Crosby County, Texas
Crosby County is a county located in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 6,059; the county seat is Crosbyton. The county was founded in 1876 and organized in 1886. Both the county and its seat are named for a land commissioner in Texas. Crosby County, along with Lubbock and Lynn Counties, is part of the Lubbock Metropolitan Statistical Area; the Lubbock MSA and Levelland Micropolitan Statistical Area, encompassing only Hockley County, form the larger Lubbock–Levelland Combined Statistical Area. Until the passage of a referendum to permit liquor sales, held on May 11, 2013, Crosby County had been one of 19 remaining prohibition or dry counties within Texas; that same day, voters in Denver City and Yoakum County approved separate referenda to permit liquor sales. The number of prohibition counties in Texas has hence dropped to 17. Part of the large Matador Ranch of West Texas extends into the county. Republican Drew Springer, Jr. a businessman from Muenster in Cooke County, has since January 2013 represented Crosby County in the Texas House of Representatives.
Around 11,000 BC, Paleo-Indians were the first inhabitants. Archeological artifacts indicate hunter-gatherers hunted the mammoth, saber-toothed cat, giant ground sloth. Native American inhabitants included the Comanche. In 1871, Ranald S. Mackenzie fought Quanah Parker and other Comanches at the Battle of Blanco Canyon; the campaign established the Mackenzie Trail used by the first settlers in Crosby County in the late 1870s. The Texas Legislature formed Crosby County from Young and Bexar districts in 1876. Bavarian Heinrich Schmidtt and his wife Elizabeth Boyle and their six children became the first permanent settlers in the area in 1878. Confederate veteran Paris Cox first visited the Caprock Escarpment of the Llano Estacado with a group of buffalo hunters in 1879. Estacado was named the county seat in 1886. By 1900, the beef industry was thriving. In 1908, the Bar-N-Bar Ranch began selling acreage to farmers. Crosbyton became the new county seat in 1910; some 45,400 acres in the county were planted in cotton, 15,000 apple and peach trees were growing in the county in 1920.
By 1929, farmers sold 395,000 dozen eggs that year. The first soil conservation district in the county was formed in 1941. In 1955, oil was discovered in the county. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 902 square miles, of which 900 square miles are land and 1.5 square miles are covered by water. U. S. Highway 62 U. S. Highway 82/State Highway 114 State Highway 207 Floyd County Dickens County Garza County Lubbock County Blanco Canyon White River, Silver Falls Mount Blanco Caprock Escarpment As of the census of 2000, 7,072 people, 2,512 households, 1,866 families resided in the county; the population density was eight people per square mile. The 3,202 housing units averaged four per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 63.77% White, 3.89% Black or African American, 0.54% Native American, 0.03% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 29.89% from other races, 1.81% from two or more races. About 48.93% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 2,512 households, 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.0% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 25.7% were not families.
About 23.8% of all households were made up of individuals, 13.4% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.30. In the county, the population was distributed as 30.7% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.2 males. The median income for a household in the county was $25,769, for a family was $29,891. Males had a median income of $23,775 versus $17,229 for females; the per capita income for the county was $14,445. About 22.6% of families and 28.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 36.6% of those under age 18 and 22.7% of those age 65 or over. Crosbyton Lorenzo Ralls Cone Kalgary Canyon Valley Estacado Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum Crosby County government’s website Crosby County, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online Crosby County Profile from the Texas Association of Counties Photos of the Llano Estacado
Petroleum
Petroleum is a occurring, yellowish-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earth's surface. It is refined into various types of fuels. Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation, i.e. separation of a liquid mixture into fractions differing in boiling point by means of distillation using a fractionating column. It consists of occurring hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and may contain miscellaneous organic compounds; the name petroleum covers both occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil. A fossil fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms zooplankton and algae, are buried underneath sedimentary rock and subjected to both intense heat and pressure. Petroleum has been recovered by oil drilling. Drilling is carried out after studies of structural geology, sedimentary basin analysis, reservoir characterisation have been completed, it is refined and separated, most by distillation, into a large number of consumer products, from gasoline and kerosene to asphalt and chemical reagents used to make plastics and pharmaceuticals.
