Rath City was a frontier town that existed for fewer than five years, and is 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 ...

. The town was located on the

Double Mountain Fork Brazos River The Double Mountain Fork Brazos River is an ephemeral, sandy-braided stream about long, heading on the Llano Estacado of West Texas about southeast of Tahoka, Texas, flowing east-northeast across the western Rolling Plains to join the Salt Fo ...

, 14 miles northwest of Hamlin in southern

Stonewall County, Texas Stonewall County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,245. Its county seat is Aspermont. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1888. It is named for Stonewall Jackson, a genera ...

, United States.

History

The town was founded in 1876. Its original establishment was meant to capitalize on the buffalo trade, and it was Stonewall County's first settlement. In 1877, the town housed a store, two saloons, a dance hall, and a few tents and dugouts. The town's namesake was Charles Rath, whose store, built in 1875, was the structure around which the village grew. A declining buffalo population ended the settlement, and it was abandoned in 1880.Rath City, Texas
Handbook of Texas Online, University of Texas at Austin

Rath City and Native Americans

In February 1877, after buffalo hunter Marshall Sewell was killed by Native Americans, Rath City became a rallying point for over 500 frontiersmen. A group of 46 men left Rath City in pursuit of a

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

war party led by

Black Horse Black is a hair coat color of horses in which the entire hair coat is black. It is not uncommon to mistake dark chestnuts or bays for black. Black horses have dark brown eyes, black skin, and wholly black hair coats without any areas of per ...

, in a campaign known as the

Buffalo Hunters' War The Buffalo Hunters' War, or the Staked Plains War, occurred in 1877. Approximately 170 Comanche warriors and their families led by Quohadi chief Black Horse or Tu-ukumah (unknown–ca. 1900) left the Indian Territory in December, 1876, for ...

or Staked Plains War. The men pursued the Comanche to a site in present-day

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

. A battle ensued on March 18, 1877, at

Yellow House Canyon Yellow House Canyon is about long, heading in Lubbock, Texas, at the junction of Blackwater Draw and Yellow House Draw, and trending generally southeastward to the edge of the Llano Estacado about east of Slaton, Texas; it forms one of three ...

; its results were inconclusive. The hunters returned to Rath City, thus ending one of the last Indian campaigns on the southern plains.

References

External links

Rath City, Texas
on Ghosttowns.com * {{Stonewall County, Texas Ghost towns in North Texas Geography of Stonewall County, Texas Populated places established in 1876 1876 establishments in Texas

History

Rath City and Native Americans

See also

References

External links