VAN HORN CREEK. Van Horn Creek rises a mile southwest of Farm Road 2017 in the eastern Van Horn Mountains in western Jeff Davis County one mile southeast of the Culberson county line (at 30°43' N, 104°46' W) and runs southwest for twenty-five miles to its mouth on the Rio Grande, three miles north of Pilares, Chihuahua, Mexico, in northwestern Presidio County (at 30°28' N, 104°52' W). The surrounding flat terrain has local shallow depressions and is surfaced by clay and sandy loams that support water-tolerant hardwoods, conifers, and grasses. Van Horn Creek, like the mountains in which it rises and the town of Van Horn, is named for James Judson Van Horn.