Pioneer Graveyard

A 2017 archaeological survey found this burial ground much larger than the fence around it: about 4.2 acres against roughly a third of an acre enclosed, with 51 grave shafts showing in the scraped ground outside. Only six graves still have headstones, and a 1910 town plat already drew the boundary too small. Burials ran from 1881 to about 1910. The survey's authors think it likely holds Chinese railroad workers who helped build the Texas and Pacific, so some irregular shafts may be exhumations, since remains were often sent home to China.

What the plaque says

Pioneer Graveyard Earliest Pecos landmark. Started with burial of men in hazardous work of building Texas & Pacific Railroad, 1881. Used over 30 years by settlers in the Pecos Valley. First markers, of native red stone or wood, have now been lost or effaced in sandstorms and floods. (1966)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Roy Orbison Museum — 30 mi
  A volunteer-run room in the oil town where Roy Orbison spent his high school years, opened on request, with a guitar he played and his tinted prescription sunglasses.

More markers nearby

• Emigrants' Crossing — 0.4 mi
• Mrs. Lillie W. Cole — 0.4 mi
• Spanish Explorers — 0.4 mi
• Reeves County-Pecos, Texas — 0.4 mi