Historic Midland

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Above, left: Bryan Estes, youngest son
of E.H. and Caroline Estes, cowboyed
for his father at the Mastodon Ranch.
mostly gone, the Indians removed and Medlin
hunted mostly antelope, which provided him a
modest living. He sold antelope meat to the
crews working on the Texas & Pacific tracks and
ranged throughout West Texas and Southeastern
New Mexico on his forays.
In 1880 Medlin was living at Cedar Lake,
then the largest salt lake on the southern Staked
Plains, with two or three companions. Medlin
also lived in Lincoln County, New Mexico
Territory; and McDonald, Tatum, and
Lovington, New Mexico.
Medlin died of pneumonia at the age of 44
while on a trip to Midland on April 22, 1898.
He is buried in a Martin County cemetery.
A man identified only by the name Zakeros
was probably the next sheepman to locate in
Midland County, although J.T. Mullenax located
here in 1883, and a number of others arrived in
Above, right: Gus Miller’s hat, chaps
and saddle, given to the Midland
County Historical Museum by his
wife, Esther, after Gus passed away on
Aug. 3, 1965. Gus cowboyed at the
Billy Bryant ranch for many years and
was known as an outstanding cowboy.
Right: Wagon load of watermelons
from the Z. Taylor Brown
experimental farm south of Midland
parked in front of George Elliott’s
mercantile store in the early 1900’s .
20 ✦ HISTORIC MIDLAND