The Motley County Railroad

Matador had no railroad in its early years. The Handbook of Texas says the Dew Drop Saloon was a leading business until 1893, when prohibition was voted in; a school opened in 1891 or 1892, a bank in 1901, and the Motley County News, the first newspaper, in 1891. The town incorporated in 1912. Farming spread through the county after 1914, when the Quanah, Acme and Pacific finished its tracks and 60,000 acres of the Matador Ranch were put up for sale to settlers, and by 1940 Matador had sixty businesses and 1,302 people.

What the plaque says

Pioneer carrier for cattle and farm goods. Chartered June 20, 1913 by 92 people of Motley and nearby counties. One man is said to have invested $50,000. Matador Land & Cattle Company also provided bonus funds. Original directors were J. C. Burleson, A. B. Echols, J. N. Gaines, T. E. Leckie, I. E. Martin, R. P. Moore, J. D. Morriss, J. E. Russell, and A. C. Traweek. Trains used cattle sweepers, as 8-mile track ran through unfenced ranches. Line joined Quanah, Acme & Pacific tracks near Roaring Springs. The Motley County Railroad ceased to operate in 1936. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Motley County Historical Museum — 0.6 mi
  Matador's museum in the 1928 Traweek Hospital, in the county seat a Scottish-owned ranch created by having its cowboys open one-day businesses to pass a state rule.
• Matador Wildlife Management Area — 24 mi
  Twenty-eight thousand acres of mesquite, shinnery oak and juniper hills in the Rolling Plains north of Paducah, bought by the state in 1959 for wildlife research and open to permit holders.
• Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum — 35 mi
  Crosbyton's museum of Blanco Canyon, built in 1958 as a copy of Hank Smith's Rock House, and the place to learn the canyon's 1871 fight between Mackenzie's cavalry and Quanah's Quahadi Comanche.

More markers nearby

• Bob's Oil Well — 0.9 mi
• Motley County — 1.3 mi
• Tee Pee City — 9.9 mi
• Tee Pee City — 9.9 mi