The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945 Page: 295

                                
Texas Collection

Dr. Victor E. Schulze             Miss Frances H. Baker
San Angelo, Texas                 1908 University Ave.
Mrs. Alice Duggan Gracy           Austin, Texas
2509 Harris Blvd.                 Miss Ella A. Gold
Austin 21, Texas                  La Grange, Texas
Mr. Ford Bradish                  M. D. "Doc" Hutson, Jr.
2005 Ft. Worth Nat. Bank Bldg.    Route 3, Box 40 A
Ft. Worth, Texas                  Madera, California
Gladys Annelle St. Clair          Mr. J. E. Wheat
446 Mound Street                  Box 156
Nacogdoches, Texas                Woodville, Texas
A letter or communication from Henry T. Fletcher, cattle
ranch owner and operator of Marfa, has come to be an occasion
in the office. Although I have never had the pleasure of meet-
ing Mr. Fletcher personally, I have come to know him through
his annual or semi-annual letters and through other members'
reports. He is one of the most intelligent, well-informed of Tex-
ans. He leads a full life, with cattle probably his main vocational
interest, but immediately he branches out into history, scientific
pursuits, and civic services. I have no personal knowledge of
how expert he is with cattle or in his scientific inquiries, but
I can vouch for him in his civic services and for his historical
information on the Trans-Pecos area of Texas.
When he recommends persons for membership in the Asso-
ciation, they join. When he sends in information, it is sterling.
Recently an inquiry went to him regarding places and place-
names in his area, and I am giving below some selections from
his reply.
MARFA: County seat of Presidio on the Texas & New Orleans Ry.,
190 miles southeast of El Paso. On Highways 67 and 90. Elevation 4688
ft. Latitude 30 19'. Longitude 104 1'. Named by the wife of the Chief
Engineer of the Southern Pacific Ry. on tour of inspection in 1881 as
railroad construction reached this spot, from the heroine of the Russian
novel Michael Strogoff which she was reading at the time. Settled by
John M. Dean, an attorney from El Paso who owned the townsite. At a
County-seat election in 1885 Marfa received 391 votes and Fort Davis
302, and the county seat was moved to Marfa.
PRESIDIO: Spanish: "A fortified place." A town 55 miles below the
mouth of the Rio Conchos, longest river in Mexico. Terminus of the Pan-
handle & Santa Fe Railway, connecting with the Kansas City, Mexico &
Orient Ry. of Mexico, and of Federal Highway No. 67. Settled in 1848 by
John Spencer, Ben Leaton, John Burgess, John Davis, John Daly, William

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