Remote and far removed from civilization it stands at the edge of the wilderness boundary, and offers an ideal location for quiet camping, birding, hiking, and solitude. Before that time, the only roads between the flats and El Paso had been rude affairs that followed along buried oil pipelines.Ĭopyright © 2023 Legends of America.Dog Canyon lies in a secluded, forested canyon on the north end of the park at an elevation of 6,300 feet. Hammack, the son of a rancher from Van Horn, Texas, learned from highway surveyors that a new highway between El Paso and Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, was to pass through the area.

However, the town of Salt Flat didn’t exist during these turbulent times, as it didn’t get its start until the 1920s. Because of the dispute, Fort Bliss in El Paso, which had been closed in 1877, was reestablished the same year. The “war” involved factions on both sides of the border and eventually required the help of the Texas Rangers as well as the U.S. This prompted the 12-year-long El Paso Salt War between the businessmen themselves and against the area’s locals, resulting in the deaths of as many as 30 people and multiple injuries. Though Native Americans and Mexicans had utilized these salt deposits for centuries, in the late 1860s, the region between Salt Flat and El Paso, some 90 miles to the west, came into a dispute as El Paso businessmen tried to acquire title to the salt deposits. The salt came from shallow lakes formed in the Rio Grande Valley after rains in the Guadalupe Mountains. The town takes its name from its location within a dry salt pan, a flat expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals. Salt Flat, Texas, is a ghost town located in Hudspeth County in west Texas. Salt flats in Hudspeth County, Texas by Carol Highsmith.

Salt flat texas