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Texas Ghost
Town
VALLEY WELLS, TEXAS
AKA The Good
Luck Colony
Dimmit County, South Texas
FM 1019 off Hwy 85
8 miles SE of Big
Wells
About 65 miles E of Eagle
Pass
Approximately 100 miles SE of San
Antonio via I-35
Population: 0
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The
Old Nueces Bridge now sits in the cemetery
"Built in 1909 by an iron company in Iowa"
TE Photo, November 2001 |
Although Valley
Wells remains on the map - there's nothing left of the town.
The cemetery contains less than 40 graves.
The name refers to the artesian wells once found here. A visit in
November of 2001 found a spring still bubbling forth a good flow of
water between the cemetery and the Nueces River.
Three members of the McCarley family died in 1936.
Dimmit County had several settlements between 1909 and 1917. About
1909 the Texas Land and Loan Company started selling off 10,000 acres
of land in small parcels. They advertised the settlement nationwide
as the "Good Luck Colony".
The company made no improvements and sold the land based on the promise
of the abundant water. Many of the buyers came from Oklahoma.
A post office opened in 1914 and by 1915 the town had seventy-five
residents.
At the time the post office was granted the company name was dropped
in favor of Valley Wells.
Valley Wells suffered through hard times. A period of low crop prices
between 1916 and 1918 was followed by a crop-destroying hailstorm.
By 1925 the population was only ten persons and in 1940 there were
twenty-five residents and a store.
Salt had eaten through metal pipes encasing the water wells, and the
farmers had unknowingly been irrigating the fields with salt water.
By the late 1940s the land was barren.
It is reported that there were only 3 families in the early 50s and
today it appears that there is only one. |
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A
cement marker in the Hispanic section of the cemetery
TE Photo, November 2001 |
Valley Wells,
Texas Forum
Subject: Nueces
River bridge in the Valley Wells Cemetery
When I was a kid, there was a metal sign on the Nueces River Bridge
in Valley Wells. The sign stated that the bridge was built in 1909
by an iron company in Iowa. Someone pried the sign off in the 60s.
The bridge was replaced in 2001. There was talk about moving the old
bridge to the park in Carrizo Springs. I do not think that the County
wanted to pay the cost to transport it that far and left it in the
cemetery.
I am going to question your statement about finding a flowing spring
in Valley Wells. The current water table is 300'. Thanks - Tom
Nuckols, Land owner in Big Wells and Valley Wells, June 23, 2004
Anyyone wishing to share history, stories, memories or photos
of Valley Wells, Texas, please contact
us.
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