Cochran County

Cochran County, on the southern High Plains, is bordered on the west by New Mexico, on the north by Bailey County, on the east by Hockley County, and on the south by Yoakum County. It was named for Robert Cochran, who died at the Alamo. The center point of the county is 33°35' north latitude and 102°50' west longitude, some fifty miles west of Lubbock. Cochran County covers 783 square miles of level prairie with elevations varying from 3,500 to 3,800 feet above sea level; loamy or sandy soils predominate. Many small lakes dot the county, including Silver Lake, a small salt lake known to Spanish explorers as Laguna Quemado. Rainfall in the area averages 15.62 inches a year; the average minimum temperature in January is 23° F; the average high in July is 92° F. The growing season lasts 189 days. Mesquite and grama grasses provide much of the ground cover. State highways 214 (north–south), 114 (east–west), and 125 (east–west) serve the county.

According to archeological evidence, Indians hunted in the area that is now Cochran County 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. In the 1600s Kiowas and Apaches made war and hunted in the region after acquiring horses from the Spanish. In the 1700s, Comanches of the Quahadi or Antelope band took the area in battle; relying on buffalo hunting and raiding of other Indians and Whites, they were dominant until the United States Army subdued them in the 1870s. In 1880, a detachment of Texas Rangers led by George W. Arrington stopped at Silver Lake on the way from Yellow House Canyon to New Mexico in search for the legendary "Lost Lakes."