Mrs. Beula Durrill Espy, of Van Horn, Texas shows off her cake at a picnic in west Texas, 1940. (Courtesy Portal to Texas History). View full size.

You can see more images from the Texas Mountain Trail, a coalition of west Texas museums, in our gallery.

Mrs. Mable Clark sits in the native cactus garden outside the Clark Hotel and its Cactus and Curio Shop in Van Horn, Texas, c. 1940. The building now houses the Clark Hotel Museum, along the Texas Mountain Trail in Far West Texas. (Courtesy Portal to Texas History).

This is a photographic postcard of the Cactus Filling Station in Van Horn, Texas. Two men -- D.H. McVay and S.A. Small -- are standing outside. View full size (Courtesy Portal to Texas History).

The R.P. Bean Ranch, with four cowboys and three horses, near Van Horn, Texas, c. 1910. View full size (Courtesy Portal to Texas History).

Fred Clark of Van Horn, Texas and his cactus garden. I haven't counted all of the succulent little beauties (beware the search traffic that phrase will draw), but I'll go out on a limb and say there are many hundred. Ouch! View full size. (Courtesy Portal to Texas History).

This is the first of a number of images we plan to post from a coalition of west Texas museums. The kind folks at the Texas Mountain Trail contacted us with an offer we couldn't refuse: Access to old photographs. You can see all of the images in our Texas Mountain Trial gallery.