Claude Hudspeth

Hudspeth later claimed that his whole schooling was three months in the family's log cabin on the Medina River, where he taught himself to read and write. In January 1924, as a congressman, he protested a decree of the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture that threatened to confiscate farm property, and Alvaro Obregon's government cancelled it after Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes inquired. In late 1926 he drove 1,400 cattle from his Crockett County ranch to his Brewster County ranch rather than pay rail freight, and wrote up his three weeks on the trail for Cattleman magazine.

What the plaque says

Claude Hudspeth State Senator and member of U.S. House of Representatives for whom Hudspeth County was named. Became a ranch worker at age 9 and editor-publisher of an Ozona newspaper at 16. Was largely self-educated. Won seat in Legislature in 1902-- starting 29-year public career. He authored many bills to benefit working man. Served in Texas Senate 1907-1919. During this time, he studied law and was admitted to the bar, 1909. Served in U. S. Congress 1919-1931. Upheld sending U. S. force to defend El Pasoans endangered by Mexican revolutionary fighting. (1969)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hudspeth County Courthouse — 8.4 mi
  The only courthouse in Texas built entirely of adobe, in the Sierra Blanca railroad town where Southern Pacific and Texas and Pacific crews met in 1881.

More markers nearby

• Fort Quitman, C.S.A. — 8.4 mi
• The Killing of General J. J. Byrne — 8.5 mi
• Hudspeth County — 8.5 mi
• America's Second Transcontinental Railroad — 8.5 mi