Crosby County Texas Index of Landmarks & Vanished Communities

Texas Landmarks - Crosby County

TXGenWeb Project

Crosby County - TXGenWeb County Index

Crosby County, Texas - Index of Landmarks & Vanished Communities

Tips on using this index:

1. Scroll or use your browser "find" function to search this Index for a particular feature name or location.

2. Copy the Latitude and Longitude of your selected feature on a piece of paper for later reference. ( 311613N is 31° 16’ 13” and 0953747W is 95° 37’ 47” – drop the leading 0 )

3. Click on the name of the feature to view a map of the county. (Features submitted by other than USGS will appear immediately and no more action on you part to locate your feature.)

4. Note that as you move the cursor across the map that the latitude and longitude of the cursor is given in boxes on the left side of the page.

5. Move the cursor to display the latitude and longitude you recorded in step 2, and then left click. This click will center your selected feature in the center of the map. This is the location of your selected feature. If the copied lat & long is given in decimal degrees (31.78923) select DD.DD in the coordinates box directly under the Lat & long boxes.

6. Note that you can Zoom In or out by clicking on the Zoom + or – at the bottom of the map, and that clicking on the red corner markers move the entire map.

7. Items submitted by sources other than the USGS show approximate locations only. They have not been surveyed but usually are given to editor as verbal or written descriptions.

Locations of creeks & streams are given at the mouth of the creek or stream, i.e. where it joins a larger stream.

How to Add Landmarks or Features to These Pages or Submit Corrections.

