The Ditch

The town the ditch served was laid out as Menardville in 1858, the Handbook of Texas says, when three families lived in log cabins behind split-log palisades. Early attempts to organize a county government failed. In 1871 the county finally organized, holding its first court under a live oak, and a two-story courthouse followed in 1872. By the mid-1880s Menardville had a church, a school, several stores and 150 residents and shipped livestock, wool and hides. William Columbus Redman began the Menardville Monitor in 1887; later papers included the Messenger of 1908, run by the humorist Claude Callan.

What the plaque says

The Vaughn Agricultural and Mechanical Canal Company was chartered in 1874 by William J. Vaughn, President; William Tipton, Director; and James H. Comstock, Director and Secretary. Major H.M. Holmes was appointed attorney. Irrigation for 2,000 acres of valley land and power for grist mills are furnished by gravity flow from San Saba River. Use of "The Ditch," running from 5 miles above town to 5 below, began in 1876. Vaughn sold his controlling interest to Gus Noyes in 1886. Since 1905 "The Ditch" has been operated by Menard Irrigation Company, using the original dam. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Presidio de San Saba — 1.0 mi
  The ruins of the largest Spanish presidio in Texas, built in 1757 to guard a mission to the Lipan Apache, where the Comanche and their allies first turned back Spain's frontier.
• Fort McKavett State Historic Site — 20 mi
  The post Sherman called the prettiest in Texas, home to soldiers of all four Buffalo Soldier regiments and then to a town that lived in its buildings until 1973.

More markers nearby

• Fort McKavett, C.S.A. — steps away
• Pioneer Rest Cemetery — 0.4 mi
• Paso de la Santa Cruz — 0.5 mi
• Arroyo de Juan Lorenzo — 0.9 mi