Book offers county tales of the Texas Panhandle. (original) (raw)

by Delbert Trew

Abook titled "Presenting the Texas Panhandle" by Lan-Bea Publications in 1979 provides many interesting facts about the Texas Panhandle.

• "The counties of the Texas Panhandlewere originally drawn in a "paper survey" by politicians in Austinlaying a ruler on a Texas map, starting on the east with the 100th Meridian and drawing lines every thirty miles in every direction."
• The town of Panhandle was first named Panhandle City. Childresswas first named Childress City, barely beating out a town named Henry for county seat.
• The census taker for the 1880 census count in today's Collingsworth County rode horseback for nine days trying to find six young cowboys, the only residents for the vast open prairie area.
• During an election in Collingsworth County, only after "the whiskey flowed generously" did the name of Wellingtonbeat out the name of Aberdeen for county seat.
• Dalhartwas once named Denrock, Twist and Twist Junction in its earliest days.
• Texlineonce boasted, "It is the biggest and best and the fastest and hardest and the busiest and wildest and roughest and toughest town in this section of the Panhandle."
• Deaf Smith County and Hereford boast "one of the few marble courthouses in the South." Ayr(pronounced: air) was the first county seat and chosen because of the constant wind blowing. The Deaf in the name came from a Texas independence war hero named Erastus Smith who was partly deaf.
• Escarbada, a Spanish word for "scrapings," was one of the famed XIT Ranch Divisions located on a Comanche Indian trade route. Water could be found by digging into the sands.
• In Oldham County the name of Vega, meaning "grassy plot" in Spanish, was chosen over the name of Gusben for county seat.
• In Ochiltree County a tax rate of $20 per mile of barbed wire fence was adopted. It was argued whether the rate was to generate money for the county or to discourage building fences.
• In Moore County, home of today's Dumas, a petition was presented with 150 citizen signatures to form the new county in spite of the 1880 census listing only 15 citizens living in the area. The petition was not preserved in modern county records.
• In Gray County the first country school was called High Windy as high winds scattered the stacked lumber across the prairie before it could be used for a school. The first cemetery in Gray County was Eldridgeestablished on McClellan Creek in 1878. The location was chosen because the spot contained soft sand instead of hard caliche. That made for much easier digging of graves.
• Hemphill County is truly an early day crossroads area as 10 pioneer trails cross the lands: The Glazier-Ochiltree Trail, the Canadian-Hogtown Trail, the Jones-Plummer Trail, the Rath Trail, the Military & Stageline Trail, the Gregg Trail, the Canadian River Trail, the Tuttle Trail, and the Marcy or California Gold Trail.
• Various county and school records reveal most county buildings and early school buildings burned or were destroyed by tornado at least once during their use. Most fires were blamed on faulty or rusted out stove pipes on the wood stoves used for heating. The tornadoes were something else.

May 4 , 2010 Column � Delbert Trew
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Delbert Trew is a freelance writer and retired rancher. He can be reached at 806-779-3164, by mail at Box A, Alanreed, TX 79002, or by e-mail at trewblue@centramedia.net. For books see DelbertTrew.com. His column appears weekly. Related Topics: Texas Books | Texas Panhandle |
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