Dead Man's Pass

The road through this country followed the route found by the Whiting and Smith expedition, which passed through the area in February 1849. Lt. W. H. C. Whiting had graduated at the head of his West Point class of 1845 with the highest average yet recorded there, and in 1848 the army sent him to find a wagon road between San Antonio and El Paso. The partly successful expedition located what became the southern commercial and military route between the two towns. Whiting became a Confederate major general and died a prisoner on Governors Island in 1865.

What the plaque says

Dead Man's Pass This narrow canyon marks a remote and perilous section of a road traveled from San Antonio to El Paso and on to California following the Gold Rush of the 1840s. Adding to the hardships of a journey that took several weeks, this particular area was notorious for wild animal attacks and raids by Native Americans and highwaymen. Also known as Dead Man's Run, the feature was named by 1849; an ambush on a Dr. Lyon's wagon train that year ended with two teamsters and an unknown number of Indians dead. In 1850, a group met a similar fate when they turned back from Beaver Lake (25 mi. N) and passed through here en route to San Antonio for supplies. Four teamsters were killed in the encounter. The U.S. Army attempted to protect travelers on the hazardous road. When forts Clark (60 mi. SE) and Inge (90 mi. SE) proved to be too remote, the army established Camp Hudson on the Devils River 10 miles north of here in 1857. However, dangerous conditions continued for many years. In A Texas Pioneer, freighter August Santleben (1845-1911) enumerated several dozen civilians and soldiers killed along the trail, including five members of the Amlung family and seven others who perished here one day in 1858. The pass was considered dangerous as late as the early 1880s. Santleben chronicled several deaths in the area over a 40-year period, totaling nearly 400 in southwest Texas. Two similar topographic names nearby recall the risks of 19th century travel. Dead Man's Creek rises two miles southwest of this site and flows southeast to the Devils River, while Dead Man's Canyon begins a mile to the northeast and runs west to the Pecos. This path that later became a stage route to Ozona and then State Highway 163 is today remembered as a treacherous frontier road. (2007)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center — 8.1 mi
  The Comstock research center that documents the Lower Pecos murals, which it calls the oldest books in North America, and opens its headquarters to visitors four days a week.
• Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site — 12 mi
  The state park west of Comstock where rangers lead visitors down to Fate Bell Shelter and its Pecos River-style paintings, some three to four thousand years old.
• Pecos River Overlook — 14 mi
  A roadside pullout at the east end of the US-90 bridge, looking down into the gorge that made the Pecos a barrier for travelers and a byword for the edge of the law.
• Devils River State Natural Area — 14 mi
  Two remote units on a spring-fed river of the Lower Pecos canyons, reached by reservation only, where rangers lead weekly walks to painted shelters like those Amistad drowned.

More markers nearby

• Pecos River High Bridge — 14 mi
• Railroad Bridges Over the Pecos — 14 mi
• Medal of Honor Fight, 1875 — 14 mi
• The Pecos River in Literature and Folklore — 14 mi