[Music] [Travis] Life in the West Texas desert is not for the faint at heart The landscape is unforgiving.

The desert heat is unwavering.

But the grit of the people that call this place home have a spirit that only can come from within [Music] [Frame Click] - Monahans Well was discovered in 1881 when Thomas John Monahan dug the first water well and it became a spot on the rail system between the Pecos River and Big Spring.

A post office and a few businesses started to call Monahans Well home.

Soon, Well, was dropped from the name and Monahans was officially formed as one of the counties that has become Ward County.

Ward County was formed from some of the most unique geography and industries.

Oil, the railroad system, the Butterfield Overland Mail Stagecoach, Ranching, the Coca-Cola Bottling Company and the Pyote Army base were all calling the area home.

Times were changing, but the ventures were some for the history books.

[Ellen] The rail obviously, the rail really opened everything up.

I mean, you see the movies.

I don't really know how easy it was to ride along behind the train and jump on to try to rob it.

I'm not really sure about that, ha, but uh um.

But it's its the Iron Horse is the Indian called it.

I mean, you're not going to stop it.

Maybe you try to put enough stuff on the train to derail it or something, Maybe, But that's probably about the only way that you're going to stop it or something.

It's its on that track and it's going to go so unless you do something to the track, you're probably not stopping a train.

It could carry a lot more people It could carry a lot of freight.

I mean, that stagecoach has people in their luggage and maybe a little bit of something, but you're just not going to carry much on that.

So you're going to be doing covered wagons or something to be getting things.

So in terms of the developing the West and everything, um the amount of freight, the amount of people, the amount everything that the trains could carry to bring out here, um you know, we don't really have trees.

So if you're going to get lumber, it's coming from somewhere.

It's not really coming from here.

Um, but so they could bring in building materials and things like that, which could help your community develop because then you would have those building materials to build a house or something.

Otherwise, you're sort of piecing things together.

And and also they had mud huts because there was lots of dirt and mud and and there would have been adobe and that type of thing.

That's why that was a large building component out here at while, but being able to bring all those other things, um food things for the general store, I mean just everything to stock it that you would have those things even though you couldn't.

Fabrics for clothing, um, flour, feed for horses, you know, just all of that.

[Camilla] I was born in Pecos, and when I was 18 months old, my dad was offered the agent's position here at the railroad, and we moved, then when I was 18 months old, into the depot apartment.

And my dad was the agent um from I guess it was about 51 until about 70 72.

I think some something along that line.

Hmm.

[Jeppie] The school was Cleveland Brockman Elementary and Mr. Brockman, he had a nickname called Domino.

And so the reason he was special in those days is because he he was a black man and he had a job.

It was uptown.

So it was a big deal once people yeah, old, Brockman He's got a big job of uptown.

For real?

Yeah.

and it for shining shoes either.

What?

He's working for the Post Office.

Yeah.

Every day he would um have pushed this little push cart from the post office all the way to the train when the train was very busy back in those days.

- He would carry mail and my brother and I in the mail cart to go to the Post Office.

And he was really he was just really kind to us.

- But he was a man that was really very well respected.

No, he was he's probably the most prominent black man on that side of town back in the day, you know.

Mr. Brockman, There you are.

Yeah, it was a big deal.

You'd hear the grown folks talkin.

And of course, those kids back in those days, we weren't supposed to listen to the grown folks talking.

[Clears throat] You know, you had to sit there and, you know, especially my mom used to do that to me.

She talked to her friends and they'd be gossiping and having fun.

And I, Mom, can I go play with the kids naw its too late you just sit right there till I get through it and had to sit there two or 3 hours waiting for them to finish.

Oh, [Laughs] but it taught discipline, patience, I guess, cause.

Oh, mercy.

But anyway, yes, Mr. Brockman was quite a man.

He was quite a neat fella.

[Music] - You know, we were always excited to have people come so we could show them how to smash the little coins on the track.

That's illegal now to do, But we had great fun doing that back then because it wasn't illegal.

Or maybe if it was, we didn't know we did it anyway unless my daddy caught us and then we didn't do that anymore um when we were young.

Probably.

I can remember back at five years old, we rode the passenger trains all over when we took a vacation, we only went on a train and when I was five years old, we were on vacation in Corpus Christi.

We didn't get to go very often, and when we did it was by train at our depot, burned.

When I was five years old.

The depot burned um.

They said it was an electrical outage or shortage up in the apartment where we live.

And so it burned up all of our toys and and then smoke damaged the rest of the apartment.