Petroleum is used in manufacturing a wide variety of materials, it is estimated that the world consumes about 95 million barrels each day. The use of petroleum as fuel is controversial due to its impact on global warming and ocean acidification. Fossil fuels, including petroleum, need to be phased out by the end of 21st century to avoid "severe and irreversable impacts for people and ecosystems", according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; the word petroleum comes from Medieval Latin petroleum, which comes from Latin petra', "rock", Latin oleum, "oil". The term was used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in 1546 by the German mineralogist Georg Bauer known as Georgius Agricola. In the 19th century, the term petroleum was used to refer to mineral oils produced by distillation from mined organic solids such as cannel coal, refined oils produced from them. Petroleum, in one form or another, has been used since ancient times, is now important across society, including in economy and technology.
The rise in importance was due to the invention of the internal combustion engine, the rise in commercial aviation, the importance of petroleum to industrial organic chemistry the synthesis of plastics, solvents and pesticides. More than 4000 years ago, according to Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, asphalt was used in the construction of the walls and towers of Babylon. Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the river Issus, one of the tributaries of the Euphrates. Ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society; the use of petroleum in ancient China dates back to more than 2000 years ago. In I Ching, one of the earliest Chinese writings cites that oil in its raw state, without refining, was first discovered and used in China in the first century BCE. In addition, the Chinese were the first to use petroleum as fuel as early as the fourth century BCE. By 347 AD, oil was produced from bamboo-drilled wells in China. Crude oil was distilled by Arabic chemists, with clear descriptions given in Arabic handbooks such as those of Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi.
The streets of Baghdad were paved with tar, derived from petroleum that became accessible from natural fields in the region. In the 9th century, oil fields were exploited in the area around Azerbaijan; these fields were described by the Arab geographer Abu al-Hasan'Alī al-Mas'ūdī in the 10th century, by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of those wells as hundreds of shiploads. Arab and Persian chemists distilled crude oil in order to produce flammable products for military purposes. Through Islamic Spain, distillation became available in Western Europe by the 12th century, it has been present in Romania since the 13th century, being recorded as păcură. Early British explorers to Myanmar documented a flourishing oil extraction industry based in Yenangyaung that, in 1795, had hundreds of hand-dug wells under production. Pechelbronn is said to be the first European site where petroleum has been used; the still active Erdpechquelle, a spring where petroleum appears mixed with water has been used since 1498, notably for medical purposes.
Oil sands have been mined since the 18th century. In Wietze in lower Saxony, natural asphalt/bitumen has been explored since the 18th century. Both in Pechelbronn as in the coal industry dominated the petroleum technologies. Chemist James Young noticed a natural petroleum seepage in the Riddings colliery at Alfreton, Derbyshire from which he distilled a light thin oil suitable for use as lamp oil, at the same time obtaining a more viscous oil suitable for lubricating machinery. In 1848, Young set up a small business refining the crude oil. Young succeeded, by distilling cannel coal at a low heat, in creating a fluid resembling petroleum, which when treated in the same way as the seep oil gave similar products. Young found that by sl
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is the 11th-most populous city in the U. S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 256,042 in 2015, the city is the 83rd-most populous in the United States; the city is located in northwestern part of the state, a region known and geographically as the Llano Estacado, ecologically is part of the southern end of the High Plains, lying at the economic center of the Lubbock metropolitan area, which has a projected 2020 population of 327,424. Lubbock's nickname, "Hub City", derives from it being the economic and health-care hub of the multicounty region, north of the Permian Basin and south of the Texas Panhandle called the South Plains; the area is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world and is dependent on water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer for irrigation. Lubbock was selected as the 12th-best place to start a small business by CNNMoney.com. CNN mentioned the city's traditional business atmosphere: low rent for commercial space, central location, cooperative city government.
