April 12, 2026
This story, eventually, will be about Ralls, Texas, which is about 30 miles east of Lubbock on Highway 114. It begins however, with an $8 antique shovel.
For the stories on this site, I always try to keep a light hand editorially, and let the stories reveal themselves. So far, I’ve found that if I stay engaged and curious, serendipity will usually intervene, to bring unexpected connections and stories into focus, and so it was with Ralls.
For this project so far, I’ve been working my way westward from Dallas, to Jacksboro, Olney, Seymour, McAdoo, etc, and the high plains towns of Crosbyton, Ralls, and Idalou were next on the list to explore. This weekend (April 10-11, 2026), at the annual meeting of the West Texas Historical Association in Lubbock, I met someone with a connection to Ralls, all the way back to the original founders of the town, and I’ve made plans to follow up. Coincidence? Perhaps. We’ll see.
On the way back to Dallas, I stopped in Ralls (of course), just to snoop around a bit; to begin to get a feel for the place. Unfortunately, it was late Saturday afternoon, and the museum and many of the shops were already closed–except for Tumbleweed Market.
They had a nice collection of new and antique items, but for some reason, what caught my eye was: an old rusty shovel. Just $8. Stamped “USA”–making it certifiably antique. It’s smaller than the new ones you find today, as if it was designed for lighter or closer work? But the blade is well-worn from use. The handle is shorter, and with a comfortable taper–a design detail long-since sacrificed for cost control purposes.
In addition to the basic facts of the town, past and present, which we will of course cover, what other stories from Ralls will reveal themselves? Will this small old shovel figure in? Perhaps not. Unless we use it figuratively, to see what we can dig up.
