Chispa

CHISPA, TEXAS . Chispa was on the Southern Pacific Railroad and U.S. Highway 90, sixteen miles northwest of Valentine and six miles south of Chispa Mountain in northwestern Jeff Davis County. It was founded in 1882, when the railroad built through the area. A post office was established there in 1895 or 1896 but closed in 1900. For a time a branch railroad ran from Chispa to a coal mine near the Rio Grande, and in 1949 the siding, a section house, two dwellings, and the abandoned tunnel of the branch railroad remained at the site. By the early 1970s Chispa was only a stop on the railroad. The C. Means ranch was a half mile northeast. The town's name is Spanish for "spark."