[8] : Preface  On October 2, 1859, the well-known journalist and author (and future Union spy) Albert D. Richardson passed through Camp Stockton, which he described as "a military post of three or four edifices with pearly, misty mountains in the background.

[8]: 9  The Confederates took possession of the fort on 9 May by Charles L. Pyron at the outbreak of the Civil War, but soon turned command over to Capt.

[8]: 15  With the failure of John Baylor's invasion of New Mexico, a general Confederate evacuation of West Texas occurred in 1862.

[8]: 317 San Antonio entrepreneurs were convinced the water from the nearby Comanche and Leon Springs could be used for irrigation.

By 1870, the Saint Gaul region had a population of 420 civilians, predominantly Irish, German, and Mexican Catholics who had come by way of San Antonio.

In 1951, Clayton Williams Sr. and other "pump farmers" west of town drilled irrigation wells that tapped into the aquifer that fed Comanche Springs.

On June 21, 1954, the Texas Court of Civil Appeals ruled in favor of Clayton Williams, et al. by upholding "the rule of capture", agreeing with the landmark 1904 Texas Supreme Court decision that groundwater was "too mysterious to regulate".

By then, however, it was rapidly becoming the center for an extensive sheep- and cattle-ranching industry, and in 1926, the opening of the nearby Yates Oil Field brought on an economic boom.

[12] Fort Stockton was eventually served by the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway at the beginning of the twentieth century.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.1 square miles (13 km2), all land.

The city and district share the old Alamo school building, using it for the Recreation Department to host Little League games.

The town has a Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Office, offering environmental systems management courses.

Fort Stockton is also home to the Midland College Williams Regional Technical Training Center.

Fort Stockton and Pecos County are part of the Midland College service area.

After just four years, the facility, named in honor of Fort Stockton native and WRTTC donor Clayton Williams Jr., doubled in size through fundraising and program development.

The Fort Stockton division of the ranch is known for its desert mule deer, pronghorns, elk, Barbary sheep (aoudad), coyotes, bobcats, Rio Grande turkeys, and quail.

The Seymour division is known for its white-tailed deer, dove, quail, turkeys, coyotes, and feral pigs.

The historic Comanche War Trail passes through the Fort Stockton division ranch and the internationally famous Sierra Madera crater is located on the east side of U. S. Route 385 near the entrance to the Fort Stockton division ranch headquarters.