Sherman County

Sherman County is in the High Plains region of the northern Panhandle on the Oklahoma border. The county's center lies at 36°50' north latitude and 102°30' west longitude. Stratford, the county seat, is in the northwestern part of the county eighty miles north of Amarillo. The county, named for Sidney Sherman, a veteran of the Texas Revolution, extends across 923 square miles of nearly level land covered by prairie grasses, some sagebrush, and yucca; elevations range from 3,200 to 3,800 feet above sea level. The area is drained by the North Fork of the Canadian River, which cuts across the northwestern corner of the county, and by Frisco, Coldwater, and North Palo Duro creeks. The area's soils are dark and loamy, with clayey subsoils that contain hardened calcium deposits. Temperatures vary from an average low of 31° F in January to an average high of 97° in July. The area receives an average of twenty inches of precipitation each year; the average growing season lasts 182 days. In 1982, 98 percent of the county's land was in farms and ranches, 45 percent of the agricultural land was cultivated, and 59 percent of the cultivated land was irrigated. Approximately 66 percent of agricultural receipts were from livestock and livestock products, especially cattle and hogs. Wheat, corn, barley, sorghum, and soybeans are the main crops, and mineral resources include caliche, natural gas, and petroleum. The county's road network includes U.S. Highway 54, which runs across the northwestern corner of the county; U.S. Highway 287, which runs north to south in the western sections; and State Highway 15, which crosses east to west across the center of the county and terminates at Stratford. Two railroad lines, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Southern Pacific, pass through the county and intersect at Stratford.

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