Um and when we came back on the train, the conductor gave me a doll because he knew all of my toys had been burned up.

So he was a sweet man.

Yeah, it was an interesting place to grow up.

I wouldn't change it.

I learned that living on the wrong side of the tracks is not all that bad.

I can't remember.

I think I was about seven.

Daddy came in and said, Look at this.

He showed me his telegram and it said, Elvis Presley is coming.

I said, Elvis Presley's come in here, Daddy?

He said, Yes.

Is he going to get off the train?

I don't know that this is when he'll be here.

So that day came and Elvis Presley's train came through.

I think I was seven or eight.

I don't remember.

It stopped for about maybe 5 minutes.

He came to the back of the car and he picked up one little girl and give her a kiss, put her back down.

That was the end of that visit.

Now off they went, but it was an exciting moment in town for Elvis Presley to be coming.

Uh.

When Daddy went to uh Johns Business College.

That was the main thing he learned was the Morse code, how to telegraph.

And you had to be able to telegraph 60 words a minute uh to get out of their college or their business school.

So when he was on the line working, he could teletype, I mean, telegraph.

Then he had to spell the word and then he had to say the word back to the person that was giving them the orders for the trains because you really couldn't mess up an order or there would be accidents.

So he was very proficient at that and he would take the orders over the headphones and then he would they did an onion skin paper with the stylus.

You would fold it up and he made the slip knot.

Not in that string.

That is it look it looks like a rake.

It has a name, but I can't remember what it is.

And he would put the order on that.

Then he would go stand very close about like where that light posted.

No, closer than that to the railroad track.

And the trains would they wouldn't slow they don't slow down.

They were going about 60 and the engineer would lean out and get the order and if he missed it, he had to stop.

And that's a lot to stop.

A train, a hundred cars, but he had to stop back up and get the order because there were no cell phones or they didn't have telegraph on the train.

So they didn't have a choice.

They had to back up and see what was going on.

[Music] [Greg] Judge Parks had tremendous respect through that throughout the community.

Well, there was an interesting story one time where he uh was concerned about the speed at which the trains were coming through town.

And um that's a common concern that that folks have here, of course And and so he was stopped by local law enforcement because he was on Seely next to the railroad track, pacing his car with the uh with the train so that he could figure out how fast they were going through town.

And he ended up getting pulled over in the middle of town, going way too fast because he was trying to figure out how fast the train was going.

[Laughter] It was completely out of character for Judge Parks because he he just was the kind of uh jurist that was very straight, very by the book, very black and white.

And to find him speeding through town with the train to uh the to test out how ph to determine its speed uh was was quite out of character.

[Laugh] - So the biggest thing uh whenever I did join the Historical Commission, the the impact of the Pyote Bomber Base, uh that Army airfield was just crazy.

So again, growing up fru in Fort Stockton, I never traveled Interstate uh 20 between Monahans and Pecos So that was kind of a no man's land because we never had to go that direction.

If we're going to Midland, Odessa, we came to Monahans and then went on I-20 that way.

So I didn't even know it really existed.

Uh, and then reading, learning just the amount of the logistics of building a base in the middle of nowhere uh during a time that was just tremendous in the world uh and watching the the boom of that base and then the not the downfall or the demise, but.

It the did, I guess it the need was not there any longer.

So the closure of it, uh how fast it went from something to nothing.

Uh But again, and the biggest thing I think was how big of a role it actually played uh in the war.

I mean, it it was a game changer for sure.

- My Uncle um Joe Gunn was a B-17 pilot and he actually trained that's where he got his crew of ten.

He trained here at Pyote.

His brother Jim Gunn, uh trained at a different base.

And they both went over.

But Joe had been playing basketball or volleyball or something and broke his ankle.

And so he had to wait to go over till his ankle got better to complete his training.

And um so when he went over about the time he got there, they got a letter that my Uncle Jim had been shot down.

And he was they expected that he was a prisoner of war and he was only on his third mission, his third flight up when he got shot down.

So that really made my Uncle Joe um determined that, you know, he'd get in there and this war needed to end because he wanted to find out, you know, how his brother was and everything.

[Music] - The role was training pilots, uh the amount of hours that were spent, uh these pilots training to fly and uh then getting shipped over to the Pacific in the European Front.

I mean, it's just wild.

And we're talking, you know, probably your oldest is 30 uh and then you're talking kids that are in these planes.

Um, I thought one of the neat shot was if you look, there's an aerial picture that shows the bomber base during its heyday and the you have all these planes sitting out on the tarmac, but then you also there's not planes.

