Soash, Texas Ghost Towns and Geocaching

In northwestern Howard County are the remains of what was known as Soash, Texas. Soash was established in 1909 by William Pulver Soash. He contracted with Christopher Slaughter to purchase approximately 200,000 acres of land to develop into a housing community. He built the Bank of Soash out of reinforced concrete, which is all that remains of the town. He also built a school, an electrical plant and the Lorna Hotel, named after his daughter. He had telephone, electricity, water and a post office established by the end of 1909.

On July 4, 1909 Soash held a town picnic where more than 3000 people attended. Standing at the site, it is interesting to imagine all of those people milling about in the area. We imagined where the hotel and its associated parking lot, and the school once stood. Soash had put out a lot of his own money to make the picnic happen, and it was a success. Most of the visitors arrived by train into Big Spring, and since no expense was being spared, were shuttled to Soash by brand new Buick automobiles.

Soash had lived up to his reputation, seemingly creating a successful town. He had future plans for a cannery and a cement block factory. Unfortunately, although his advertising claimed the land fertile, very little of the land was usable for farming. This coupled with the drought that began in 1909 and scorched West Texas until 1912 fated the town of Soash.

When the Santa Fe Railroad announced that they were not going to run through Soash, but six miles west of the town, Soash's vision of survival for his town was destroyed. By the end of 1912, the Soash Land Company was bankrupt. By 1915 the population was down to 50 people. In 1916 the post office closed for a year. It reopened in 1917 for a short while, and then closed for good in September of the same year.

Today, all that remains of Soash is the reinforced concrete bank. It is greatly dilapidated, with concrete hanging from rebar and vegetation weaving through it. What's left of the building lies on private property but can be seen from the road. The pictures associated with this article are from the public road.

Many short detours off the beaten path can show you many unique places. Geocaching is one way for people to share some of these places. While in the area, there are several geocaches to be found; one celebrating the town of Soash titled, Soash-A Historical Pipe Dream. When you get to the location of this cache (which is also on public property) you will be able to see the remains of the bank building. If you are coming from Highway 20 or Big Spring, there are many caches in the area, all of which are worth finding.

Texas is scattered with ghost towns, geocaches and lost treasure for any of us to explore and enjoy. These towns often have populations in close proximity, or another town that has grown into the abandoned town. Always respect private property, state park and federal regulations.

References

Soash - A Historical Pipe Dream - the geocache
Handbook of Texas Online
TexasEscapes.com