Lubbock is home to the sixth-largest college by enrollment in the state. Lubbock High School has been recognized for three consecutive years by Newsweek as one of the top high schools in the United States, based in part on its international baccalaureate program; as of 1867, the land that would become Lubbock was the heart of Comancheria, the shifting domain controlled by the Comanche. Lubbock County was founded in 1876, it was named after Thomas Saltus Lubbock, former Texas Ranger and brother of Francis Lubbock, governor of Texas during the Civil War. As early as 1884, a U. S. post office existed in Yellow House Canyon. A small town, known as Old Lubbock, Lubbock, or North Town, was established about three miles to the east. In 1890, the original Lubbock merged with another small town south of the canyon; the new town adopted the Lubbock name. The merger included moving the original Lubbock's Nicolett Hotel across the canyon on rollers to the new townsite. Lubbock became the county seat in 1891, was incorporated on March 16, 1909.
In the same year, the first railroad train arrived. Texas Technological College was founded in Lubbock in 1923. A separate university, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, opened as Texas Tech University School of Medicine in 1969. Both universities are now overseen by the Texas Tech University System, after it was established in 1996 and based in Lubbock. Lubbock Christian University, founded in 1957, Sunset International Bible Institute, both affiliated with the Churches of Christ, have their main campuses in the city. South Plains College and Wayland Baptist University operate branch campuses in Lubbock. At one time, Lubbock was home to Reese Air Force Base located 6 mi west of the city, it was established in August 1941, during the defense build-up prior to World War II, by the United States Department of War and the U. S. Army as Lubbock Army Airfield, it served the old U. S. Army Air Forces, the U. S. Air Force, after reorganization and establishment in 1947; the USAF base's primary mission throughout its existence was pilot training.
The base was closed 30 September 1997, after being selected for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 1995, is now a research and business park called Reese Technology Center. The city is home to the Lubbock Lake Landmark, part of the Museum of Texas Tech University; the landmark is an natural-history preserve at the northern edge of the city. It shows evidence of 12,000 years of human occupation in the region; the National Ranching Heritage Center part of the Museum of Texas Tech University, houses historic ranch-related structures from the region. During World War II, airmen cadets from the Royal Air Force, flying from their training base at Terrell, Texas flew to Lubbock on training flights; the town served as a stand-in for the British for Cork, the same distance from London, England, as Lubbock is from Terrell. In August 1951, a V-shaped formation of lights was seen over the city; the "Lubbock Lights" series of sightings received national publicity and is regarded as one of the first great "UFO" cases.
The sightings were considered credible because they were witnessed by several respected science professors at Texas Technological College and were photographed by a Texas Tech student. The photographs were reprinted nationwide in Life. Project Blue Book, the USAF's official investigation of the UFO mystery, concluded the photographs were not a hoax and showed genuine objects, but dismissed the UFOs as being either "night-flying moths" or a type of bird called a plover reflected in the nighttime glow of Lubbock's new street lights. However, other researchers have disputed these explanations, for many, the "Lubbock Lights" remain a mystery. In 1960, the U. S. Census Bureau reported Lubbock's population as area as 75.0 sq mi. On May 11, 1970, the Lubbock Tornado struck the city. Twenty-six people died, damage was estimated at $125 million; the Metro Tower known as the Great Plains Life Building, at 274 ft in height, is believed to have been the tallest building to survive a direct hit from an F5 tornado.
Then-mayor Jim Granberry and the Lubbock City Council, which included Granberry's successor as mayor, Morris W. Turner, were charged with directing the rebuilding of downtown Lubbock in the aftermath of the storm. In August, 1988, tens of thousands of people came to Lubbock, drawn by an apparition of Mary. In 2009, Lubbock celebrated its centennial; the historians Paul H. Carlson, Donald R. Abbe, David J. Murrah co-authored Lubbock and the South
Spur, Texas
Spur is a city in Dickens County, United States. The population was 1,318 at the 2010 census, up from 1,088 at the 2000 census. A city council resolution passed July 2014 proclaimed Spur the "nations’ first tiny house-friendly town." On October 9, 2009, Spur celebrated its centennial with the dedication of a giant Spur sculpture. The spur was built by local welder John Grusendorf; the event, sponsored by the Dickens County Historical Commission, was held at Dyess Park off Texas State Highway 70. On March 28, 2017, a traffic accident west of the city resulted in the deaths of three storm chasers after one vehicle disregarded a stop sign at highway speed: Kelley Williamson and Randy Yarnell, both from Cassville and Corbin Jaeger from Peoria, Arizona. Williamson struck Jaeger on the drivers' side. All three men died instantly. Spur is located in southern Dickens County at 33°28′40″N 100°51′25″W. Texas Highway 70 passes through the city, leading north 11 miles to Dickens, the county seat, southeast 24 miles to Jayton.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.6 square miles, all land. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Spur has a semiarid climate, BSk on climate maps; as of the census of 2000, 1,088 people, 472 households, 288 families resided in the city. The population density was 673.4 people per square mile. The 641 housing units averaged 396.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 72.52% White, 3.40% African American, 0.83% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.37% Pacific Islander, 21.14% from other races, 1.56% from two or more races. About 31.25 % of the population was Latino of any race. Of the 472 households, 22.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.5% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.8% were not families. Around 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals, 20.8% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.89.
