Camp Melvin and the Pontoon Crossing
William P. Yeates
ABSTRACT
Camp Melvin (or Melbourne) is a largely forgotten 1870’s army camp that for twelve years
guarded the most important crossing of the Pecos River. A pontoon bridge built here in 1870 joined the two
main roads through West Texas. This paper examines the remains at the site to see what further historical
information can be determined.
Historical Setting
The history of the pontoon crossing has been reported by Clayton Williams, Patrick Dearen, and
others and was mostly taken from military dispatches and a few diaries of travelers who passed through the
area. There are few descriptions of the structures at the site, so there are contradictions of the location and
use of some of them.
Prior to the Civil War, traffic through West Texas was either on the southern San Antonio – El
Paso road or John Butterfield’s Overland Mail Route. Military posts such as Forts Chadbourne, Stockton,
Lancaster, and Davis were established to protect travelers and mail on these routes. When Texas joined the
Confederacy in 1861, Federal troops abandoned the forts and the Overland Mail shifted to a northerly
route. During the war, except for a few Texas Militia and Confederate troops, most of West Texas was left
to the Indians.
After the war, mail routes were re-established, and there was heavy emigrant travel through the
area. The mail contract from San Antonio to El Paso was acquired by Frederick Sawyer in 1866. In 1867,
he hired Benjamin F. Ficklin as chief of the mail line. Ficklin had considerable experience in organizing
stage lines and the short lived Pony Express in 1860. He shortly changed the route from the lower road to a
route serving Fredricksburg, Mason, and the new Fort Concho. From Fort Concho, the route followed the
old Butterfield Trail through Horsehead Crossing to Fort Stockton. Indian raids were such a problem that
outposts of Fort Concho and Fort Stockton were built at intervals along the roads to try to protect the mail.
On the former Butterfield route, outposts were established at Johnson’s Station, Camp Charlotte, Head of
Concho, Centralia Station, China Ponds, and Horsehead Crossing. On the lower road, troops were posted
at Camp Hudson, Beaver Lake, Howard’s Spring, Lancaster Crossing, Pecos Station, and Escondido Spring
(Austerman).
By the middle of 1868, Indian raids in the area of Horsehead Crossing were so bad that Colonel
Edward Hatch, commander of the 9th Cavalry, ordered Captain F.S. Dodge of Fort Stockton to locate a
safer crossing downstream and change the mail route accordingly. After failing to locate a suitable ford,
Dodge proceeded to engineer a crossing. At a point three and a half miles below the old Pecos mail station
where the lower road left the river and turned westward to Fort Stockton, he had Company A, 41st Infantry
establish a camp and make a crossing by digging down the steep banks. The swift current made the
crossing hazardous, so a ferry was necessary. Coaches were kept on both sides, and mail and passengers
were ferried on a small boat. That the crossing was perilous is illustrated by a diary entry of young Harriet
Bunyard who crossed there in May 1869 in an eleven wagon train with eight families. Using the ferry to
move belongings and people, the men spent an entire day trying to cross the wagons and stock. Finally, by
10 o’clock that night, they had everything across with the loss of one mule drowned. (Dearen)
A detail from Fort Stockton occupied a camp and Ficklin built a station about one mile
downstream from the ferry. This camp was called Camp Melbourne (later mispronounced Melvin). Still
looking for a better crossing, the army moved the single span wooden bridge from Lancaster Crossing to
Camp Melvin and discovered that it was too short. By early 1870, a pontoon bridge was built adjacent to
the stage station at Camp Melvin apparently owned jointly by the government and the mail line. No
description of the bridge has been found, but one report of the bridge breaking loose in a flood stated that
one boat was sunk and three were repairable. (Dearen)
The number of troops stationed at Melvin varied. A company of 9th Cavalry was there for a short
time, but by the summer of 1869 only eight men remained and were relieved every 60 days. By May 1871,
there were one NCO and 4 privates. Due to increased Indian raids from 1876 to 1879, there were one to
three NCO’s and four to nine privates, and by 1880, none (Uglow). Discipline was a major problem with
bored troops stationed at these remote outposts. Usually, one of the first structures built was a guardhouse.
