Station	Valera Coleman County MP 11.4 (Mileage from Coleman Junction)
Origin of Station Name	Named after Valera McDonald, the daughter of an early settler in this area.
Agency Opened	August 1, 1886
1886 Personnel	J. N. Claggett - Stationmaster - $60/mo John Roonan - Section Foreman - $55/mo Supervising seven laborers at $1.25/day and providing their room and board for about 60 cents/day each man. These men were Harry Rollman, Harry Johnson, A. J. Gibson, Lewis Jackson, Andrew Brown, W. J. Clark and James Keenan.
1890 Insured Structures	Depot - $940 Section House - $655 (Section E-2)
1921 Depot(s)	Depot built 1905, 24’3” x 65’. Wood frame, drop siding, wood shingles. “No. 4” standard, bay window shown on schematic in building record book. 1895 section house still in service in 1921
1946 Traffic Report	No coverage
“The Earth” Press Coverage	No coverage
Employee Magazine Coverage	No coverage
Junction Other Lines	None
Agency Closed	November 1, 1952
Photographic Images
Operating Bulletins	None
Railroad Commission Complaints	In July of 1905 the Railroad Commission forwarded a complaint to Galveston headquarters reporting as follows: “The complaint alleges in substance that this station has built up within the last six months from practically nothing to six store houses, blacksmith shop, lumber yard, cotton gin, hotel, etc. It is further stated that said station has grown considerably in the way of residences, and that by reason of the fact that the large pastures surrounding the station have been sold and are being sold in farms, a rapid growth is anticipated, and that depot facilities are badly needed.” The company responded with construction of a depot that year, also building freight and cotton platforms and a tool house. The citizenry complained further in 1909 regarding a lack of livestock loading pens, and these were also then constructed.
Legal Department Files	One file, on closure of agency.
Remarks This community began to decline in the 1930s, and by the end of World War II counted a population of only 500 persons. On September 3, 1952 the Railroad Commission convened a hearing at the Coleman County Courthouse to consider under Docket No. 1211-RO the Santa Fe’s application to close its agency at Valera. The application was protested by the community, which retained as its counsel Mr. W. E. Allen, Coleman County Attorney. About 25 Valera residents attended the hearing, and three of them testified. These were H. T. Crenshaw, a grocery and feed store merchant, and area ranchers Furman Pauley and Bob Horne. Santa Fe Superintendent A. B. Clements testified that the community business establishments were three general merchandise stores, two service stations, one auto repair garage and service station, one café, three churches, and one wholesale gasoline distribution agency. His analysis of the station’s financial records indicated that for the period from January 1950 through April 1952, station revenue was $5826 and operating expenses were $16,674.91. The average monthly deficit was $387. During this time, there were 18 full carloads of freight received at the station, and four full carloads originated there. Less-than-carload freight was being handled by the company’s trucking affiliate, the Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company. On cross-examination, Counselor Allen obtained from Mr. Clements a concession that the monthly deficit could be reduced to about $160 if the station were converted to a non-telegraph agency, which would allow payment of a lower salary to the agent. The agent’s salary was about $650/month, and Allen was arguing for replacement by a cheaper man lacking telegraphic skills. Rancher Bob Horne testified that during the study period examined by the railroad, he had shipped 11 cars of alfalfa hay, mostly from Colorado, at a total freight cost of $3924.90. Responding to a question about hardship caused by loss of the agent, he replied: “we do not have a telephone at the ranch and he will come down and let us know at the ranch when the shipment is there and we can go to Valera and unload.” Horne was followed by grocery and feed store merchant H. T. Crenshaw, who testified that he had been at Valera since 1905, and had never seen drought conditions so bad as were then being suffered. He was purchasing most of his groceries from a wholesaler in Amarillo, though some stock was shipped to him from Dallas and St. Louis. He conceded that the bulk of his shipments came by truck. The Railroad Commission took less than a month to rule that there was inadequate demand for service to justify continuation of the agency. On October 1, 1952 the agency entered an order approving the railroad’s application for discontinuance, and the agency was closed effective November 1st.