Ochiltree County is a county located in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 10,015. The county seat is Perryton. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1889. and is named for William Beck Ochiltree, who was an attorney general of the Republic of Texas. It was previously one of 30 prohibition or entirely dry counties in the state of Texas.
1928 Ochiltree County Courthouse in Perryton
The Ochiltree County Courthouse contains the inscription on one side, "Dedicated to the Purpose of Justice to All Mankind." Click to read.
Cattle grazing in Ochiltree County south of Perryton off U.S. Highway 83
The Texas panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to the Oklahoma Panhandle, land which Texas previously claimed. The 1820 Missouri Compromise declared no slavery would be allowed in states admitted from the Louisiana Purchase above 36°30′ north latitude. Texas was annexed in 1845 from still more westerly land. The Compromise of 1850 removed territory north of this line from Texas, and set the border between the Texas Pandhandle and the New Mexico Territory at the 103rd meridian west. The eastern border at the 100th meridian west was inherited from the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, which defined the border between the United States and New Spain. The Handbook of Texas defines the southern border of Swisher County as the southern boundary of the Texas Panhandle region.
Windmill on the level plains of the Texas Panhandle
Caprock Canyons of Briscoe County
A canyon formed by Tierra Blanca Creek
The rugged country of Palo Duro Canyon