Rath City, Texas

Rath City, Texas
Ghost Town
Historical marker and rest stop at site of former Rath City
Country	United States
State	Texas
County	Stonewall County, Texas
River	Double Mountain Fork
Established	1876
Founded by	Charles Rath
Elevation	1,660 ft (510 m)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
Website	Handbook of Texas

Rath City was a frontier town which existed for fewer than five years and is now a ghost town. The town was located on the Double Mountain Fork Brazos River fourteen miles northwest of Hamlin in southern Stonewall County, Texas, 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 the village grew around. A declining buffalo population ended the settlement and it was abandoned in 1880.

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 300 frontiersmen. A group of 45 men left Rath City in pursuit of a Comanche war party led by Black Horse, in a campaign known as the Buffalo Hunters' War or Staked Plains War. The men pursued the Comanche to a site in present-day Lubbock. A battle ensued on March 18, 1877, at Yellow House Canyon; its results were inconclusive. The hunters returned to Rath City and thus ended one of the last Indian campaigns on the southern plains.

See also

• List of ghost towns in Texas
• Canyon Valley, Texas
• Double Mountain Fork Brazos River
• Salt Fork Brazos River
• Llano Estacado
• Double Mountain (Texas)

External links

• Rath City, Texas on Ghosttowns.com
• Public domain photos of the Llano Estacado and Rolling Plains