At Pumpville, steam engines left and ranching stayed

In 1882, the railroad built a water stop west of Langtry with a pumphouse, depot, and other gear for steam engines. The little settlement was called Samuels before the job it performed gave it a better name: Pumpville.

Area ranchers used the stop to send livestock to market. Railroad workers and ranch families built a community with a post office, schools, and a general store around that useful patch of track.

Diesel engines did not need the water stop. The railroad removed its structures, but the ranching community stayed. A Texas House resolution in 2025 still described sheep, goats, wool, and mohair as central to Val Verde's economy.

Pumpville makes that long ranching identity concrete. It was not just stock on distant acreage; it shaped where a town appeared and why it lasted after the machinery left.