The salt lakes at the base of the Guadalupe Mountains had sustained communities along the Rio Grande for centuries. The King of Spain had granted the settlers of El Paso communal access to these deposits, rights later upheld by Mexico and supposedly protected by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. But in 1866, the Texas Constitution allowed individuals to stake claims to mineral rights, and what followed was a twelve-year conflict that would culminate in the only surrender of Texas Rangers in history. The San Elizario Salt War was not, as often portrayed, a mere riot by a lawless mob. It was an organized insurgency by people fighting to preserve rights their families had held for generations.
Before the pumping of groundwater transformed West Texas, the saline lakes near the Guadalupe Mountains produced salt of remarkable purity. Capillary action drew mineral deposits to the surface, creating a valuable resource for preserving meat, sustaining livestock, and processing silver ore in Chihuahua's mines. Caravans traveled established routes along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro to collect this communal treasure. In 1863, the people of San Elizario built a road by community subscription running east to the lakes, cementing their claim through collective investment. For generations, the salt belonged to everyone. Then the legal framework changed.
San Elizario's complicated relationship with the United States began with geography. Founded in 1789 on the south bank of the Rio Grande, the town found itself on an island -- 'La Isla' -- after an 1829 flood cut a new channel. When Texas declared independence in 1836 and claimed the Rio Grande as its border, San Elizario's nationality became ambiguous. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853 finally placed the community within U.S. borders. By then, San Elizario was the largest American settlement between San Antonio and Santa Fe, a major stop on the Camino Real, and the county seat of the region. Its Mexican and Tejano residents had deep roots and little interest in the Anglo entrepreneurs flooding into post-Civil War Texas.
The conflict evolved through alliances and betrayals worthy of a novel. Charles Howard, a Virginian Democrat, arrived in 1872 and initially allied with Italian-born Republican Louis Cardis against William Mills of the rival 'Salt ring.' But in summer 1877, Howard filed a claim to the salt lakes in his father-in-law's name, demanding payment from anyone who collected salt there. The Tejano community responded with organized resistance, forming juntas in San Elizario, Socorro, and Ysleta. In September, armed men seized Howard and held him prisoner for three days until he signed a relinquishment of his salt claims. Released on $12,000 bond, Howard fled to New Mexico -- then returned in October and shot Cardis dead in an El Paso store.
Governor Richard Hubbard dispatched the Texas Rangers' Frontier Battalion commander, Major John B. Jones, to restore order. Jones recruited a new detachment of 20 Rangers under Lieutenant John B. Tays and arranged Howard's release on bail. On December 12, 1877, Howard returned to San Elizario with Tays and his men. They were met by a force that may have numbered 500 armed insurgents. The Rangers took refuge in the town church. After a two-day siege, Tays surrendered -- the only time in history a Texas Ranger unit capitulated to adversaries. Howard, Ranger Sergeant John McBride, and merchant John Atkinson were executed by firing squad, their bodies dumped in a well. The Rangers were disarmed and expelled from town.
The aftermath was devastating for San Elizario's Tejano community. The 9th Cavalry's Buffalo Soldiers arrived to reestablish Fort Bliss and monitor the border. Many insurgent leaders fled to permanent exile in Mexico. San Elizario lost its status as county seat to the growing town of El Paso. When the railroad reached West Texas in 1883, it bypassed the old pueblo entirely. Property damage exceeded $31,000; lost wheat crops alone were valued at $48,000. Between 20 and 30 men died in the twelve-year struggle, perhaps double that number wounded. The right of individuals to own the salt lakes was established by force of arms, ending centuries of communal access. Modern scholarship now views the uprising not as a riot but as an organized resistance movement fighting for fundamental political and economic rights.
San Elizario is located at 31.74N, 105.08W in far west Texas, approximately 20 miles southeast of El Paso along the Rio Grande. The town lies in the valley between the Franklin Mountains to the northwest and the Hueco Mountains to the east. The salt lakes that sparked the conflict are located roughly 100 miles northeast, near the base of the Guadalupe Mountains. El Paso International Airport (KELP) is the nearest commercial airport. The historic town center, including buildings from the conflict era, is visible from lower altitudes. The Rio Grande, whose shifting course once made San Elizario's nationality uncertain, flows just to the south.