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Hutchinson County, Texas

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*The leader of this project is: Mary Richardson.

Contents

History/Timeline

  • Hutchinson County was created 1876 and organized 1901 from Bexar Territory. The county was named for pioneer jurist Anderson Hutchinson.[1]
Ranch brands

1873: English brothers James Hamilton Cator and Arthur J. L. (Bob) Cator arrived after the railroad went through. They became buffalo hunters and founded an outpost along the North Palo Duro Creek and named the camp, Zulu. After this it was known as Zulu stockade.

Map of Hansford, Hutchinson, showing Adobe Walls.
Adobe walls was originally a small fort in Hutchinson county, near Hansford County's southern border. The Indians of the area had only killed buffalo for food. When the Buffalo hunters and huntering expeditions began, it led to a depletion of the buffalo herds. This developed into conflicts between the Indians and settlers. The Second Battle of Adobe Walls

  • 1874 the Second Battle of Adobe Walls occurred in neighboring Hutchinson County in 1874.
  • 1874-75 This led to the Red River War of 1874-1875. A group of buffalo hunters attempted a revitalization of Fort Adobe. The Comanches, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Kiowa regarded the fort as a threat to their existence. The decrease of the buffalo herd was a threat to their existence. The Comanche medicine man Isa-tai spread the word of their immunity to the white man’s bullets in battle.
  • 1874-75: Quanah Parker lead several hundred in a raid on the Adobe Walls fort. The buffalo hunters were able to force the Indians into retreat.

Quarter Circle T Ranch established by Thomas Sherman Bugbee.. The Scissors Ranch began.


  • 1878 William E. Anderson began the Scissors Ranch at the Abobe Walls site. The ranch was named after the brand, which looked like a pair of scissors.

Turkey Track Ranch, was begun by Coloradan, Richard E. McNalty.

  • 1881- McNaulty sold Turkey Track Ranch to Charles Wood and Jack Snide.
  • Hansford Land and Cattle Company was developed by James M Coburn of Scotland.
  • 1882- Quarter Circle T. Ranch and Scissors Ranch were sold to Coburn.
  • 1883- Coburn acquired the Turkey Track Ranch.
  • 1887 Hansford became a stage stop on the old Tascosa-Dodge City Trail.
  • 1890 -By this date, 23 Ranches had formed.
Bent, St. Vrain and Company established a trading post in this area to tap into Indian trading. Known as Fort Adobe, it was blown up by traders three years later due to Indian depredations. The ruins became known as Adobe Walls.


6666 Ranch

6666 Ranch barn
1900 The 6666 Ranch in King County.. with 350,000 acres used for cattle and horses. The origin of this Ranch has two stories:
This gambler from Missouri, Burk Burnett won land for a ranch in a high-stakes card game. He named the ranch after the winning hand he had held (four Sixes) .. the Four Sixes or the 6666 Ranch. Burnett and his descendants deny this story. He says he bought the ranch from the Louisville Land and Cattle Company and named it after the brand already imprinted on his first herd: 6666. Who knows which is true? This ranch is managed by Burnett's grand-daughter Anne Winfohr Marion (62) and husband John. In the 1960-1970's a Marlboro cigarette ad with an image of the 6666 red and white barn made the ranch famous on Madison avenue[2]
6666 Ranch brand

1921 Oil and gas were discovered in the Panhandle, with sensational oil and strikes in Hutchinson and many of Texas panhandle. This led to the oil boom of the town of Borger. Soon Phillips began and the huge refinery there for the oil. [3] In the 1950's Phillips was a town with the huge refinery located in the majority of it. Local women learned not to hang their laundry out on the clothes line if the wind was blowing the "carbon black"[4]
Later (January 20, 1980) a huge hydrocarbon expolosion in the Phillips 66 refinery occurred .caused Borger to close Phillips as a town. This wiped out two gasoline producing units and the steam facility.. Also many homes and business in Phillips and Borger were damaged.. This

, a hydrocarbon explosion wiped out two gasoline-producing units and a steam-generating facility, causing millions of dollars worth of damage to homes and businesses in both Phillips and Borge

1926 enormous oil deposits were found in nearby Hutchinson County

Adobe Walls

Adobe Walls was North of the Canadian River. It was built about 1845-46 made of adobe, the size of 80 sq ft. With some Indian attacks, the post closed in 1848. It was finally blown up.. Indian activities forced the post to close by 1848. Attempts were made to reestablish the post, but it was finally blown up in frustration, providing the Panhandle with its first landmark ruins.

A legend in his time, Col Kit Carson fought in the first battle of Adobe Walls. In 1864 the First Battle of Adobe Walls was fought by Colonel “Kit” Carson and his force of 335 men (with 75 Indian allies) fought hostile Kiowas, with assorted Apaches, Comanches, and Arapahoes near the ruins. The casualties were three dead with 15 wounded for the Army and Indian casualties were estimated to be 60 killed or wounded.

