Samuels

Pumpville is on Pumpville Canyon, Farm Road 1865, and the Southern Pacific Railroad in western Val Verde County. It was originally called Samuels, when it was established as a pump or water station, a telegraph office, and a crew point as the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway built its tracks through the county in 1882. In 1887 the railroad drilled wells at Samuels to supply water for use by the trains, and the station was renamed Pumpville to reflect its purpose. In August 1889 a westbound passenger train was robbed near Pumpville. At different times the community had a church, a school, a store, and a service station. It was once headquarters for D. Hart Investments. Hart controlled all of Block Y and the watering places on both the Rio Grande and the Pecos River. He held 80,000 sheep, 500 horses, and uncounted cattle there. However, his empire crumbled when he attempted to corner the wool market in Boston. A post office operated at Pumpville from 1899 until 1921. It reopened in 1929 and operated until 1970. From 1931 until 1980 the community reported one business. The population was ten in the 1930s and 1940s and twenty in the 1950s. Fifty people lived in and around Pumpville in 1961. From 1968 to 2000 twenty-one residents were reported.