Double Mountain Salt Works (on Brazos River)
State Highway 70, at courthouse, Jayton
1965On Indian-infested frontier 125 miles beyond Fort Belknap and outer settlements. Northernmost business in Confederate Texas. Established at great risk, to obtain salt, scarce during Civil War and vitally needed to cure meat, season food, cure hides for leather, feed work horses, Army draft mules and Cavalry Horses. Texas Legislature appropriated funds for the explorations on the Brazos by a civil engineer. Double mountain spring water proved to be 98% salt, a nearby lake 45%. Reduction of brine was under control of Texas Military Board. Troops guarded the work.
First National Bank Building
402 Donoho St, Jayton, TX
1998An excellent example of early 20th century classical revival style, the First National Bank of Jayton was erected about 1912 by descendants of early Kent County pioneers. Classical features of the edifice, such as the polished granite Ionic columns, bull's eye windows, quoins, and the unusual recessed entry portico, are typical of the favored imagery of stability and order among banks of the period. The domed skylight is a device often employed by the building's architect, Rockwell H. Stuckey (1855-1936). The bank closed in the 1930s; the building continues to serve the community as a financial institution, many of its personnel descendants of bank founders. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark -
Kent County
State Highway 70, at Kent County Courthouse, Jayton
1936 (Centennial marker)Formed from Young and Bexar Territories; Created August 21, 1876; Organized November 8, 1892; Named in honor of Andrew Kent who fell at the Alamo; Clairmont, the County Seat, 1892; Jayton, since 1952.
Old Kent County Jail
At junction of US Hwy. 380 and State Hwy. 208, Clairemont
Near old courthouse
1965Built, 1894, of red sandstone quarried nearby. Horse and cattle thieves, murderers, moonshiners most common prisoners. One of most difficult West Texas jails from which to escape. No attempted break successful. [Note: bldg. is supposedly in very bad shape.]
Putoff Canyon (East of Here)
From Jayton take SH 70 three miles north to roadside park
1965Named for a Mr. Putoff, early settler. In region of Salt Water, canyon was noted for its freshwater spring "strong enough to swim a horse". Area was a resort, 1900-1914, for many artists. Western writer Zane Grey used region as setting for his novel "The Thundering Herd".
