Juan Cordona Lake

Salt from this lake went out along the Old Salt Trail to Indian traders from the La Junta region on the Rio Grande as late as 1884. Few people ever lived near it. Crane County was formed in 1887, but in 1890 only fifteen people lived there, and in 1900 the census counted fifty-one people and twelve ranches with almost 17,650 cattle and 3,750 sheep. A brief burst of settlement raised the population to 331 by 1910, but most of the newcomers left, and in 1920 the county had eight ranches and thirty-seven people.

What the plaque says

Juan Cordona Lake A natural salt deposit, known and used for the past 300 years. On land grant from Mexico to Juan Cordova; name, misread on maps, is now unique to lake. Apaches were encountered here by explorers in 1683. From days of early settlers, Mexicans and Anglo-Texans relied on this salt deposit. During the civil war, 1861-1865, a 7-family San Saba wagon train traded watermelons and other goods to Indians here for sorely needed salt. In 1912-1914 a 36-burro train hauled salt from here. Recently as 1930, commercial shipments went out to Midland and Odessa. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mendoza Trail Museum — 20 mi
  A 1966 museum in a 1925 oil town, named for the Spanish officer who crossed this country in 1683 at the invitation of the Jumano, with a 1915 bungalow beside it.
• Rankin Museum (Yates Hotel) — 27 mi
  The fireproof hotel Ira Yates built beside the Orient railway depot months after oil came in on his ranch in 1926, kept as it was down to the wicker lobby furniture.

More markers nearby

• William Carey Crane — steps away
• Charles Boothe Curry — 0.8 mi
• One Hundred Million Barrels of Oil From Block 31 Unit — 6.6 mi
• Castle Gap — 7.3 mi