Camp Melvin was no exception as there is one report of the Court-Martial of a soldier who tried at
gunpoint to release his friend from the camp guardhouse (Ramsey).
The mail station and army camp were in use throughout the 1870’s. With the establishment of the
camp at Grierson Springs in 1878, the army built and maintained a better, shorter road from Fort Concho to
Fort Stockton through Grierson Springs and Camp Melvin. This became the road of choice for the mail
and other travelers. An army telegraph line connected Forts Concho and Stockton with an operator at
Grierson Springs but not at Melvin. When the Southern Pacific railroad was completed in 1882 and, with
the Indian problem ending, the forts began closing, this road and crossing became less important.
Site Location
The site of Camp Melvin is located in northwestern Crockett County, Texas on the left (east) bank
of the Pecos River about 10 miles northwest of the city of Iraan on property owned by Marathon Oil
Company.
Figure 1 shows a sketch map by LTC Thomas Hunt of the
Pecos valley around Camp Melvin (Melbourne). The road
coming from the left is the stage road from Ficklin’s
Centralia Station to the ferry crossing. About one mile
downstream is the camp and mail station. By calling it Old
Camp Melbourne, Hunt implies that the camp was not
manned at this time (Nov 1869).
Though Hunt’s sketch maps were atrocious in scale, the
relative placement of points on the map was fairly good. The
gap between the two hills where the old road ran can easily
be found today.
Figure 2 is an aerial photograph of the area between the ferry
crossing and the camp. Traces of the road along the west
bank can be seen as well as the road to Centralia Station.
The hill at the left side of the photo is the large L shaped hill
in Hunt’s map; the smaller hill is out of sight below the
bottom left side of the photo.
Figure 1. Hunt’s 1869 map
of the Camp Melbourne mail
crossing area.
(National Archives)
Figure 2. Location of Camp Melvin and the first (ferry) crossing.
Figure 2a. Site of Ficklin’s ferry
(Yeates, 2002)
(Yeates, 2003)
The Site Today
An aerial photo of the camp is shown in Figure 3. The river is at the bottom, flowing left to right.
On the east bank can be seen the ruins of the large stone building. The old stage road heads toward the hill
passing the large stone corral and a group of six dugout buildings and a smaller corral (not visible in the
photo). The road turns east to the present highway 349 where it branches. One branch closely follows the
present highway to Flat Rock Holes near Rankin. The other branch passes a well hand dug by the soldiers
to obtain better water than the Pecos provided. The well is still in use by a rancher today. From the well, a
ranch road follows a military/stage road built in 1878 to Grierson Springs.
The stone house ruin is shown in Figures 4, 4a, and 4b. It is fairly large measuring 50 by 68 feet
with a 12 by 12 foot room on the southwest corner. Most historians writing about Camp Melvin assumed
that this building was part of the military post, but I think it is a typical fortified stage station. All of the
stations in West Texas were similar to the forts built by John Butterfield’s Overland Mail Company.
Beginning at Head of Concho, Butterfield constructed 25 fortified stations with similar floor plans. They
had walls eight to ten feet tall enclosing a large open area with small living quarters inside. A single gate
was wide enough for a coach and team to be brought inside. The station at Head of Concho was typical - a
35 by 60 feet courtyard and living quarters of 12 by 40 feet (Riemenschneider). Ficklin utilized some of the
old Butterfield facilities and is known to have used a similar floor plan at his Centralia station (Conkling).
The station at Camp Melvin (usually known as Pecos Station) has a large courtyard of 50 by 50
feet and an enclosed area of 18 by 50 feet on the north side. There is evidence of a fireplace and fallen
chimney in that smaller room. The gate in the middle of the east wall appears to be the only entrance. The
small 12 by 12 foot room on the southwest corner of the building does not open into the large courtyard. It
may have been for storage or perhaps was the camp guardhouse.
Figure 5 shows the trace of an old road from the station house down to the river and extending
across the river. This is the most likely site for the pontoon bridge. It was reported to be adjacent to the
house and located where the left bank was lower than the right. The east bank is indeed lower than the near
vertical west bank, and it is the only spot for several miles where livestock could approach the river for
water. The river has surely changed in the last 130 years with the small bend eroding the west bank so that
any cuts down that bank are no longer evident. No traces of any anchor posts, chains, or other relics of the
bridge have been found recently.
