SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 99 
the Rio Grande, where it connects with a railroad to Chihuahua, 
Mexico. Tall yuccas, which become abundant in this area, extend 
far on the plains to the west. Near Marfa and westward nearly to 
_ Aragon siding lavas and tuffs are exposed along or near the railroad. 
Marfa is a small city of about the same size and character as Alpine, 
a local center for stock and other interests and the county seat of 
Presidio County since 1885. On the southern edge of 
Marfa. the city is Fort D. A. Russell, where a regiment of 
amt ioe eg 578 men and 37 officers is garrisoned. An important 
rleans 992 miles, function of this station is military training for recruits. 
The Chihuahua Trail, which crossed the Rio Grande, 
at Presidio, came up Alamito Creek, puseed through Antelope Spring, 
south of Marfa, followed Paisano Pass to Alpine, and went north to 
Fort Stockton, where it connected with other trails east. Over it ore 
from the mines of western Mexico was hauled in wooden-wheeled 
carts by Texas teamsters to San Antonio and thence taken to the 
coast to be shipped to Europe. One trader in five years transported 
in this way a million dollars’ worth of freshly minted Mexican silver. 
It is still believed that silver and other valuable commodities were 
buried along this route to conceal them from outlaws or Indians. 
West from Marfa the railroad follows a west-northwest course over 
a rolling country of lavas (basalt) and waterlaid tuffs. Low mesas to 
the south are capped by lava (basalt). Near Aragon siding the railroad 
passes over a low, wide divide leading into Ryan Flat, at the head of 
the broad valley of Chispa Creek. Far to the south may be seen the 
high Chinati Peak (che-nah’tee), which is due to an isolated intrusive 
mass. To the north are the Davis Mountains, consisting of high 
ridges and peaks of igneous rocks of the Tertiary volcanic succession. 
At Conejo siding (co-nay’ho) the railroad deflects somewhat into a 
40-mile tangent extending nearly due northwest down the broad 
alluvial valley of Chispa Creek. The region has but little vegetation 
other than grass and is a prosperous stock country, mostly divided 
into ranches of large area. 
Valentine is a small village sustained mostly by stock raising on the 
large ranches in the surrounding district. There is no agriculture in 
tetas the region, for the annual rainfall averages only about 
SEE? | inches. The village is on the wide alluvial plain of 
Population 314. Chispa Creek, which flows northwest into Salt Basin. 
New Orleans 1,027 Bont 12 miles to the east are the Davis Mountains, 
d to the west is the high wall of the Tierra Vieja 
Range con which consists of a succession of lava flows. Lavas 
also constitute outlying ridges in the valley beyond Valentine, as well 
as to the southwest of that place. Twenty miles to the south is the . 
prominent Capote Peak, due to a thick cap of lava on tuffs dipping 
steeply eastward. Just west of this feature is a break in the range, - 
