Midland and Northwestern Railroad

The C Ranch that Fasken bought had been one of the county's first great spreads. Nelson Morris, a Chicago meat packer, bought 228,000 acres in the southeastern corner of Andrews County in 1884 for his Chicago Ranch. After the droughts of 1886 and 1887 he drilled for ground water until seventy-nine windmills stood on the ranch, and he strung barbed-wire drift fences to hold his cattle. The census of 1890 found only twenty-four people in the whole county. When the Scharbauers bought the neighboring Wells Ranch in 1894, the two outfits covered most of the eastern county.

What the plaque says

Midland and Northwestern Railroad Chartered Jan. 16, 1916, by Midland Farms Co., which was owned by David Fasken of Toronto, Canada. The 65 miles of road were completed from Midland to Seminole in 1918. Operated with an engine borrowed from Texas and Pacific Railway until 1920, when its operations ceased. Fasken purchased the C Ranch in 1912 from estate of Chicago meat packer Nelson Morris. Used part of land for track right-of-way. Developed railroad to ship cattle to markets and encourage settlement. Town of Fasken at peak had one-story depot, hotel, general store, two dwelling houses, schoolhouse and stock pens. The standard gauge line had one passenger coach, two flatcars, a mail and express car. Had trouble keeping on schedule because equipment was old and needed repairs constantly. Fireman and engineer shot coyotes en route to break monotony. In 1920, M.&N.W. went into receivership, and was sold to T.&P. after flash floods floated crossties away from roadbed. After approval by the Texas Railroad Commission, M.&N.W. was abandoned in 1923. Line was without prospects of increasing tonnage, was not prudently located, and would have lost money if operated. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bush Family Home State Historic Site — 29 mi
  The small 1939 frame house on West Ohio Avenue where George and Barbara Bush raised their young family in Midland's 1950s oil boom, now a Texas Historical Commission site.
• Museum of the Southwest — 30 mi
  Midland's art and science museum in the 1937 house of oilman Fred Turner and his wife Juliette, with added galleries, a children's museum and a planetarium on the grounds.
• Permian Basin Petroleum Museum — 31 mi
  Midland's museum of the oil basin it sits on, from a restored diorama of the Permian reef to a 40-acre yard of drilling rigs and Jim Hall's Chaparral race cars.

More markers nearby

• Means Methodist Church — 8.6 mi
• Shafter's Trail — 8.6 mi
• Billionth Barrel — 8.7 mi
• Original Townsite of Andrews — 9.1 mi