In the city, the population was distributed as 22.9% under the age of 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 22.3% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, 25.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $24,286, for a family was $32,772. Males had a median income of $25,972 versus $18,631 for females; the per capita income for the city was $14,601. 19.8% of the population and 16.2% of families were below the poverty line. 24.8% of those under the age of 18 and 21.7% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. The city of Spur is served by the Spur Independent School District. Spur's regulations are friendly to tiny houses, so long as they have an adequate foundation and proper plumbing and electrical wiring installed. House plans must be approved. Flush toilets are required, as well as a metal frame. In general, experimental strawbale houses, yurts, or underground houses are not permitted.
Marshall Applewhite, the leader of the Heaven's Gate cult, was born in Spur. He died in the group's mass suicide of 1997. Raymond Beadle, a drag-racing driver and member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, was born in Spur. Charles Weldon Cannon, a well-known maker of boots and saddles, lived in Spur from 1949 to 1964, when he relocated to Dickens. Aaron Latham, a Spur native, wrote the script of the 1980 film Urban Cowboy. In the story line, the protagonist, Bud Davis, is said to have been from Spur. Red McCombs, a San Antonio businessman who owned the NBA's San Antonio Spurs and NFL's Minnesota Vikings, was born in Spur. William B. Mciver, a Spur student in the 1940s, wrote By Dead Reckoning, a book that includes chapters on the history of the Espuela Land and Cattle Company, the founding of Spur, life on a cotton farm and dairy in Highway Community district of Dickens County
King County, Texas
King County is a county located in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 286, making it the second-least populous county in Texas and the third-least populous of any county in the United States. King County has no incorporated communities, its county seat is the Census Designated Place of Guthrie. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1891, it is named for William Philip King. Republican Drew Springer, Jr. a businessman from Muenster in Cooke County, has since January 2013 represented King County in the Texas House of Representatives. Apache and Comanche were early tribes in the area; the Red River War of 1874-1875 was a United States Army campaign to force the removal of Natives in Texas and their relocation to reservations, to open the region to white settlers. On August 21, 1876, the Texas legislature formed King County from Bexar County. By 1880 the United States Census counted forty residents in the county. In 1891, the county was organized. Guthrie was designated as the county seat.
Early ranchers draws to hold the heavy spring rains. In the 1890s windmills became the method of water preservation; some of the earliest settlers were Isom Lynn, A. C. Tackett, Brants Baker, Bud Arnett; the Four Sixes Ranch. was established in 1902 by Samuel Burk Burnet. The formerly-named Pitchfork Land and Cattle Company was organized in 1883, SMS ranches were established during the same time frame; the 6666 founded in 1883, was managed from 1965–1986 by George Humphreys, affiliated with the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock. Dumont was formed in the late 19th century. By that time, farmers began to share the land with ranchers. Cotton was the leading crop for a time, followed by corn and fruit trees. Oil was discovered in the county in 1943. By January 1, 1991 114,403,000 barrels of oil had been pumped from King County lands since the first wells were drilled. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 913 square miles, of which 911 square miles is land and 2.5 square miles is water.
