D.W. "80 John" Wallace

Daniel Webster Wallace was born near Inez on September 15, 1860, the son of enslaved parents, the Handbook of Texas says. He drove cattle for C. C. Slaughter and others and broke horses for John Nunn's outfit. Clay Mann paid him five dollars a month and set aside the rest of his thirty-dollar wage for two years toward his own herd, which Mann pastured free. Wallace bought about 1,280 acres in 1885 and moved his cattle there in 1891. He spent thirty years in the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and left more than $1 million.

What the plaque says

(1860 - 1939) Born of slave parents, Victoria County. At 15 became a cowboy. Rode from Old Mexico to Kansas. In 1877, came to this county, riding for Clay Mann, whose "80" brand gave him name for rest of life. On Mann's advice, bought land; past 25, and 6'3" tall, went back to school. Left Mann's for own ranch, 1891. Eventually had fine cattle and crops on 12 1/2 sections of land. Also oil was found on his property. Up to 74, still rode bucking horses. Married Laura Owen; 3 of their 4 children became teachers. His interest in education caused a school to be named for him. (1966)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heart of West Texas Museum — 11 mi
  Colorado City's museum in a restored downtown house, from a mammoth dug up at Lake Champion in 2001 to an Ice Age bison and the wartime telegrams sent to a local family.
• National WASP WWII Museum — 14 mi
  Hangar 1 at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, where the women of the WASP trained to fly every aircraft in the Army's arsenal in World War II, then waited thirty-three years to be called veterans.
• Lake Colorado City State Park — 15 mi
  A mesquite-plains park on a lake built in 1949 to cool a power plant, southwest of Colorado City, where controlled burns are bringing back the grassland and 300 bird species pass through.
• Pioneer Museum — 17 mi
  Nolan County's settlement story in a dozen rooms of Judge R. A. Ragland's 1906 house in Sweetwater, a town that started as a dugout store for buffalo hunters and a post office called Blue Goose.

More markers nearby

• First State Bank — 2.4 mi
• Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific Railway — 9.2 mi
• Seven Wells — 9.2 mi
• R.C. (Dick) Ware — 9.3 mi