FIRST -- European to traverse Paisano Pass, US 67/90 13 miles E of Marfa TX
N 30° 16.119 W 103° 48.995
13R E 613833 N 3349147
A 1936 Texas Centennial pink granite block feature marker at Paisano Pass on the US 67/90 east of Marfa names the first European explorer to traverse Paisano Pass
Waymark Code: WMTYDZ
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/23/2017
Views: 2
This 1936 pink granite block Centennial highway marker is located 13 miles east of Marfa on the US 67/90 in a highway pull-out before you enter Paisano Pass (if you are heading east). It's at the end of the pass for westbound travelers.
This handsome marker has an original 1936 marker plate with a replacement seal, which reads as follows:
:Legend recounts that two Spaniards meeting here greeted each other "Mi Paisano" (My Countryman).
First known to history when Juan Dominguez de Mendoza camped here on January 3, 1684.
Well known after 1850 as a point on the Chihuahua Trail, an emigrant road to California."
More on Paisano Pass from the Handbook of Texas online: (
visit link)
"PAISANO PASS. Paisano Pass is a gap (at 30°17' N, 103°49' W) between Twin Mountains and Paisano Peak, twelve miles east of Marfa in northeastern Presidio County. The pass, at an elevation of 5,074 feet above sea level, rises 228 feet above the nearby prairie. The surrounding terrain is desert mountain canyonland of volcanic deposits and alluvial washes of sands and gravels. The local soils are light reddish-brown to brown sands and clay loams; vegetation includes sparse grasses, cacti, and desert shrubs. The pass has long figured prominently in local transportation. When the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio built its tracks through the area in 1882, Paisano Pass was reportedly the highest point on the line between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Portland, Oregon. In 1929, the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway contracted to use the existing tracks from Alpine to Paisano Pass and then construct its own extension southwest along the old Chihuahua Trail to Presidio. Work on the extension began on August 26, 1929, and was completed the following year. Construction of U.S. Highway 90, which connects Marfa and Alpine via Paisano Pass, began in March 1932."
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