U. S. Highway 82 / State Highway 114 U. S. Highway 83 State Highway 222 Cottle County Foard County Knox County Stonewall County Dickens County Haskell County As of the census of 2000, there were 356 people, 108 households, 88 families residing in the county; the population density was 0.39 people per square mile. There were 174 housing units at an average density of 0.19 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 94.10% White, 1.12% Native American, 3.09% from other races, 1.69% from two or more races. 9.55% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 108 households out of which 41.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 79.60% were married couples living together, 1.90% had a female householder with no husband present, 17.60% were non-families. 16.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 1.90% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.12. In the county, the population was spread out with 33.70% under the age of 18, 3.70% from 18 to 24, 29.50% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, 10.40% who were 65 years of age or older.
The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 95.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $35,625, the median income for a family was $36,875. Males had a median income of $21,389 versus $30,179 for females; the per capita income for the county was $12,321. 20.70% of the population and 17.90% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 23.00% are under the age of 18 and 31.60% are 65 or older. King County was once a Democratic county by Solid South standards. In 1948, 95.85 percent of voters supported Harry S. Truman, in 1960 76.9 percent of voters chose John F. Kennedy and in 1964, 84.1 percent of voters supported Lyndon Johnson. The county voted for Hubert Humphrey by a plurality in 1968, with 48.7 percent supporting Humphrey while 31.7 percent voted for George Wallace and a mere 19.6 percent voted for Richard Nixon. However, the county has shifted Republican since the 1980s.
The last Democratic presidential candidate to win over twenty percent of the vote in King County was Bill Clinton in 1996. In the 2004 presidential election, 87.8 percent supported incumbent U. S. President George W. Bush, a Republican, whereas only 11.5 percent backed the Democratic challenger, U. S. Senator John Kerry. In the 2008 presidential election, 93.2 percent supported the Republican, Senator John McCain, whereas only 4.9 percent backed the Democrat, Senator Barack Obama. Of all United States counties, King had the largest percentage of support for McCain. In the 2012 presidential election, President Obama fared worse in King County, his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, received 139 votes in the county, while President Obama received only 5 votes — amounting to 3.4 percent of the total. That percentage was the smallest percentage that President Obama received in any county in the United States in 2012. In addition, in the 2012 Democratic Presidential primaries, King County was one of two counties that voted for Bob Ely over President Obama.
There were only 7 votes cast in the Democratic presidential primary election in King County that year. E
Parmer County, Texas
Parmer County is a county located in the southwestern Texas Panhandle on the high plains of the Llano Estacado in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,269; the county seat is Farwell. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1907, it is named in honor of Martin Parmer, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and early judge. Parmer County was one of 10 prohibition, or dry, counties in the state of Texas, but is now a moist county. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 885 square miles, of which 881 square miles is land and 4.4 square miles is water. U. S. Highway 60 U. S. Highway 70 U. S. Highway 84 State Highway 86 State Highway 214 Deaf Smith County Castro County Lamb County Bailey County Curry County, New Mexico As of the census of 2000, 10,016 people, 3,322 households, 2,614 families resided in the county; the population density was 11 people per square mile. The 3,732 housing units averaged four per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 66.01% White, 1.01% Black or African American, 0.76% Native American, 0.32% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 29.51% from other races, 2.35% from two or more races.
49.19% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 3,322 households, 42.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.0% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 21.3% were not families. About 19.3% of all households were made up of individuals, 10.5% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.97 and the average family size was 3.43. In the county, the population was distributed as 32.9% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $30,813, for a family was $34,149. Males had a median income of $26,966 versus $19,650 for females; the per capita income for the county was $14,184. About 14.2% of families and 17.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.9% of those under age 18 and 14.2% of those age 65 or over.
