Settlers in the 1870s built adobe huts and irrigation ditches along area creeks. After 1875 village became a supply depot for large area ranches, including the famed XIT and LIT, town was also known as the 'Cowboy Capital of the Plains'; and the county seat. The famous and infamous walked here from Kit Carson to Billy the Kid. Decline came with fencing of property, the railroad by-passing the town and it was deserted by the 1930s.