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1895 Map of Marfa

Name: 1895 Topographic Map of Marfa
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1915
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1915

About this map

Marfa serves as the focal point of this Trans-Pecos survey, situated at the junction of several critical overland routes and the Southern Pacific Galveston Harrisburg and San Antonio Div. railroad. The landscape is defined by broad basin floors like Ryan Flat and the complex topography of the Oak Hills and Cuesta Del Burro. These features directed the placement of vital water-dependent stops and ranches in an arid environment, where drainage systems like Alamita Creek and Long Draw shaped the path of early travel.

Local history researchers will find a network of isolated outposts including Humphris, Rancheria, and the Stage Stand south of the Oak Hills. The map captures a frontier economy transitioning from old stagecoach infrastructure to a rail-centered regional hub. Farther south, family-named sites like Porters Ranch sit near the Cleveland Breaks, providing a specific record of early land occupation in Presidio County before the modernization of the twentieth century.