Ft Davis, Texas photos

[Joseph Sullivan]

Ft. Davis guarded against Apaches at the Wild Rose Pass through which ran the San Antonio-EL Paso Rd, which was used the Butterfield – Overland Stage route and the main southern overland road to California during the Gold Rush and after. It ran right through the fort. You can walk on it at the fort, or in the town of Ft. Davis where it still exists for a few blocks as does a stage-coach stop and general store from the period, now a little private museum.

[Joseph Sullivan]

Medical facility, which dates to the pre-war Dragoon period, but was considerably updated after the war.

[Joseph Sullivan]

BOQ, down across ruinous walls that once surrounded the back yards, gardens and detached kitchens of married officers.

[Joseph Sullivan]

The back of Col. Grierson’s home

[Joseph Sullivan]

This shot from the front of Officer’s Row near Sleeping Panther mountain, across the parade ground to the Commissary.

[Joseph Sullivan]

A view of part of Sleeping Panther Mt. from under the covered walk/porch on one of the EMQ buildings.

[Pat Holscher]

Great stuff!

I'm often struck my the extent to which these posts not only do not resemble the popular depiction of them, but rather look like Victorian villages in the wilderness.

[Trooper]

I agree with Pat, and love to see the photos of these posts.
Thank you for posting.

[Couvi]

They sure couldn't complain about the scenery!

[Joseph Sullivan]

You know, friends, I just noticed that I typed 'Ft. David" in the subject line. Can't figure out how to edit it now, but the place is actually called ,"Ft. Davis."

[Joseph Sullivan]

Actually, Couvi, it was a relatively popular post for the surroundings and healthy situation. Semi-arid, but with good permanent water from LImpia Creek. Mosquitoes rare -- serious only in abnormally wet years. Good grass. At 5,000 ft plus is is both better watered and considerably cooler than the on the desert floor a couple of thousand feet below. The vast Permian Basin sedimentary region (now once again the richest oil producing zone on earth), is not really flat, but it has huge flattish stretches, broken here and there by ranges of mesas and low mountains based on ancient reefs. Overall, the elevations run a couple of hundred feet plus or minus 3,000 ft. In the southeastern edge, it abruptly stops at a volcanic province, much of which is called the Davis Mountains. They run up to abut 8,000 ft although most of the area is in the 5,000 to 7,000 ft range.

After gold was found in California, there was immense migratory pressure. Many rounded the horn, but many more went overland. the more northerly routes were seasonal, due to intense cold and deep snow in the Rockies. A southern route was needed. When the Army scouted a southern cross-country stage route they tried one that stayed down on the desert, and also the high route. The high route won, because of the grass and water, despite a fairly steep climb up Wild Rose Pass,. Unfortunately, this route also ran through the lands of some bands of Apache. Therefore, in 1854 Ft. Davis was built on the stage route -- literally the stage road ran right through the fort.

As a side note, these mountains, and the desert below are called the Trans Pecos, because they are west of the Pecos river.

the Pecos itself is an interesting river with ancient human traces thousands of years old. Also the Pecos is the reason why the Oglala Aquifer that supplies the pumped water to much of West Texas does not recharge., It is all fossil water. Once upon a time, the Oglala was recharged out of the Rocky Mountains, but then the Pecos eroded a cut through the water-bearing strata and so now that water runs down the river.

[Joseph Sullivan]

The Butterfield Overland Stage route climbed the roughly 2,000 ft. from the desert floor, up the Wild Rose pass, and then passed through Ft. Davis. In this view we see the actual remains of that road passing between the ruins of barracks walls, stable blocks, and corrals. All of that had been made out of Adobe, so after a century of disuse, it melted back into the earth except for what you see here. Interestingly, just before the teams would start the climb, they would rest and water at an immense oasis at the foot of the mountains, now called Balmorea. It is extra important, because it is on the dry side of the Davis Mountains. Today there is a state park around the multi-acre lake , clear and deep enough for swimming. The village itself has little channels here and there that run with water.

Butterfield Overland Stage road passing through the fort.jpg (641.28 KiB) Viewed 5045 times

[Joseph Sullivan]

BOQ is a different view of one of the BOQ structures that used to stand at the far end of Officer’s Row.

BOQ.jpg (522.47 KiB) Viewed 5045 times

[Joseph Sullivan]

The three landscape views show actual country in which the units stationed at Ft. Davis pastured animals and foraged wood and rock. The high savannah character of the range here is very clear. For those unused to the immense scale of the American West, the rockface in Another View is about 100’ at max, and the larger of the plants that look like bushes on top of it and back across the rise are mature live-oak trees, about 30’ tall. These pictures were taken in October 2017 after unusual rain, so things are somewhat greener than usual.

Another view..jpg (283.2 KiB) Viewed 5045 times

Another view 2._1.jpg (240.68 KiB) Viewed 5045 times

Range land above Ft. Davis on the Prude Ranch.jpg (650.17 KiB) Viewed 5045 times

[Joseph Sullivan]

“Optimistic” is just a statement of a fact of life in those parts.

Out here a feller's got to be optimistic.jpg (669.77 KiB) Viewed 5045 times

[Couvi]

It is beautiful country.

[Pat Holscher]

BOQ is a different view of one of the BOQ structures that used to stand at the far end of Officer’s Row.
BOQ.jpg

Very interesting structure!

I'm often impressed by how these frontier forts simply do not match our expectations in all sorts of ways, architecture being one of the most notable.

[Pat Holscher]

Thanks for sharing these. Very nice looking country!

[Joseph Sullivan]

Speaking of architecture, the earliest houses on Officer's Row at Ft. Davis were made of a stone that became impractical to get. So the later ones were made of brick or adobe, plastered over with something weatherproof in the same color as the stone, with faux joints scored into it to resemble stone.

Gotta have that uniform look!

[Joseph Sullivan]

The Davis Mountains must have resembled Hell itself a million years or so ago. All that uplift is volcanic (you can see it in the peaks and rock faces) -- not with caldera, but with vast ranges of seeps. Just imagine an area of glowing, smoking lava bubbling flowing and piling up across an area that covers thousands of sq miles!

There are spots here and there, especially in highway cuts, where some of the even more ancient marine sediments are viable, and you can see clearly where the volcanic rock penetrated and broke through.