1940 Map of Catarina

About this map

The Catarina townsite serves as the hub for this South Texas cattle country, situated where the Gulf Coast Lines (Mo Pac) railroad intersects the central highway. The landscape is defined by the brushy drainage basins of the Nueces River and several significant creeks, including Espantosa Creek and San Roque Creek. Large ranching operations dominate the area, marked by family names such as the Buckhorn Ranch, the W L Moody Ranch, and the G & M Ranch. Local genealogy is well-preserved through the numerous individual homesteads and farmsteads plotted across the terrain, from Eardly Farm in the northwest to Valley Wells in the northeast. Water management for livestock is evident in the presence of San Roque Lake and Catarina Lake, alongside a scatter of unnamed water tanks. A rare mention of Ruins west of town hints at earlier structural history in this arid Dimmit County environment.