Bovina Farwell Friona Lazbuddie Dry counties List of museums in the Texas Panhandle Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks in Parmer County Parmer County government’s website Parmer County from the Handbook of Texas Online Parmer County Profile from the Texas Association of Counties
Farwell, Texas
Farwell is a city in and the county seat of Parmer County, United States. The population was 1363 at the 2010 census; the city is located on the Texas-New Mexico border with the city of Texico, New Mexico across the border. Farwell began as a cow-camp for the XIT Ranch, the huge ranch, established in 1880. Farwell was named for the two Farwell brothers of Lake Forest, who built the Texas state capital building in exchange for 3.050,000 acres of virgin ranchland. That region of Texas had been controlled by the Comanche from about 1725, when they defeated the Apache and forced them to migrate to the Rockies in New Mexico and to other regions; the Red River War of 1874-1875—the biggest military operation the U. S. had between the Civil War and World War One—saw five armies converge on that part of the High Plains defeating the main Comanche force in Palo Duro Canyon by driving off and slaughtering the Comanches' horses. The XIT followed 6 years ultimately employing 800 cowboys, stringing over 6,000 miles of barbed wire, hiring former Texas Rangers to defeat the hundreds of cattle rustlers operating across the state line in the New Mexico territory.
Many researchers hold that the XIT failed because of that massive rustling operation persuading stock-holders to begin selling off the ranch to families who came to that part of the High Plains drawn by the cheap price of land per acre. It is not documented when the cow-camp that would become Farwell was established but when Parmer County was created in 1907, the election was held for county seat in a contest between Farwell, Bovina and Friona, all to Farwell's northeast, all which had started as cow-camps but had varying success thus far in attracting settlers who ran saloons, stores and other services for the cowboys. In the hotly contested election, cowboys living in their saddles and sleeping bags had no fixed address; the regulation was established. Farwell, possessing the only laundry at that time, thus received all the cowboy votes, much to the continuing rage of Friona which was, remains, about four times the size of Farwell; the courthouse was erected thereafter. When the decision was made to begin selling off the XIT to settlers, they would arrive in Farwell on the railroad which had reached there in 1899, linking rail to the east with rail to the west of the Rockies Mountains via the track laid between Farwell to Belen, New Mexico.
Farwell lies at the junction of two branches of the Santa Fe Railway: one branch goes northeast toward Amarillo and the other southeast toward Lubbock Families from across America arrived by train, stayed in the 4-story Farwell Hotel, toured the available homestead sites by touring cars. Many of the families arrived in Farwell and the rest of the region in covered wagons and established their homes in dug-outs in the prairie soil. Dry-land farming and herding were always risky but families persevered year by year relying on their small windmill pumping enough water for the home, a milk cow, some chickens, a few fruit trees, vegetable gardens when crops and cattle withered during droughts and wind storms; when the premier historian of U. S. western history, Walter Prescott Webb, wrote that the American character sprang from the unforgiving conditions of the High Plains, he could have had Farwell and its surrounding ranchers and farmers in mind. One of the few obelisks marking the Ozark Trail is located at Farwell City Park.
The lighted structure was unveiled in 2010 at a cost of $11,000. The Ozark Trail extended from Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Other such markers are in Wellington and Tulia, Texas. For years there has been a simmering dispute over which state Farwell is lawfully a part of: Texas or New Mexico? The straight north-south border between the two states was defined as the 103rd meridian, but the 1859 survey, supposed to mark that boundary mistakenly set the border between 2.29 and 3.77 miles too far west of that line, making the current towns of Farwell, Texline and a part of Glenrio appear to be within the State of Texas. New Mexico's short border with Oklahoma, in contrast, was surveyed on the correct meridian. New Mexico's draft constitution in 1910 stated; the disputed strip, hundreds of miles long, includes parts of valuable oilfields of the Permian Basin. A bill was passed in the New Mexico Senate to fund and file a lawsuit in the U. S. Supreme Court to recover the strip from Texas. Today, land in the strip is included in Texas land surveys and the land and towns for all purposes are taxed and governed by the State of Texas.
Farwell lies on the level plains of the Llano Estacado at 34°22′59″N 103°2′18″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.8 square miles, all of it land. Farwell is located 10 miles east of New Mexico and 88 miles northwest of Lubbock, Texas. 95 miles southwest of Amarillo, Texas. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,364 people, 499 households, 346 families residing in the city; the population density was 1,666.8 people per square mile. There were 560 housing units at an average density of 684.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 75.00% White, 0.44% African American, 0.51% Native American, 1.03% Asian, 20.82% from other races, a
