Devil's River

The community of Devils River was on the Southern Pacific Railroad and the lower Devils River near Devils Lake and Lake Walk, near the Mexican border 1½ miles below Castle Canyon in southeastern Val Verde County. It was founded in 1882 as a siding and nonagency station on the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway. Prehistoric people had lived around the Devils River for 6,000 years and left artifacts in caves and rockshelters. After the coming of the railroad the small community prospered. At one time it reportedly had fifteen buildings and a population of fifty to sixty. During the 1940s twenty families lived there; breadwinners worked for the railroad or for the power company that operated plants at Devils Lake and Lake Walk. When Amistad Dam and Reservoir was built, the railroad station, the power plants, and the prehistoric relics were inundated.