Lipscomb County

Lipscomb County, in the far northeastern corner of the Panhandle, is bounded on the north and east by Oklahoma, on the south by Hemphill County, and on the west by Ochiltree County. It is in the rolling plains part of the Panhandle, east of the Texas High Plains. The center of the county lies at approximately 36°15' north latitude and 100°15' west longitude. Lipscomb, the county seat, is about one or two miles from the center of the county and 128 miles northeast of Amarillo. The county, named for Abner S. Lipscomb, embraces 934 square miles of level, rolling, and broken countryside. The soils, which range from sandy loam to black, support a variety of native grasses as well as wheat, grain sorghums, corn, and alfalfa. Wolf Creek, a large perennial stream, flows east across the center of the county to join the Canadian River in Oklahoma. Numerous intermittent tributaries flow into Wolf Creek, including First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Dugout, Skunk, Mammoth, Sand, Plum, and Camp creeks. Horse Creek, Big Timber Creek, and Commission Creek all run from the southern parts of the county directly into the Canadian. Kiowa Creek flows across the northwest corner of the county toward the Beaver River in Oklahoma. The central and southern part of the county are either rolling plains or very broken country. The northern section is flat or slightly rolling. Oil and gas reserves are found in the county. The elevation ranges from 2,350 feet to 2,850 feet above sea level. The average annual rainfall is 22.16 inches. The average minimum temperature is 23° F in January, and the average maximum is 95° in July. The growing season lasts 202 days a year.

The region was inhabited by a Puebloan culture in the prehistoric era, then by Plains Apaches, Apaches, and finally Kiowas and Comanches in the historic period. The Kiowas and Comanches dominated the Panhandle until they were defeated in the Red River War of 1873–74; they were forced onto reservations in Oklahoma in 1875 and 1876, after which ranchers moved in. Lipscomb County was formed by the Texas legislature in 1876 from the Bexar District. The county's first settler was Alex Young, a small-scale rancher who settled on Kiowa Creek in 1877. Later that same year Henry W. Cresswell's huge CC Ranch (centered in Roberts and Ochiltree Counties) spilled into the western portion of Lipscomb County. Soon other large ranches appeared: the Seven K, the DAY, the Box T, and the YL all occupied large portions of the county by the end of 1878. These ranches dominated the county for almost a decade, until the coming of the railroad in 1887 encouraged settlers to move into the area. The agricultural census for 1880 shows four ranches in the county, reporting a total of 5,037 cattle; no crops were reported. According to the census, there were sixty-nine people living in the county that year.