(See Kit Carson at Adobe Walls by Clay Coppedge)
About 10 years later, Kansas merchants opened a trading post about a mile from the original Adobe Walls ruins with the main building constructed of sod, similar to Kansas buildings at that time.. One is called Bent's Fort near the Adobe Walls Ruins.

SECOND BATTLE, 1874

June 27, 1874 Billy Dixon and other scouts were camping near where the sod buildings had been erected. Adobe Walls was a good place to camp since it was in the breaks of the Canadian River, giving semi-defense if there was an American Indian attack. Billy and scouts were guiding the Easterners who wanted to hunt/kill a buffalo. People were coming from Kansas and the East to hunt and kill Buffalo for the skins, and/or sport, yet this was the primary food source for the area's Indians. Other Buffalo hunters were there also..
image of distance Dixon fired the famous bullet.

In the Second battle, a large force of Indians battled with the buffalo hunters. The Indians were upset that people were killing off their food source.. When the Indians attacked the Buffalo hunters, the civilians were able to successfully ward off the war party of Comanche and Cheyenne warriors. This was part of the Indian Wars. According to the story, Billy Dixon fired a "lucky shot" which knocked an Indian off a horse near Chief Quanah Parker. The Indians eventually left.. It is said there were only three dead. Later the post was again abandoned.

Later the Native Americans were successfully relocated to Indian Territory, Oklahoma, USA.

Former Army scout and survivor of the 1874 fight, Billy Dixon built a house at the ruins of Fort Adobe. In 1887 Dixon’s house became the community post office and Dixon became postmaster.

  • Dixon Creek in southern Hutchinson County is named for Billy Dixon, and the Billy Dixon Masonic Lodge in Fritch. Personal artifacts from his scouting days are housed in both the Hutchinson County Museum in Borger and the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon. [5] [6]

SEE' William (Billy) Dixon




The Scissors Ranch

This ranch was formed in 1878 near the old Adobe Walls site and the second ranch for Hutchinson County, after Thomas Sherman Bugbee's Quarter Circle T. Its brand looked similar to a pair of scissors. William E Anderson started it, naming the ranch for the brand, which was registered in Mobeetie, 1880. That 1880 census reflected 1600 acres with a value of $800.00, 485 cattle, 15 milk cows, 54 horses, 9 mules, and 7,000 sheep. (It is no wonder the panhandle does not have much grassland. Seven thousand sheep grazed it down to ZERO. Anderson served on the jury in Wheeler for a trial oJohn McCabe who was accused of killing a brother-in-law of Charles Goodnight.The ranch was founded in 1878 by William E. Anderson and named for its cattle brand, which resembled a pair of scissors.1879 was a bad year and Anderson lost 200 sheep and some cattle due a severe weather.. By 1882 Anderson sold his land, Cattle, etc to Hansford Land and Cattle Company, which was buying up ranches in the vicinity. After this is became known as the Turkey Track Ranch.[7]



Turkey Track Ranch Richard E McNalty brought his herd of cattle (with his brand, Turkey Track) south from Colorado. He picked out the Turkey Track Ranch and started it in 1878. There was a good rolling expanse of grasses located on Moore Creek. (this is now in Hutchinson County. In 1879 he had 6,500 head of cattle and 55 horses on 7,000 acres of pasture, even had seven or eight employees. By 1881McNalty moved back to Colorado and sold the ranch Word and Snider in 1882 worked with other Panhandle ranchers to construct a 200-mile drift fence to save their grass from the cattle drifting southward.

Life was hard in the Texas Panhandle, so they sold the Turkey Track Jan, 1883 to the Hansford Land and Cattle Company. Its founder, Scottish-born James M. Coburn was a banker in Kansas City, who combined several N Panhandle herds. He bought out Thomas S. Bugbee's Quarter Circle T for $350,000 and also William E. Anderson's Scissors Ranch near the Adobe Walls site. Coburn adopted the Turkey Track brand for all of the cattle on all 3 ranches..

The combined ranches covered northern Hutchinson and southern Hansford counties. Bill Hudson was the company's first range boss.However lightning killed Johnston out on the range and Coburn was not a rancher, he was a banker..He found Caleb (Cape) Willingham ) former Oldham county sheriff, who obtained the loyalty of the cowhands. With him supervising, The Turkey Track Ranch prospered 20 years. When a drought occurred, Willingham drove 1500 steers to market. He also sent herds on the railroad to Dodge City. Later he could ship cattle from towns of Canadian and Miami. Willingham with family lived in Bugbeee's old Stone House.. Later the built a frame house with lumber from Dodge City. Also they built a 3 room bunkhouse, a smokehouse; By 1890 The Hsford and Turkey track owned 85,000 acres land, and leased 350,000 more acres. Another resident was William Dixon...