The large corral (probably the mail company’s corral) can be seen from overhead in Figure 6. It
measures 120 by 190 feet with walls at least 3 or 4 feet high. There was one gate in the south side. Figure 7
is a photo on the ground taken by Teddy Stickney in 1971. The walls were a little higher than now
especially on both sides of the gate (midway along the near wall). The ranch buildings in the distance
(upper left) are at the Government well dug by the troops. The road to Grierson Springs passes the well and
crosses the mesa to the east.
Another interesting feature at the site is located south of the station house on the part of the river
where both banks are nearly vertical. Figure 8 shows two standing poles that may be the remains of a
retaining wall (Dearen) holding an earthen ramp. Some of this ramp is still evident as well as several other
posts that have been cut off. This may have meant to be the approach to the single span wooden bridge that
was dismantled at Lancaster Crossing and hauled to Camp Melvin and found to be too short. It is at a spot
on the river that would appear to be ideal for that type of bridge, and I can think of no other purpose for a
retaining wall there.
To the northeast of the station house at the base of the hill, the stage road curves to the east and
passes in front of six dugout buildings and a small corral. Several different ideas have been proposed for
these buildings. One is that they housed “camp followers”. Another is that they were early ranching
structures. My thinking is that this is the military part of Camp Melvin. First the number of troops
stationed here was too small to attract “followers”. While early ranchers did use dugouts, especially at line
camps, the ones that I have seen have been very small, usually less than half the size of these at Camp
Melvin. While five of the structures are no more than depressions now, they were definitely lined up side
by side. Four of them measure approximately 15 by 20 feet and the other about 20 by 40 feet. The sixth is
separated from the others by about 100 feet. It is lined with large rocks and measures again about 15 by 20
feet (Figure 9). This may have been the reported guardhouse. West of the dugouts about 200 feet is the
remains of a probable corral measuring 36 by 60 feet. Two trash dumps are located nearby with 19th
century cans and glass.
Conclusion
From the remains of this small obscure military post and mail station, we can deduce with some
confidence the location of the stage station, the pontoon bridge, and the military barracks. The old roads
can still be seen heading to distant stations. Except for the roads and pumps of the oil company, the area
has changed little in 130 years, and one can still feel the isolation that the men here must have felt.
REFERENCES CITED
Austerman, W.R.
1985 Sharps Rifles and Spanish Mules: The San Antonio – El Paso Mail, 1851-1881. Texas A&M
University Press, College Station
Conkling, R.P. and M.B. Conkling
1947 The Butterfield Overland Mail, 1857-1869. The Arthur H. Clark Company, Glendale, California.
Dearen, Patrick
1996 Crossing Rio Pecos. Texas Christian University Press, Fort Worth.
Ramsey, G.C.
1961 Camp Melvin, Crockett County, Texas. West Texas Historical Association Yearbook, Oct 1961,
pp 137-146.
Riemenschneider, Larry
1996 Head of Concho Stage Station (41IR95). Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 67.
Uglow, L.M.
1952 Standing in the Gap. Army Outposts, Picket Stations, and the Pacification of the Texas Frontier,
1866-1886. Texas Christian University Press, Fort Worth.
Williams, C.W.
1982 Texas’ Last Frontier, Fort Stockton and Trans-Pecos, 1861-1895. Texas A&M University Press,
College Station.
Figure 3. Overview of the site of Camp Melvin
Figure 4. Aerial view of the stone house.
(Yeates, 2003)
(Yeates, 2003)
Figure 4a. Courtyard of the mail station.
Figure 4b. Southeast corner of the mail station.
(Yeates, 2002)
(Yeates, 2002)
Figure 5. Aerial view of mail station and sites of bridges.
Figure 6. Aerial view of the large stone corral.
(Yeates, 2003)
(Yeates, 2003)
Figure 7. Ground view of the large corral.
(Stickney, 1971)
Figure 8. Remains of an earthen ramp and retaining wall (possibly proposed site for the single span
bridge from Lancaster crossing).
(Yeates, 2002)
Figure 9. The dugout with rock-lined walls.
(Yeates, 2003)