Juan Cordona Lake
Crane, Crane County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A natural salt deposit, known and used for the past 300 years. On land grant from Mexico to Juan Cordova; name, misread on maps, is now unique to lake. Apaches were encountered here by explorers in 1683. From days of early settlers, Mexicans and Anglo-Texans relied on this salt deposit. During the civil war, 1861-1865, a 7-family San Saba wagon train traded watermelons and other goods to Indians here for sorely needed salt. In 1912-1914 a 36-burro train hauled salt from here. Recently as 1930, commercial shipments went out to Midland and Odessa.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This natural salt flat in far West Texas has been prized for roughly three centuries, its name a garbled map-maker's version of Juan Cordova, who held a Mexican land grant here. Spanish explorers met Apaches at the site as early as 1683, and generations of Mexicans and Anglo-Texans returned for its salt — during the Civil War a San Saba wagon train even bartered watermelons to Indians here for the scarce mineral. Burro trains hauled salt out as late as the 1910s, and commercial shipments continued into the 1930s.
Why it matters
Salt was one of the West's most essential and hardest-won resources, and a deposit like this one drew Native peoples, Spanish explorers, and settlers to the same spot across three hundred years.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
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