Feature Name	St	County Name	Type	Latitude Longitude	Description	Submitters Name E-mail address
Alfalfa Draw	TX	Crosby	valley	333736N 1010750W		USGS
Big Bull Tank	TX	Crosby	reservoir	333231N 1011250W		USGS
Blanco Canyon	TX	Crosby	valley	333957N 1010936W		USGS
Blue Hole	TX	Crosby	reservoir	333310N 1011035W		USGS
Blue Hole Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	333308N 1010848W		USGS
Bridwell Ranch	TX	Crosby	locale	334629N 1011524W		USGS
Broadway	TX	Crosby	pop place	334213N 1010420W		USGS
Bunker Hill	TX	Crosby	summit	333249N 1010237W		USGS
Camp Rio Blanco	TX	Crosby	locale	334054N 1011009W		USGS
Canyon Valley	TX	Crosby	pop place	332404N 1012005W		USGS
Cap Rock	TX	Crosby	locale	332929N 1012353W		USGS
Cedar Hill	TX	Crosby	cape	333226N 1010850W		USGS
Collett Springs	TX	Crosby	spring	333534N 1010739W		USGS
Cone	TX	Crosby	pop place	334750N 1012314W		USGS
Cone Airport	TX	Crosby	airport	334840N 1012346W		USGS
Cone Cemetery	TX	Crosby	cemetery	334750N 1012518W		USGS
Cottonwood Tank	TX	Crosby	reservoir	333154N 1010714W		USGS
Courthouse Mountain	TX	Crosby	summit	332605N 1012420W		USGS
Crawfish Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	334700N 1011337W		USGS
Crosby County	TX	Crosby	civil	333600N 1011800W		USGS
Crosbyton	TX	Crosby	pop place	333936N 1011415W		USGS
Crosbyton Cemetery	TX	Crosby	cemetery	333928N 1011236W		USGS
Crosbyton Municipal Airport	TX	Crosby	airport	333725N 1011427W		USGS
Davidson Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	332920N 1010555W		USGS
Davidson Tank	TX	Crosby	reservoir	333018N 1010915W		USGS
Dry Trap Windmill	TX	Crosby	locale	333301N 1011402W		USGS
East Herd Windmill	TX	Crosby	locale	333432N 1011314W		USGS
Estacado	TX	Crosby	pop place	334508N 1013341W		USGS
Fairview School	TX	Crosby	school	334425N 1011902W		USGS
Farmer	TX	Crosby	pop place	334700N 1012724W		USGS
Forbes Oil Field	TX	Crosby	oilfield	332420N 1012604W		USGS
Gannon Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	333831N 1010759W		USGS
Grape Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	333542N 1010732W		USGS
Ha-Ra Oil Field	TX	Crosby	oilfield	333239N 1013208W		USGS
Home Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	332623N 1010508W		USGS
Hornet Stadium	TX	Crosby	locale	334022N 1013150W		USGS
Indian Hill	TX	Crosby	summit	333709N 1010837W		USGS
Indian Ridge	TX	Crosby	ridge	332516N 1012429W		USGS
KCLR-AM (Ralls)	TX	Crosby	tower	334000N 1012244W		USGS
Kalgary	TX	Crosby	pop place	332432N 1010853W		USGS
Lions Park	TX	Crosby	park	334011N 1012312W		USGS
Lorenzo	TX	Crosby	pop place	334014N 1013205W		USGS
Lorenzo Cemetery	TX	Crosby	cemetery	334004N 1013337W		USGS
Lorenzo Cemetery	TX	Crosby	cemetery	334145N 1013208W		USGS
Meadow Windmill	TX	Crosby	locale	334636N 1011405W		USGS
Mount Blanco	TX	Crosby	pop place	334856N 1011134W	The community was named for a mesa and Blanco Canyon, each located nearby. A trail was first mapped through this part of Bexar Land District in 1872 by the 4th U. S. Cavalry under command of Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie. Early in 1877 Charles P. Tasker, whom J. Evetts Haley called "a young Philadelphia spendthrift," asked Fort Griffin businessman, Henry Clay [Hank] Smith (1836-1912), to recommend a site for a cattle ranch. Smith chose the site in Blanco Canyon that became Mount Blanco as the headquarters of Tasker's proposed ranch. Tasker gave the ranch the romantic name of Hacienda Glorieta. Sometime later in 1877 Smith arrived at Mount Blanco with a herd of 500 to 600 cattle to stock Tasker's ranch. A two-story stone ranch house was built with walls 22 inches thick. Stone blocks for its construction were taken from Blanco Canyon. Before the ranch was established, Tasker found himself strapped for cash. He and his coachman loaded up his hounds and departed, abandoning the ranch. Since Tasker had borrowed $11,000 from Smith, the businessman seized the ranch and house as payment. The Smith family moved to the ranch in November 1878 and became the first permanent Anglo settlers in the area that became Crosby County eight years later, on 11 September 1886. At Mount Blanco, Smith ran a small store, operated a small ranch of sheep and cattle, and experimented with different types of crops. A post office named Mount Blanco opened at the Smiths' rock house in 1879 with Elizabeth Boyle Smith, the wife of Smith, as postmaster. A public school was established sometime after the Smiths arrived with their six children. Smith was active in county government, serving as first tax collector and as a county commissioner. The family lived in the rock house until Smith died in the spring of 1912. By 1913 the one-room Blanco Canyon school was moved to a site 8 miles northeast of the rock house. In 1916 a new Mount Blanco school was constructed, serving also as a union church and community center. A Missionary Baptist church was formed in 1918. The post office closed in 1920. At the end of the 1940s, Mount Blanco began its decline when its school consolidated with Crosbyton, depriving the community of its main focus. In 1952 the rock house burned, leaving only its thick walls standing. Although a cotton gin was built in 1954 and continued operation at the end of the 1980s, the community lost its last focus in 1965 when the Baptists voted to disband. In the early years of its existence, the rock house became legendary as a lonely outpost that offered hospitality to all who traveled the only road that crossed the high plains. By the 1990s the site was known as the Hank Smith Memorial Park. By 1998 the Texas Almanac listed Mount Blanco as a populated place, but it gave no population figure. Sources: State Department of Highways and Public Transportation, General Highway Map of Crosby County, Texas, revised 01 October 1984; Mary L. Cox, "Mount Blanco, Texas," in The New Handbook of Texas, Vol. 4 (Austin: The Texas State Historical Assn., 1996), 863; William M. Pearce, "Smith, Henry Clay," in The New Handbook of Texas, Vol. 5 (Austin: TSHA, 1996), 1100; J. Evetts Haley, The XIT Ranch of Texas and the Early Days of the Llano Estacado, reprint edition (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1953), 44; Luke Gournay, Texas Boundaries: Evolution of the State's Counties (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1995), 90, 98; Charles Deaton, Texas Postal History Handbook (Houston: by author, 1980), 122; 1998-1999 Texas Almanac, 310.	USGS & Julia Cauble Smith cauble@apex2000.net
Negro Hill	TX	Crosby	summit	333059N 1010759W		USGS
North Windmill	TX	Crosby	locale	333553N 1010916W		USGS
Old Emma Cemetery	TX	Crosby	cemetery	333642N 1012441W		USGS
Owens	TX	Crosby	pop place	333330N 1012109W		USGS
Pansy Church	TX	Crosby	church	334214N 1010424W		USGS
Pete Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	333040N 1010433W		USGS
Plum Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	332639N 1012923W		USGS
Poe Hollow	TX	Crosby	valley	333015N 1010401W		USGS
Ralls	TX	Crosby	pop place	334027N 1012314W		USGS
Ralph Bunche School	TX	Crosby	school	334004N 1013243W		USGS
Robertson	TX	Crosby	pop place	333351N 1013048W		USGS
Rock Trail Tank	TX	Crosby	reservoir	333410N 1011148W		USGS
Sand Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	332753N 1010532W		USGS
Sand Rock Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	333615N 1010744W		USGS
Sand Rock Spring	TX	Crosby	spring	333941N 1010736W		USGS
Savage	TX	Crosby	pop place	333534N 1012557W		USGS
Shaw Tank	TX	Crosby	reservoir	333257N 1010254W		USGS
Silver Falls	TX	Crosby	falls	333958N 1010936W		USGS
Smith Tank	TX	Crosby	reservoir	332426N 1010418W		USGS
Spindle Top Windmill	TX	Crosby	locale	333603N 1011223W		USGS
Spring Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	332337N 1012659W		USGS
Turkey Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	332546N 1011350W		USGS
Turkey Draw	TX	Crosby	valley	332719N 1012922W		USGS
Twenty Foot Falls	TX	Crosby	falls	333944N 1010920W		USGS
V Ranch	TX	Crosby	locale	332409N 1013118W		USGS
Wake	TX	Crosby	pop place	334657N 1010539W		USGS
White River Dam	TX	Crosby	dam	332730N 1010459W		USGS
White River Reservoir	TX	Crosby	reservoir	332730N 1010459W		USGS
Wood Ranch	TX	Crosby	locale	332456N 1013053W		USGS
Yankee Creek	TX	Crosby	stream	332959N 1010855W		USGS
Yellow House Canyon	TX	Crosby	valley	332710N 1013210W	......................................................................................	USGS.............................................................

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11 May 2007