El Fortin de la Cienega

Faver tried to retire in 1888. He let D. G. Knight use his land, cattle and horses for three years, with Knight to keep every third calf branded and every eighth steer, but low prices and underweight cattle made the deal a loss. In 1889 he sold the remaining longhorns, about 7,000, to Joe Humphreys for $18,000, and he died that December. His 1891 estate, valued at $25,175.50, was split between his widow and Juan, who took half of La Ciénega. The ranch is private, and no public route reaches the site.

What the plaque says

El Fortin de la Cienega Built along Cienega Creek in the mid-19th century and modeled after his headquarters ranch complex at nearby El Fortin del Cibolo, El Fortin de la Cienega was the second property developed by Milton Faver as he expanded the vast ranching empire he began in Presidio County in the 1850s. Faver chose a defensive site surrounded by hills and the creek to build a fortified adobe structure to serve as the Cienega ranch headquarters. The natural springs on the property were tapped to provide the needed water resources for stock raising and gardens. Also located at the Cienega site were dwellings, work rooms, stone corrals, fences, and holding pens. The primary activity at El Fortin de la Cienega was cattle ranching, and Milton Faver employed several families as vaqueros (cowboys) and laborers. Following Faver's death in 1889 his property was divided between his wife Francisca and his son Juan Faver, who received title to La Cienega. After Juan's death in 1913 his heirs sold the Cienega complex to neighboring ranchers John A. Pool, Sr. and J. W. Pool. It remained the property of the Pools and their heirs, the Greenwood family, until the 1980s. (1995)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Leaton State Historic Site — 19 mi
  The adobe trading post on the Rio Grande below Presidio, where digging has rewritten the stories told about it and a self-guided walk leads through its rebuilt rooms.

More markers nearby

• La Morita Ranch — 3.0 mi
• Brooks Cemetery — 5.8 mi
• Here Milton Faver — 5.9 mi
• Milton Faver Ranches — 6.8 mi