Latest posts
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Before Sanderson: The First People of Terrell County and the Changing West Texas Landscape
Long before Sanderson became a railroad town, before ranch roads crossed the open country, and thousands of years before Terrell County had a name, people already knew this land. The limestone hills, dry washes, canyon country, springs, and desert basins of what is now Terrell County were part of a human landscape for millennia. The…
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How Sanderson Canyon Shaped the Town of Sanderson, Texas
Sanderson, Texas, is a town shaped by the land around it. Visitors driving into town on U.S. Highway 90 quickly notice the rugged terrain, desert vegetation, rocky hills, and broad open country surrounding the community. Sanderson is not simply a town placed on a map in far West Texas. Its location in Sanderson Canyon has…
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Indigenous History of Sanderson, Texas: 13,000 Years in Terrell County
Long before Sanderson became a railroad town in 1882, the rugged land around present-day Sanderson and Terrell County was part of a much older human landscape. For thousands of years, Indigenous people traveled, camped, hunted, gathered food, made tools, raised families, buried their dead, and created enduring art in the canyons, caves, and desert country…
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How Terrell County Government Works—and How Residents Can Be Heard
How Terrell County Government Works—and How Residents Can Be Heard Terrell County government follows the traditional Texas county model: voters elect several county officials with separate responsibilities, while the County Judge and four precinct commissioners serve together on the Commissioners Court, the county’s main governing body. Terrell County was created from Pecos County in 1905,…
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Water in Sanderson, Texas: Why a Reliable Supply Matters for Residents, Travelers, and Terrell County’s Future
Water has always shaped life in Sanderson, Texas. In a remote corner of West Texas, dependable water is not simply one more local service. It is part of what makes homes livable, ranches workable, businesses possible, and long-distance travel safer. Terrell County is dry, wide-open country. The Rio Grande and Pecos River are part of…
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Life on the Line: Food, Pay, Danger, and Family Among Chinese Railroad Workers
Part 3 of the Railroad Builders of Far West Texas series Here in Sanderson, the railroad is more than a set of tracks running through town. It is part of the reason this community exists. In the first two parts of this series, I explored the Chinese laborers who helped build the Southern Pacific route…
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Why Was Sanderson “Too Mean for Roy Bean”? The Charlie Wilson Legend
The Charlie Wilson Whiskey Legend of Early Sanderson, Texas Before Sanderson became known as the Cactus Capital of Texas, it carried a far more hard-edged nickname: the town too mean for Roy Bean. The phrase comes from one of Sanderson’s best old tales—a saloon rivalry involving town founder Charlie Wilson, the legendary Judge Roy Bean,…
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The Lost Railroad Camp at Langtry: Chinese Railroad Workers in West Texas
Part 2 of the “Railroad Builders of Far West Texas” seriesA SandersonTexas.org History Series In Part 1 of this series, Chinese Railroad Workers and Sanderson Texas Railroad History, I wrote about the Chinese railroad workers who helped build the Southern Pacific route through far West Texas—the railroad corridor that made Sanderson possible. That history can…
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Chinese Railroad Workers and Sanderson Texas Railroad History
Part 1 of the Railroad Builders of Far West Texas series Sanderson is a railroad town. The tracks that reached this part of West Texas in 1882 brought freight, passengers, jobs, supplies, and a lasting connection to the outside world. The railroad helped transform a remote stretch of desert country into the community we know…
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Sanderson Train Robbery: The Wild West Shootout at Baxter’s Curve
On a dark March night in 1912, two outlaws thought they had found the perfect place to rob a train. Instead, near Sanderson, Texas, they found the end of the Old West. There are places in West Texas where the land seems to remember. The country around Sanderson is wide, dry, and unforgiving. The hills…