Horsehead Crossing

(2 miles NE) Famed ford of the Pecos River, named for abundance of horse and mule skulls lining the banks in the 19th century. Many water-starved animals, stolen in Mexico by Indians and driven along the Comanche War Trail, died after drinking too deeply from the river. After the California gold strike in 1848, Horsehead Crossing became a major landmark on the trail west, as it provided the first water for about 75 miles on the route from the east. Emigrants arriving here either turned northwest along the river or crossed and continued southwest to Comanche Springs at Fort Stockton. In 1858, the crossing became an important stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from St. Louis to San Francisco. An adobe stage stand was built and a ferry put into operation, but both were abandoned in 1861, when mail service was terminated. In late 1862, during the Civil War, federal forces kept a close watch at the crossing in reaction to a threatened Confederate invasion. Cattle began to be trailed across the Pecos in 1864, and in 1866, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving blazed their famous trail, which came to this point and turned upriver. Completion of two railroads across west Texas in the early 1880s caused abandonment of the crossing. (1974)

Horsehead Crossing is a historical marker in Girvin, Pecos County, dedicated in 1974. It is one of 26 historical markers documented in Pecos County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 42 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 31.1910, -102.4925 near Girvin. The nearest cataloged historic site is Horse Head Crossing on the Pecos River (historical marker), about 3.2 miles away. Others within a short drive include Girvin, Imperial, and McKenzie.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5371002565. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.