How much oil, grease, fuel are in theses spots because they were talking about, you know, a record number of hours uh being trained for these pilots.

So the mechanics were working 24 hours a day just to keep them functional.

Uh, and that it was pretty wild.

[Angelo] Well, I was a senior in high school They come out with the army deal that if you if he's 18, you could join for a year.

And if you didn't, well they could draft for 21 months.

So I went in for a year and I got out and then about 16 months and they called me back and sent me to Korea [Laughs] so its been a good laugh.

[Laughter] - So Joe flew um whatever missions were assigned, they were flying out of England.

That's where the crews from here generally went to England and flew from England over on there, bomb stories and everything.

And um you had to fly 25 complete missions in order to complete your service over there.

And if you went up and all of a and it was cloudy over your target, you couldn't drop and you had to go back and it didn't matter if you were shot at, it didn't matter if your men got injured, it didn't matter what happened, didn't matter if you're shot down, even if you were rescued, it did not count as one of your 25 missions.

I mean, it just it just didn't you had to drop your bomb on your designated target um and you had to make 25 of those runs and.

- Second Armored Division.

Was uh then And course, uh All right.

They made their Jeep driver out of me.

And then when I when I when I went to Korea, they sent me to the Field Artillery.

As a driver and you're seeing a lot there [Laughs] That was that was a pretty good trip itself, youll uh Courses it get rid of fightin but it didn't go on all the time it just here and yonder, you know.

But I got to stay when you're in every outfit there I was in the forward observer uh crew and of course we had uh we had the only uh armored guns.

We had 155 mounted on train tanks, you know, and every time there was a hot spot where they'd call us, they were doing good.

[Laughs] Yeah.

So I seen a whole bunch of people stayed with their fit over there.

Back with the British when we did somethin up there.

I've got to write a letter home.

And I asked one of them other guys, whats the date?

[Laughs] He told me the 16th of January.

I said, hell hat's my birthday Im 21 today.

[Laughs] And we got out some Gin and celebrated, [Laughs] but we stayed with the British several times, you know, and training with the Marines to enforce their fire.

It was quite an experience and I met a lot of people seen a lot of country.

- So my Uncle Joe um made his 25.

But one of those he sent a letter home to my mother, who was his younger sister, and he told her about his flight with the Mary Ellen.

And in that particular one, they were wounded, um I won't say wounded, they were.

The plane was shot up um quite badly and they weren't sure if they were going to be able to make it back.

But you certainly, if you could avoid it, did not want to crash on enemy soil.

Um.

They had an opportunity.

I think you have an opportunity to go to Sweden because it was neutral.

And so if you're really bad and you couldn't get back to England, you could go there, but you were out of the war, you were not allowed to take a boat back to England or anything.

You had to stay there and um it was like neutral territory.

But he wanted to get back because his brother was a prisoner of war and and he wanted to do what he could help make that war end.

And so he sent a long letter to my mother.

It tells about all the difficulties they had.

He told his man they could go ahead and bail out.

He said, I'm not bailing.

I'm staying with the plane.

I'm going to do everything I can to get her back to England.

But he didn't think they would make it, so he gave his men permission to bail out the plane, but they all stayed.

None of them left.

Um And in that some shrapnel or other things to uh two of his men were injured on that.

They didn't die, but but they were injured um quite badly where they couldn't go back um when they went on their next flight and everything.

But they did manage to make it back to England on that particular flight and um the Mary Ellen got uh repaired and patched up and everything.

She didn't crash when she landed.

She was just in really bad shape.

But he did eventually um complete his 25 missions so that he got his rotation back to the States.

But his brother still was a prisoner of war and um so he requested permission and was able to come back and he flew an additional 20 missions.

Uh, and of those 45 missions, he never lost a plane and he never lost a man.

- When I was out uh that, of course, the Korean broke open and there was a fightin and there was a woman in Congress, I think, forget what her title was.

She wasn't in the Congress itself.

She was one them special deals.

Always thought a lot of them [Laughs] Anyhow, uh she got after everything was quite down, just little.

She got ready to help.

Got us called in the who called in the reserves and And so, they kicked me out.

[Laughs] Sent us home.

that womens name was Andy Rosenberg, and Ive always thought a lot of her.

[Laughs] They was it was they were proud because they always think if you fighem were there, we don't have to fight them here.

That was the.

And Ive seen it [Laugh] and its damn sure true.

[Laugh] [Music] [Rex] - He ordered Camel Corps uh built a Camel Corps to start studying the use of camels out in these hot, dry, long regions.

