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Texas
Ghost Town PLATA,
TEXASPresidio County,
West Texas
Farm Road 169 (Off US Hwy 67 between Marfa
and Presidio)
4 miles S of Alamito
Population:
unknown
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| | Plata
ruins
Photo courtesy of Ron Duckworth, June 2001 |
History in a Pecan
Shell
Plata or La Plata as it was known, was settled in the
1880s. In 1883 Robert R. Ellison, brought 3,000 head of his father's cattle to
Plata. He brought the cattle by train to Alpine,
then drove them to Alamito Creek.
The Kansas City, Mexico and Orient
Railway laid tracks through the area in 1930 and Plata was made a station. Plata
had once had a store, which is no longer in business. |
| | Plata
ruins
Photo courtesy of Ron Duckworth, June 2001 |
| | 1940
Census Map
showing Plata, Casa
Piedra, Shafter and region
Courtesy Texas General Land Office |
According to the Handbook
of Texas, Plata is still a ranching community today with a few extant buildings
and the railroad siding.
© John Troesser |
From Life
on a West Texas Paint Train in the 1940s by the Hall Sisters:Plata
in the 1940sVery
remote—just a railroad section house. An old couple named Fannie and Mac McKinley
lived there with their dog, who had his own plate set at their dining table. They
were truly wonderful, warm people to know. Fannie tried to teach us girls how
to play the piano. They raised turkeys, which often felled prey to coyotes, mountain
lions, and bobcats. Mac McKinley was a section foreman, for the Santa Fe RR. They
lived in the section house on one side of the tracks and there was a ranch house
on the other side of the tracks. J.C. Hall painted the section house every other
year.
Sometimes our father would put the motor car on the tracks and send
Lola and I (all by ourselves) down to visit with the McKinleys. When we got there,
Mr. McKinley would take the motor car off the tracks and when we were ready to
head back, he would put the motorcar back on the tracks towards our boxcars. I
am sure that the Santa Fe Railroad would have had a fit if they knew that. |
Plata
Texas ForumSince
a friend of mine owns the property across the road from the old section station
on the “Orient” railroad I spend a lot of time there. Prior to WWII there was
a fairly large population along Alamito Creek and considerable truck and subsistence
farming going on. The railroad has now been purchased by the Texas Department
of Transportation and leased to a Mexican consortium, Texas-Pacifico Transportation
Limited. About one short train a week is not running to and from Presidio. The
ruins which are shown in your account have had a protective cover put over them
to, at least slow down deterioration. There is now a historical marker at the
ruins. The house was built by John Davis who arrived no later than 1870. He had
a peach orchard and made peach brandy which made Plata a popular stopping place
on the old Chihuahua Trail. - Gerald G. Raun, Alpine, Texas, March 04, 2006
My
son and I visited both Plata and Casa
Piedra in June, 2001. They both are way away from anywhere. The road is mostly
graded dirt and now continues beyond Casa Piedra all the way to Presidio. Only
ruins remain of Plata. It is well worth a look-see. There is a historical marker
there to explain the history.
.... - Ron Duckworth - Arlington, Tx, March
16, 2002
Plata,
Texas is at the south end of ranch road 169, south of Marfa.
Rand McNally U.S. Road Atlas, West Texas map, shows Casa Piedra on a
dirt road south of road 169 that continues onto the "River Road" just east of
Presidio.
Page 110 of "The
Roads of Texas",
Shearer publications, locates both towns and the roads and the ex Santa Fe (now
South Orient) Railroad. By the way we understand the rail line is now being rehabilitated
and a couple of months ago the rails looked as though a train or two had passed.
Also AAA Texas maps show Casa Piedra and connecting roads. --- Dale
Gunnar, January
21, 2002 | |
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