October 15, 1966
On this day, Guadalupe Mountains National Park became the property of the people of America, not well-known by most of them, but considered a treasure by historians for its Piney Station stage station.
The park welcomes fewer than 200,000 visitors annually despite the area’s landmark El Capitan, (right, 1890 painting) and its significant role in the frontier’s first stage line. It was also home to some of the nation’s first cattlemen.
The Butterfield Overland Mail predated the celebrated Pony Express by three years. Founded on September 15, 1858, it provided twice weekly mail service to San Francisco until 1861. Butterfield’s stages started a 2,812 mile trek at both ends of the route; one from San Francisco and the other from Tipton, Missouri.
The Abott-Downing Concord
The journey had to be completed in 25 days or less to qualify for the $600,000 government grant covering mail service. The Abott-Downing Concord Coaches averaged a daunting 112-miles per day over challenging terrain.
The fragile remains of the stage line’s Piney Station are now preserved by the Park Service. Offering welcome relief to drivers and the few long-suffering passengers willing to sign on for the grueling journey, the station housed a workforce of blacksmiths, cooks, liverymen and herders. Henry Ramstein, a surveyor from El Paso, supervised as many as eight employees at a time.
The remnants of Piney Station
Piney’s hayday as a stage stop didn’t last long. Butterfield (below) used the station only 11 months before defecting to a more southern route. A string of cavalry forts built a year later, he believed, would provide better protection from attacks by the Apache.
But the change didn’t save John Butterfield’s stage line. He was soon forced out by debt. The western portion of the route was taken over by what became Wells Fargo. The stage line’s defection didn’t spell the end of Piney. It continued to be a haven for emigrants, freighters, drovers and a variety of outlaws and vagabonds for several decades, making it an important stop on the nation’s way west.
Cattlemen came next. Felix McKittrick was one of them. Sheriff of Denton County, Texas, from 1854 to 1856 and right hand man to famous cattle baron, John Chisum, he acquired land in the Guadalupes after the Civil War. The park’s McKittrick Canyon bears his name.
The Rader Brothers apparently weren’t far behind, establishing Frijole Ranch in about 1876. The cattlemen built their substantial ranch house a stone’s throw from Frijole Spring, a spot that has hosted humans for thousands of years. Today the ranch is operated by the Park Service as a museum.
Frijole Ranch Museum
Western migration through the region following the Civil War only increased hostilities with the indigenous Mescalero Apache. They had inhabited the Guadalupes unmolested even before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. But by the late 1800’s most of the Mescalero had been killed, driven out or resettled to reservations.
Guadalupe, overshadowed by the bigger, more famous Carlsbad Caverns National Park to its north, is still referred to by many who know it best as 
“the most beautiful place in Texas.”
Ironically, in the 160 years since Butterfield’s stage coaches rattled across the mountains to Piney Station, transportation of a different sort (right) is ramping up close by. Located just 30 miles south, is the launch pad for Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ fledgling space travel and tourism company.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, 400 Pine Canyon, Salt Flat, Texas, is the gateway to Piney Station. The paved trail from the park’s Visitor Center is rated easy and it is wheelchair accessible. Piney’s remaining limestone enclosure is fragile and park employees urge caution from visitors. Pets are allowed if leashed at all times.
Frijole Ranch Museum, located one mile east of the center, is accessible by vehicle year round and the museum located in the ranch house is typically open 8 to 4:30 p.m. with exhibits on local history. Park service staff used the ranch house for daily operations until 1991. It was then renovated, opened to the public and listed on the Register of National Historic Sites.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park visitor center
RV and tent camp sites in the park are limited, the largest being Pine Springs with 20 tent and 20 RV spots. Dog Canyon Campground is limited to nine tent and four RV spots. Both are equipped with stock corrals and available on a first-come-first-served basis.
Trails and campgrounds are generally open anytime but some sites are day-use only. Park facilities provide posted hours. The fee for recreational use is $5 per person, age 16 and over. A $20 annual park pass which covers three visitors over 16 is available at the Pine Springs Visitor Center. For more information go to nps.gov/Guadalupe Mountains National Park, call (915) 828-3251 or write 400 Pine Canyon, Salt Flat, TX 79847.
© Text Only – 2018 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain or fair use.
*Head On West strives for historic accuracy and uses a number of sources considered reliable. When research differs on significant facts, the various points of view will be cited.