Anybody have any connections to Toyah? My Grandfather owned a lot of land in the area and farmed cotton. Spent most of my summers growing up in that place working for him. It's a ghost town, which was fine with us as kids. Damn I have some fond memories of that place...

Is that the tiny town between Odessa and Monahans near the Caprock or is it near Pecos? If Toyah is between Odessa and Monahans we used to drive through there all the time when we would go from Monahans to Midland and Odessa. I could look it up on a map but I am comfortable on the couch watching 20/20 while I search TexAgs.

Ag2max let me introduce you to Google maps,
Google this is Ag2max,
you guys should become friends

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=toyah,+tx&ie=UTF8&ll=31.319621,-103.793335&spn=0.560777,1.384277&om=1

Scooch that Google Map up a bit and you see that Toyas (population 60) is about 22 miles north of Lake Balmorhea. We should all be so lucky to be in Toyah this afternoon heading for the lake.

I was thinking of Penwell!!

I currently am working in Pecos right now - Toyah is just about 12 miles to our west. I know that it was partially destroyed in a flash flood a few years ago. I fly over it most days (I am weather modification pilot out here right now) and it seems to be just a ghost town but I have heard that a cafe has opened up and they are trying to restore a few of the old buildings in the town.

This area grows on you after a while and I don't mind it but I'll be glad too when my contract ends here in Oct.

Toyah was the turn around for the rail roads. Not the trains, but the crews. Trains would switch crews there. A west bound guy would drive his train there, spend the night and get up the next day to take an east bound back home.

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/TT/hlt27.html

and Balmorhea is the coldest water I've ever experienced on the hottest day. Took my scuba final there. That is a very neat place, and well worth the visit for an afternoon if you ever get out in that part of the country.

I know that the old bank building was destroyed in that flood. Several homes didn't survive (my aunt's was one). Spent lots of time in pool at the Balmorhea State Park.

Didn't make money working for my grandfather those summers, but he paid our admission to the state park/pool at Balmorhea whenever we weren't working. I think we came out ahead in the deal.

You are correct about the restruant Dworak. I was there to visit my grandmother over X-mas. My brother, one of my cousins, and myself were building a fence for her garden. We had lunch there. I can't remember the name, but it's not a bad place to grab a bite.

I have some friends who have a couple of ranches out north and west of Toyah. We usually go out there a couple of times a year to work and wean calves.

I've always thought Toyah, at least the part north of the railroad tracks, looks like a town after a nuclear war. With all of the old crumbling buildings, vacant houses, and lack of human activity, the place has an eerie feeling to it.

I have been out to those ranches for up to a week at a time, and never seen another vehicle or human except for the members of our group. On a moonless night when the wind isn't blowing, it is the darkest and quietest country I've ever been in. You can get on a high point and look in all directions and not see a light anywhere. Keep in mind these ranches are about 40 or 50 miles north and west of Toyah, and once you reach the Reeves/Culberson County line it's all dirt roads.

All of this has changed since they started drilling for gas/oil though. The last time we were there, we saw a lot of oilfield traffic. One positive aspect of the petroleum activity is the ranch roads leading to the drilling sites are maintained and the travel is much smoother and faster.

Ag65Son: Oilfield traffic has definately increased traffic and also upgraded a lot of the roads in the area.

For anyone interested in some of the history and to see some pictures of Toyah, check out this link: http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Toyah_Texas/Toyah_Texas.htm

My brother and one of my cousins has posted replies. My great great grandfather was the architect for the old school (gymnasium) and the bank.