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WOODY, TEXAS. Woody was thirty miles northwest of Pecos at the headquarters of the W Ranch in north central Loving County. A post office that operated at Woody in 1910 and 1911 was likely named for Fannin Woodyard Johnson, who was called Woody. Johnson was the leading partner in a business alliance with his two brothers, W. D. and J. L. The Johnsons, who invested in banking and merchandizing in Pecos, bought the W Ranch from Continental Land and Cattle Company^qv in 1893. By 1910 they owned 1,200 sections of land in Loving, Winkler, and Ward counties. However, in 1910 ranching was stifled in a severe drought that afflicted West Texas. The Johnsons reduced their cattle holdings in Loving County and in 1912 sold the W Ranch to John Z. Means of Valentine.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Robert W. Dunn, The History of Loving County, Texas (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1948; condensed in West Texas Historical Association Year Book, 1948). A History of Winkler County (Kermit, Texas: Winkler County Historical Commission, 1984). Alton Hughes, Pecos: A History of the Pioneer West (Seagraves, Texas: Pioneer, 1978).

Julia Cauble Smith