Milton Faver Ranches

Milton Faver (ca. 1822-1889), a native of the midwest United States, moved to this area in the 1850s from Presidio del Norte, where he owned a general store and operated a freighting business on the Chihuahua Trail. By the 1880s, Faver controlled vast acreage in this part of the county, including most of the best permanent water sources, which he built into a formidable cattle, sheep, and goat ranching empire. Faver's three ranches-- El Fortin del Cibolo, El Fortin de la Cienega, and La Morita-- comprised the largest single-owner landholdings in the county. Structures on the ranches, including dwellings, work rooms, fences, corrals, and irrigation systems, were built with traditional adobe and stone building methods. Census and tax records show that Faver owned the largest livestock herds in the county in the late 19th century. Following the deaths of Milton Faver in 1889, his wife Francisca in 1893, and his son Juan in 1913, and after a lawsuit, the ranchlands were sold by the Faver heirs. Other pioneer ranching families in the area, including George and Juliana Dawson (niece of Francisca Faver), and J. A. Pool, Sr. and J. W. Pool and their heirs, the Greenwood family, operated ranches on the former Faver lands until the late 20th Century. (1995)

Milton Faver Ranches is a historical marker in Shafter, Presidio County, dedicated in 1995. It is one of 26 historical markers documented in Presidio County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 81 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 29.8821, -104.2761 near Shafter. The nearest cataloged historic site is Milton Faver (historical marker), about 0.7 miles away. Others within a short drive include El Fortin Del Cibolo, Yucca Hill, and Here Milton Faver.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5377003392. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.