Chief of the Pastores Casimiro Romero

Romero's name outlasted his sheep. Where other pastores built stone pens, he moved his flocks with portable wooden sheepfolds. Then fences and cattle outfits closed in, a blizzard killed many of his sheep, and he sold the rest and freighted between Tascosa and Dodge City, Kansas, until 1896. The town that bears his name began with a relative, Eugenio Romero, a member of his band, who made a home at the springs in 1876-77, on ground that ciboleros and Comancheros had used for much of the century.

What the plaque says

Chief of the Pastores Casimiro Romero (1833 - 1912) Moved to Texas, 1876, from New Mexico-- wife and two children in a coach, goods in 14 wagons. Owned 6,000 sheep. A Castilian Spaniard by birth, Romero spoke for pastores (sheep herders), who built eleven haciendas and plazas in Canadian River area. Cattle rancher Chas. Goodnight in late 1876 made a pact with Romero to respect right of the pastores to valley of Canadian River. But, railroads and cattle ranches in 1880s cut into sheep lands. Romero returned to New Mexico, selling Texas lands, 1897. He is memorialized in this area by town of Romero (3.5 mi. SW of here). (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• XIT Museum — 29 mi
  Dalhart's museum of the three-million-acre ranch Texas traded for its capitol, in a 1929 Chrysler dealership that once housed a USO club for Black soldiers.

More markers nearby

• Nara Visa — 16 mi
• Dalhart Army Air Field — 29 mi
• Dallam County — 29 mi
• Heartland of Old XIT Ranch — 29 mi