattle baron who had ridden countless trail drives, founded the Figure 2 Ranch here, later helping organize Culberson County before selling the spread in 1933 to Houston millionaire James Marion West, Sr.
Why it matters
The ranch traces the arc of the West Texas frontier in a single place — from Native homeland to Ranger conflict to a cattle empire built by a man who lived the whole trail-driving era.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
For most of the nineteenth century, the rugged basins and mountain ranges of far West Texas lay beyond the reach of American settlement. The region was home to nomadic Native peoples, most notably Apache bands who knew its scarce springs and hidden passes intimately. To outsiders, it was among the most remote and forbidding country in the Southwest.
That changed in the late 1870s and early 1880s. The U.S. Army and the Texas Rangers campaigned against the Apaches, and one of the last battles between Rangers and Apaches was fought in the mountains west of this site in 1881. Around the same time, railroads were being built across the region, opening it to cattle and settlement.
Meanwhile the Texas cattle industry had grown into a national force. After the Civil War, Texans drove millions of longhorns to northern markets and railheads. When that era of long drives faded, cattlemen looked west to the open ranges of the Trans-Pecos, and ranches like this one followed.
People & events
James Monroe Daugherty's life follows the whole trail-driving era. He came to Texas from Missouri as a small child in 1851, and at just 14 he served as a Confederate express rider, carrying messages across dangerous country. After the war he returned to Denton County and went into the cattle business, the booming industry of postwar Texas.
He rode on many cattle drives, the hard, dusty and often dangerous journeys that became a defining image of the American West. By 1872 he had bought his first ranch. He was a charter member of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the organization cattlemen formed to protect their herds and interests. Over time he acquired ranches in several states.
In 1890 Daugherty bought land here and founded the Figure 2 Ranch, and by 1905 he was living on it. When Culberson County was created in 1911, he became one of its first commissioners. In failing health, he sold the ranch in 1933 to the Houston millionaire James Marion West, Sr. West never lived there but visited often, and the property stayed in his family until 1992.
Its place in the American story
Few places tell the story of the American West as completely as the Figure 2 Ranch. In one landscape you can trace Native homeland, then the final armed conflicts between Native peoples and Texas forces, then the arrival of the cattle kingdom, then local government, and finally ownership by wealth built in the modern Texas economy.
Daugherty's life links those chapters. He was born before the Civil War and lived well into the twentieth century, so he saw the whole arc from horseback messenger to trail driver, cattle baron and county official. His biography shows how a frontier generation turned open range into organized, governed country.
The marker also opens with the Native peoples who lived here first and records the 1881 fighting. That is a reminder that the westward expansion Americans often celebrate came at a real cost to the people already living on the land. Any honest account of the ranch starts with them.
If you visit
This is big, open, dramatic country. Around Van Horn, desert basins stretch out to rugged mountain ranges, and the scale can be startling if you're used to more crowded landscapes. Look west toward the mountains the marker mentions and picture how hard this terrain would have been for anyone crossing it on horseback in 1881.
Keep in mind that the ranch is working private land, so enjoy it from the marker and public roads and respect all fences and gates.
Van Horn is a natural stop on a long West Texas drive, and this marker fits well into a road trip through the Trans-Pecos, with its mountains, deserts and ranch country. Carry plenty of water and fuel, since services can be far apart in this part of Texas, and take time to enjoy the huge skies.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · James Monroe Daugherty
- · James Marion West, Sr.
Themes & tags
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