TEXAS GHOST TOWNS
Readers' Comments & Warnings

• On 6/1/02, on the way to Langtry, we stopped to visit Pumpville .... I would like to pass along a word of warning to others who might be interested in "poking" around old railroad ghost towns ... be extremely careful!
  
  Be aware of the possibility of encountering illegal immigrants. [After encountering a group of men] and with stories of the recent "Railroad Killer" still fresh in our minds, we cut our adventure in Pumpville short. .... - Ralph Kepp, Horizon City, Texas, June 2, 2002
  
  
• I went to Doole on Saturday, July 28. ..... I visited the bleachers and was welcomed with shots from a rifle. No, I don't think they were shooting at me, but they sure didn't stop! Everytime I walked away from my car, the shots were more frequent and when I stepped back inside, I could hear the rifle being reloaded. Wild! Needless to say, I left there rather quickly! - Lisa, July 29, 2001
  

• I have been reading about the ghost towns in Texas. It's a good thing too because I was looking at land in Mentone, Loving County. Also I was planning to stay one evening in Terlingua or Study Buttes in Brewster County before going into Big Bend National park for a couple of days. Can you hear me laughing with embarrassment from there.
  
  I have a 1996 Rand McNally Travel Atlas and it shows Mentone and Terilingua as in the same population symbol as Gladewater, Texas (the town I grew up in about 6000 people). I also have a 1997 Texas Road Map and it shows all three towns. It uses the 25,000 and under population size marker for all three towns. It never occurred to me to verify how many people were actually in the town. After reading your site I read the population counts on the Texas Road map: Mentone has 50 people Terlingua has 25 people Study Butte has 120 people.
  
  I enjoyed your Texas Ghost town site. - Alvin Bittner, December 20, 2001
  
  
• "[We] just returned from a four day trip all over South Texas. I wanted to take a personal look at quite a handful of things I had learned of over the past years. Yes, several of these curiosities were kindled by reading Texas Escapes. One of the more interesting sites we visited was Morris Ranch. I wouldn't have ever stumbled on that ghost town, without reading your magazine." - Chris W. - Hurst, Texas, December, 2001