Dawson County

Dawson County, Texas

Dawson County, Texas

Dawson County Courhouse located in the City of Lamesa, Texas. Photograph by Billy Hathorn.
Dawson County, Texas

Dawson County, Texas

Map of Dawson County, Texas. Map Credit: Robert Plocheck.

Dawson County lies on the eastern edge of the Llano Estacado on the southern High Plains. The center point of the county is at 32°45' north latitude and 101°57' west longitude, sixty miles south of Lubbock. The county comprises 902 square miles of rolling prairie, broken on the east. The land, surfaced with sandy and loam soils, drains to playas. The altitude ranges from 2,600 to 3,200 feet above mean sea level. The average annual rainfall is 16.09 inches. The average minimum temperature in January is 28° F; the maximum average in July is 94°. The growing season averages 212 days. The county is crossed by Sulphur Springs Draw, a natural trail used by the Indians since prehistoric times and by the first White men who entered the South Plains. The area was the summer home of Comanches and Kiowas, who moved from waterhole to waterhole in a region that White men supposed waterless. A portion of the future county was included in a Mexican grant issued to Dr. John Cameron on May 21, 1827. Cameron contracted to settle 100 families, but there is no record of any attempt to carry out the contract.

In the fall of 1875 the Twenty-fourth United States Infantry, commanded by Col. William Rufus Shafter, visited the area to prepare a report on the local Indians. On October 18, 1875, the company discovered an Indian encampment at Laguna Sabinas or Cedar Lake, the legendary birthplace of Quanah Parker; the band, however, escaped to the west. The Shafter party made the first wagon roads on the plains and reported favorably on grazing conditions, but the Indian menace remained too severe for immediate settlement. The Nolan expedition of 1877 got lost in the area of the future Dawson and Lynn counties, and several members of the party of sixty died of thirst. Buffalo hunters, more than soldiers, were probably responsible for driving the Indians from the area. A surveying party for Texas and Pacific Railway lands in 1875 reported the presence of thousands of buffalo, and hunters moved in. As cattlemen learned that the grass on the Plains would produce fat cattle, ranchmen moved from the Lower Plains south of the Caprock to the new lands. By the mid-1880s four ranches, C. C. Slaughter's Lazy S, the TJF, the Fish, and the Bartow, occupied most of the land in Dawson County. The Texas and Pacific reached Big Spring in neighboring Howard County in 1881, and that community served as the shipping point for the area. By 1890 there were 28,536 cattle reported in the county.

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Leona M. Gelin, Mark Odintz | © TSHA

Handbook of Texas Logo

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Dawson County is classified as a County

Altitude Range

2580 ft – 3220 ft

Size

Land area does not include water surface area, whereas total area does

  • Land Area: 900.3 mi²
  • Total Area: 902.1 mi²

Temperature

January mean minimum: 26.0°F
July mean maximum: 93.1°F

Rainfall, 2019

19.1 inches

Population Count, 2019

12,728

Civilian Labor Count, 2019

4,608

Unemployment, 2019

9.9%

Property Values, 2019

$1,263,512,450 USD

Per-Capita Income, 2019

$37,111 USD

Retail Sales, 2019

$222,427,746 USD

Wages, 2019

$47,257,167 USD

Dawson County

Highlighted:
  • Dawson County
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Place Type Population (Year/Source) Currently Exists
Town 265 (2021) Yes
Town 8 (2014) Yes
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Town 40 (2009) Yes
Town 8 (2014) Yes
Town 20 (2014) Yes
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Town 10 (2014) Yes
Town 50 (2009) Yes
Town 8,751 (2021) Yes
Town 22 (2021) Yes
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Town
Town 12 (2014) Yes
Town 20 (2009) Yes
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Town 726 (2021) Yes
Town 50 (2009) Yes
Town
Town 8 (2014) Yes
Town
Town
Town
Town 40 (2009) Yes
Town
Town
Town 30 (2009) Yes
Town
Town
Town 210 (2021) Yes

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