Birchville, or Smith Ranch, now a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

, was located in what is now

Hudspeth County, Texas Hudspeth County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 3,432. Its county seat is Sierra Blanca, Texas, Sierra Blanca, and the largest communit ...

, United States. Birchville was a settlement on the San Antonio-El Paso Road in what was El Paso County. Birchville lay 35 miles northwest of the First Camp on Rio Grande and 24.8 miles southeast of

San Elizario San Elizario is a city in El Paso County, Texas, United States. Its population was 10,116 at the 2020 census. It is part of the El Paso metropolitan statistical area. It lies on the Rio Grande, which forms the border between the United States a ...

, according to the table of distances for the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line in the Texas Almanac of 1857. Table of distances from Texas Almanac, 1859
Book, ca. 1859; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123765/ accessed November 12, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association, Denton, Texas Later used as a station on the

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service in ...

, the distances to the station for that line were given as 24 miles from San Elizario, 33 miles from

Fort Quitman Fort Quitman was a United States Army installation on the Rio Grande in Texas, United States, south of present-day Sierra Blanca, southeast of McNary in southern Hudspeth County. The fort, now a ghost town, was named for former Mississippi G ...

.List of Stations from New York Times, October 14 1858, Itinerary of the Route
/ref>

History

Birchville, or Smith Ranch Station, was a stop on the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line in 1857, and from 1858 to 1861 a stagecoach station on the

route. Its station agent, George Lyles, was a grocer who lived there with his family. Also, two employees lived in the household, including a cook. An eating house provided travelers a meal during stagecoach stops while the horses were being changed. It remained as a station of Butterfield Overland Mail's successor, the Overland Mail, until 1862, when the Union Army occupied El Paso County. During the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, Lyles remained in the area providing mesquite beans, to the Union Army garrison at

Franklin, Texas Franklin is a city in, and the county seat of, Robertson County, Texas, United States. It is within the Brazos Valley, on the cusp of the East and Central Texas regions. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 1,614. The original name ...

(El Paso).George B. Lyles & Basilia McKnight
from sites.google.com/site/georgeblylesbasilicamcknight/Home/george-b-lyles accessed December 1, 2013 When

Bethel Coopwood Bethel Coopwood (1827–1907) was a notable frontier figure of the American Southwest. He was born in Alabama, moved to Texas, was a soldier in the Mexican–American War, and an officer in the Confederate Army in the American Civil War. He also ...

revived the San Antonio-El Paso Mail in 1866, Birchville was again a stagecoach station but the settlement was destroyed by a flood of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

in 1867 and never revived.

Location of the site

The exact location of Birchville has yet to be found. It may have been obliterated by the floods of the Rio Grande in 1867 or during the later 19th century, or buried under agricultural lands along the river. Mileage from San Elizario on the old road put it approximately two miles south of the El Paso - Hudspeth County line nearby

Texas State Highway 20 State Highway 20 (SH 20) is a highway maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) that runs from New Mexico State Road 460 at the state line between Texas and New Mexico at Anthony in El Paso County to Interstate 10 at ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birchville, Texas Ghost towns in West Texas San Antonio–El Paso Road San Antonio–San Diego Mail Line Butterfield Overland Mail in Texas American frontier Geography of Hudspeth County, Texas 1857 establishments in Texas Stagecoach stops in the United States