Pastores of Bailey County
Enochs, Bailey County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Sheep herders from communities along the Pecos River in New Mexico, known as the pastores, used La Vista de Vida Agua, or the Trail of Living Water, to bring their large flocks into the grasslands of the western Llano Estacado and to Bailey County. Pastores arrived as family-based sheep operations along the Canadian River from the 1840s to the 1890s. Locating water helped them expand their flocks, just as ciboleros, or bison hunters, and Comancheros, or traders, used specific water locations to expand their business ventures with Native Americans of the region. The pastores used the Comancheros' routes into the southern plains based on information passed down through family or community ties. Pastores coming from northern New Mexico used the Upper Pecos River to travel into the Canadian River valley, while southern New Mexico pastores followed the Trail of Living Water to eastern New Mexico and west Texas. One of the large-scale pastores, Jesus Perea, moved thousands of sheep south from the Canadian River, crossing the Red, Brazos and Colorado rivers, to the lakes of Lynn County. Over the years, stacked caliche rocks forming corrals were found in Bailey County, as well as boxed-in springs which helped manage the sheep. Nearby Yellow House Draw, a branch of the Brazos River, expands into a broad canyon north of the Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge where remnants of a rock shelter remain, similar to other pastores rock shelters found along the Canadian River. Caves along the bluffs also provided shelter for the shepherds. The sheep industry in Bailey County continued until the 1930s, largely due to the pastores' influence and contributions. (2019)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
From the 1840s through the 1890s, Hispanic sheepherders from New Mexico known as pastores drove great flocks into the grasslands of the Llano Estacado and Bailey County, following La Vista de Vida Agua—the Trail of Living Water—from spring to spring. They borrowed routes first blazed by ciboleros (bison hunters) and Comancheros (traders) who had long done business with the Native peoples of the plains. Their stone corrals, boxed-in springs, and rock shelters still dot the land where the sheep industry endured into the 1930s.
Why it matters
The pastores represent a Hispanic pastoral frontier that shaped the southern plains long before Anglo ranching, woven into a Native trade network across the region.
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Related people
- · Jesus Perea
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
La Pista de Vida Agua
Enochs, TX
La Pista de Vida Agua — the "Trail of Living Water" — threaded across the Llano Estacado by stringing together lakes that had drawn travelers since prehistoric times. Comanchero traders followed it by the late 1700s, and in the 1800s it carried the Fort Sumner Wagon Road and a mail route that ultimately linked toward the Santa Fe Trail. Today the once-reliable lakes hold only spring seepage, but the route remains etched into the land.
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