Marker Inscription
Noted for mineral-thick waters and sudden floods, the Pecos River snakes through Texas on its way to the Rio Grande. Historian J. Evetts Haley and folklorist J. Frank Dobie, who called it "a strange river," and a "barricade," are among many who have immortalized the Pecos in writing. Zane Grey wrote, "Rising clear and cold in the mountains of northern New Mexico, its pure waters cut through rough country that changed its flood to turbid red." Storytellers have likened the river and the arid land along it to hell, death and violence. A natural border for several counties, the Pecos is where the mythic Wild West begins, the land that produced the legendary Judge Roy Bean and fabled Pecos Bill. (2005)
About this site
The Pecos River in Literature and Folklore is a historical marker in Langtry, Val Verde County, dedicated in 2004. It is one of 61 historical markers documented in Val Verde County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 78 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 29.7061, -101.3530 near Langtry. The nearest cataloged historic site is Medal of Honor Fight, 1875 (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Pecos River High Bridge, Silver Spike, Southern Pacific Ceremony of, Near Site, and Railroad Bridges Over the Pecos.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5507013410. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
