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Texas | Barstow
BARSTOW TIDBITS:
Soda Springs,
Quito Quarry and “Pecos” Sandstone
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The
Man who once owned the "Barstow Quarry"
Photo Courtesy Smithville Public Library |
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The
Quito Quarry:
About
four miles East of Barstow and just
South of Interstate 20, is the former Quito quarry. This is an outcropping
of Santa Rosa sandstone which was in great demand with architects
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. If a building couldn't
be built entirely of Pecos stone, architects used it for stringcourses
for the contrast it provided for limestone and granite.
When you wanted your building to stand out in 1910 and you were
close to a rail line, it was “Pecos”
sandstone you’d order. Gunnar Brune reported that in 1981 water
was standing in the quarry.
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Quito
Quarry in Barstow, 1895
Photo courtesy Lane DeWitt. |
Soda Springs
About 12 miles north of Barstow at
the north end of Soda Lake, springs used to flow from the sand. They
have been dry since the 1930s. Gunnar Brune, in his excellent Springs
of Texas, 1981, says that the water table in the area was only
about 15 feet (in 1967).
See
Barstow, Texas
Quito, Texas
© John
Troesser |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history
and vintage/historic photos, please contact
us. |
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