William Edward Russell

Russell's Ruidosa sat where Mexico had planted a penal colony about 1824, Vado Piedra, or Rocky Ford, whose convict guards, the Condemned Regiment, were killed by Comanches. About 1872 Russell dug ditches to bring creek water to his large river farm and built a toll mill that ground flour for the area for some thirty years, with George Brooks as manager. The frontier was close: in 1879 Mescalero Apaches raided the farm, killing four men. Cotton came to the valley in 1914, and a gin ran from about 1924 to 1936.

What the plaque says

William Edward Russell Kentucky native William Edward Russell (1839-1890) came to Texas in the 1850s and worked his way to the Big Bend region, where he traded along the Chihuahua Trail and had a store at the Horsehead Crossing of the Pecos River. Russell became a prominent landowner, rancher, merchant, farmer and silver miner in the Presidio County/Northern Mexico region. He acquired property along the Old River Road between Candelaria and Presidio and founded the settlement of Ruidosa, where he constructed irrigation ditches and set up a mill. He held several county political offices, including commissioner and sheriff. He and his wife, María Tomasita Rodriguez, had seven children, four of whom lived past young childhood. (2002)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Chinati Foundation — 1.0 mi
  Donald Judd's museum on the grounds of old Fort D. A. Russell in Marfa, where art, buildings and land are meant to be seen together, by guided tour.
• Presidio County Courthouse — 1.1 mi
  Marfa's domed courthouse of 1886, a Second Empire landmark finished in time for a New Year's ball, its statue of Justice still missing the scales someone shot away.
• Marfa Lights Viewing Area — 9.6 mi
  The roadside viewing area on US 90 nine miles east of Marfa, where people gather after dark to watch the horizon toward the Chinati Mountains for the Marfa lights.
• Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens — 19 mi
  The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute's grounds south of Fort Davis, with an 18-acre botanical garden, a cactus museum and trails into the desert foothills.

More markers nearby

• James Buchanan Gillett — steps away
• Fort D.A. Russell — 0.9 mi
• Presidio County — 2.0 mi
• Marfa Stockyards — 2.3 mi