Dolores

Kinney County is west of San Antonio on U.S. Highway 90 in the Rio Grande Plain region. Roughly square in shape, it is bordered by Edwards County in the north, Uvalde County on the east, Maverick County on the south, and Val Verde County and Mexico on the west. The center of the county lies at 29°21' north latitude and 100°25' west longitude. The county seat and largest town is Brackettville. In addition to U.S. Highway 90, the county is served by State Highway 131 and Farm roads 334, 674, 693, 1572, 1908, 2523, and 3008. The county's transportation needs are also served by the Union Pacific Railroad. The county embraces 1,359 square miles, partly on the Edwards Plateau and partly on the plain of the Rio Grande, which forms the southwestern boundary. The northeastern corner of the county is drained by the West Nueces River. The land is level to rolling in the south and rugged in the north along the Balcones Escarpment and the breaks of the Nueces River. Anacacho Mountain is in the southeast. The altitude ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 feet. The northern half of the county is rocky and hilly with some loamy soils. In the northeastern corner are areas with dark, loamy soils over limestone. The vegetation in the northern portion of the county is characteristic of the Edwards Plateau region, with short grasses, mesquite, and cacti predominating. The southern half of the county has gray to black, cracking, clayey soils over limestone with light-colored loamy soils in some areas. The vegetation in this area, typical of the South Texas plains, includes short to mid-height grasses, thorny shrubs, cacti, and mesquite. Minerals include brick clay and metallic ores. Less than 1 percent of the land in the county is considered prime farmland. Small tracts of land are irrigated, but the principal industry is livestock, chiefly sheep and goats. The climate is subtropical, with dry and mild winters and hot summers. Temperatures range in January from an average low of 36° F to an average high of 63°, and in July from 74° to 96°. The average annual rainfall is twenty-two inches; the average relative humidity is 76 percent at 6 A.M. and 42 percent at 6 P.M. Snow is rare. The growing season averages 272 days per year, with the last freeze in early March and the first in late November.

Kinney County is located in an area that has been the site of human habitation for several thousand years. Artifacts recovered in the region suggest that the earliest human inhabitants arrived around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago and settled in rockshelters in the river and creek valleys. They left behind caches of seeds, implements, burial sites, and petroglyphs. Following these earliest inhabitants, Lipan Apaches, Coahuiltecans, Jumanos, Tamaulipans, and Tonkawas inhabited the region; later, Comanches and Mescaleros also drifted in.