The Big Bend all the way through here.

And so they actually trekked some camels with the army uh through here.

And uh it's there's times that they uh there's a couple little companies that will come out to the sand hills and offer some camel rides.

And but it all stems from that um somewhere around 1881 is when they were in this area.

So we we've even had camels here with the army.

So a neat place, a wonderful place.

The Indians, the Mescalero, uh Apaches, the Lapan Apaches, the Comanches, all were in this area, uh the very lower range of the Buffalo range.

Um And really the water from Monahans well opened up this area.

There wasn't much settlement out here, but uh for the railroad to have an abundant supply of water, they um started hauling water to Toya every day on the on the train.

That's how Toya you was able to sustain itself and do work in the oil industry and and, you know, have their their industry over there.

It was water from here - when I was 11 we was at El Paso daddy was working on that base there.

They had the last Mounted Parade of the First Calvary, and it took a long time all day with it.

Dad would work out there and Id a watch him.

Horses amuse me a pretty while.

But there was 45,000 headed horses muled and 15,000 of the horses had soldiers on them.

That was the whole Calvary, the whole division that was the last Mounted Parade.

They started to get rid of the the horses and everything then and they sent a bunch to China and I was kinda mad cause hell I wanted one [Laughs] I was livin you know and in Korea those uh Chinamen would raid at night horseback and of course our Air force had hell finding them and everything.

When we finally overtook them and I guess maybe 15 or 20 horses, is all, there when we'd go and they all had them army serial numbers on their neck.

[Laughs] So I didn't recognize none of them, [Laughs] but I sure was proud to see ‘em.

- They said, they did tell me when they moved all those bombers out of Monahans that it uh rattled all the windows in Monahans when they were going over because it was so much force going, yup.

- I don't know why they built here.

Well, one thing they figured the country wouldn't hurt nothing.

Cause the country was no good you know.

[Laughs] But it was the They took in a lot of the country at one time.

I think there's 5000 airplanes parked over there.

And you take a long time, drive back it was fastest to just to want to.

it.

It was quite a deal with their their they had a lot of soldiers there well they hired them I guess and they come into town all the time and of course.

Being the good Southern kid, I didn't like them Yankees [Laughs] hmmm Every everything worked good.

It it was fine growing up It was quite wonderful thing here.

[Music] - To me, I have to say.

Amazing little town right here in the middle of the Permian Basin.

Now, I had to admit, because we still have I 20, had it not been for I 20 uh had not had Monahans or had I 20 going around Monahans any kind of way or over it even.

Yeah, I don't think we probably wouldn't be here.

But we've experienced some ups and some downs, some highs and lows.

We're still here.

- Ranching is still a vital part of the community there.

Still many, many long term ranching families that have been here since since the late 1800s.

Still a lot of heritage here.

I believe it will continue.

It's always been hard.

This has always been a desert.

You have cycles of drought and cycles of good.

We're just in a cycle of drought.

and and one thing about people in this area is they don't give up.

And that's one thing about West Texas people is is they've got a lot of try and grit and it'll it'll stay viable.

[Music] - Probably not 100% accurate on this but it was used to store crude oil uh whenever, you know metal was probably hard to come by cement it was on the cheap side.

Sounds like a good idea uh but of course the think the downfall of it was they didn't compensate probably the the weight of the oil crack in the cement uh probably also built in sand didn't help uh all of those things.

I couldn't imagine like the doing doing that today, like the EPA environmental nightmare that would ensue.

But you know, good idea.

Good idea for sure.

The one thing that I know of, they were going to do a water show uh and I think it was like open closed the same day.

But it's one of those things you don't see the pictures.

You'd never believe it.

Like, where did they get the water from?

Uh.

Who was willing to do that?

I mean, it's it's almost like a you know, Barnum and Bailey sideshow like you do it, they will come kind of thing.

And uh luckily somebody was smart enough to document it with some pictures.

So you can you could see it because, again, I mean, I tell people that they're like, no way.

Where did they get the water from?

I mean, that's a tremendous amount of water.

Even if you're pumping it in, how much are you losing trying to do that?

So somebody went above and beyond.

- A fun fact.

In 2002, the US Air Force bombed us [Off Camera] - Seriously?

[Music] - As the Pyote Army base closed.

More families continue to move in and out of the area.

Businesses closed as others open.

The economy was changing and so was the landscape.

But like any West Texas town, Monahans was prepared to grow, too.

I'm Travis Sawyer.

Join me next time as we explore Monahans the Center of the Permian Basin.

[Music]