You won't find Phantom Lake Camp on any maps, but it was once a popular West Texas tourist camp a few miles west of  Toyahvale, TX (Where Balmorhea State Park is now.) on the "Old Spanish Trail" from about 1920 to 1949, and derives it's name from Phantom Lake Cave - which before the 1930's was a lake!

Charley and Tillie Splittgarger owned and ran the camp. It included 5 camp houses, a gas station, swimming pool, dance floor, shade trees, barn and garage for parking your Model T. It cost $1.00 to $1.50 per night, per cabin. Here is a clipping from the 1929 Old Spanish Trail travel logs:

Why preserve it?

At this point in time, most of the old camp houses have deteriorated so badly that they have fallen down completely. But there are remaining structures, that I feel should be preserved, if not restored.

The camp is of major historical significance because John Dillinger and his gang occupied this camp for an extended period of time. Much work and research has gone into finding evidence of this claim, and is displayed on this site on the "John Dillinger" page.

The owner and proprietor of Phantom Lake Camp was my great, great grandfather Charles Harvey Splittgarber and the land is still family owned. I feel that the remaining structures should be preserved, or restored if possible and I am currently seeking sources of funding to accomplish this.

There is little to no information available about this historic landmark on the Internet, so this site will hopefully serve as a historical reference at least,  and hopefully raise awareness about it as well.

Charles and Tillie Splittgarber in the late 1940's.

Phantom Lake Camp Splittgarber house and old hay baler in the winter, 1998.

Phantom Lake Camp lies right at the foothills of the beautiful Davis Mountains.

Magnolia filling station at Phantom Lake Camp - 1929.

Camp houses around 1930 looking East. The farthest building is the filling station.

Concrete swimming pool at Phantom Lake Camp - 1933.

*Note - Most photos were provided by my cousin, Marty (Lethco) Burnett.

BIG Thank You, Marty!