Sheffield

Frank Hamer's road to the Rangers ran through this ranch country. He and his brother Harrison came in 1901 to wrangle horses on Green Berry Ketchum Jr.'s ranch near Sheffield; Ketchum was a brother of the outlaw Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum. In 1905, while Hamer was cowboying on the Carr Ranch between Sheffield and Fort Stockton, he captured a horse thief, and Sheriff Dudley S. Barker recommended him to the Rangers. He enlisted on April 21, 1906. On May 23, 1934, Hamer and local police killed Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in an ambush near Gibsland, Louisiana.

What the plaque says

Sheffield Spanish explorers traveled Indian trails here in the Pecos River Valley as early as 1590. Later, U.S. Cavalry, a camel train, and stage and mail lines between San Antonio and San Diego, California, used the route. Nearby Pecos Spring attracted settlers to the area in the 1880s and 90s. Families lived in tents on the north side of the creek and hauled water from the spring. About 1890 a community water well was dug. Early residents were sheep and cattle ranchers. Mail and supplies had to be brought from San Angelo and Ozona. About 1901 Will Sheffield built a grocery and dry goods store approximately one mile from the spring. A post office opened with Will Sheffield as postmaster. Since he was the first to operate a store, the settlement was named for him. A saloon was opened, and in 1901 a school was begun with sixty-four pupils. After living for several years in tents, residents began building permanent homes. Garrett Bean purchased a section of land from the state where the present townsite is located and drew off town lots in 1905. Well-known Texas Ranger Frank Hamer got his start in law enforcement here. Sheffield offers churches and a trade center for area ranches.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Lancaster State Historic Site — 8.0 mi
  An 1855 post on Live Oak Creek above the Pecos, on the lower road to El Paso, where the army's camels passed three times and Buffalo Soldiers held off an attack in 1867.
• Alley Oop Park and Iraan Museum — 16 mi
  An oil-boom town named for Ira and Ann Yates, where the creator of the caveman comic Alley Oop once worked, and a park of giant cartoon figures beside the town museum.

More markers nearby

• Ruins of Fort Lancaster — 8.1 mi
• Howard's Well — 9.3 mi
• Old Government Road — 9.3 mi
• Iraan — 16 mi