During this time, Willingham and his family resided in T. S. Bugbee's old Stone House, and later they constructed the county's first frame dwelling nearby, out of lumber freighted in from Dodge City. Other structures at the headquarters included a three-room bunkhouse, a smokehouse, and various sheds and corrals. Coburn, in the meantime, continued to reside in Kansas City but brought his family out for annual summer visits.

By 1916 the ranch had become the property of W.T Coble, a rancher who had settled on Moore Creek in 1899 and had begun expanding after building up his herd.Hansford Company and Coble adopted the brand for his cattle. Soon he had a spread the size thirty-two pastures and hay meadows, 100,000 acres in all, on the very land where McNalty had begun the Turkey Track in 1878.Adobe walls post office ceased operating 1921. BY 1980 the Turkey Track Ranch was owned by descendants of Catherine (Coble) Whittenburg, W. T. Coble's only surviving child. Whittenburg cattle still bore the Turkey Track brand. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txhansfo/ranches.html

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gus L. Ford, ed., Texas Cattle Brands (Dallas: Cockrell, 1936). Laura V. Hamner, Short Grass and Longhorns (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1943). John L. McCarty, Adobe Walls Bride (San Antonio: Naylor, 1955). Pauline D. and R. L. Robertson, Cowman's Country: Fifty Frontier Ranches in the Texas Panhandle, 1876-1887 (Amarillo: Paramount, 1981). Jesse Wallace Williams, The Big Ranch Country (Wichita Falls: Terry, 1954; 2d ed., Wichita Falls: Nortex, 1971).

Author comment: Seems the purchasers of the land got bored easily.


A Story about Borger, Texas

began May 2, 1921 when a gusher oil well was struck on the 6666 Ranch of S B Burnett. The first Panhandle oil well was drilled near Borger, TX on May 2, 1921, on the 6666 Ranch of S.B. Burnett.

They called the well a poor quality strike compared to the oil wells of East Texas. While that well was a poor quality strike, the 1926 gushing arrival of "Texas Tea" caused the town of Borger to explode into existence practically overnight. 90 days following the big oil strike, there were 45,000 people living in Borger.. It is said they were living loving, drinking, and fighting. The town previously had only had tumbleweeds, prairie dogs, and antelope..
1921 First Panhandle oil well drilled near Borger.
The history of "Borger Town" is full of history of drinking, sex, drugs and boogie-woogie. After the oil strike, there were many oilmen, prospectors, roughnecks, panhandlers, fortune seekers, card sharks, bootleggers, prostitutes, and even dope peddlers. Following this came the criminals and fugitives. Some called it “Booger Town.”

The town was not as this author has seen it in current days.. Early days organized crime was led by Two Gun Dick Herwig.. If one wandered into the town in those days, brothels, dance halls, gambling, speakeasies were commonplace, along with Murder and robbery. Moonshine stills flourished. Two Gun Herwig promoted all of this.. Another famous person was W.J. Shine Popejoy, the King of Texas bootleggers...

Two Gun Dick Herwig

A year later Governor Daniel J Moody sent a detachment of Texas Rangers, under the leadership of Captains Frank Hamer and Thomas Hickman to fix the problem. The rangers did stabilize the town. They sent many undesirables out of town. The wave of violence continued sporadically into the 1930's. With a couple of murders, the Governor stepped in, imposing martial law for a month...

Once again the State troops were sent to help local lawmen. Eventually this was achieved, but Ace Borger "(town promoter) for whom Borger was named was killed by an enemy, Arthur Huey in 1934.Borger Texas [8]

A drop of trivia: The first rotary drilling rig, built at for $25,000, was placed into use near Borger, TX by W.T. Willis, J.E. Trigg, and H.D. Lewis. The 6-inch-diameter (150 mm) drill could pierce through rock.




Phillips, Texas This is a sad story. When oil was struck, Rancher James A. Whittenburg established a community of Whittenburg nearby in 1926. Originally the Phillips refinery was called Pantex, Texas. Later this refinery was renamed Phillips, TX after the employer, Phillips 66. Phillips completed its Refinery in 1927 (originally named Alamo Refinery).

A description is rather strange to relate. This refinery was very large. There were many smoke stacks belching out the carbon black from the refined oil.. There were some houses scattered for the workers. My family enjoyed barbecue at a small business. Phillips had a $77,000 school, built in 1936.

Phillips 66 town

Unfortunately in January 20, 1980, a huge explosion occurred in the Phillips 66 refinery and town. A great deal of the refinery was destroyed and some houses in both Phillips and Borger were damaged. This caused the town to be closed as a town. It seems Phillips had bought the land, it moved the remaining houses to either Borger or Stinnett. This left the refinery. [9] [10]


Ranch brands

Government Offices

1st County Seat Plemons was the first county seat in Hutchinson county. James Andrew Whittenburg filed on four sections of land in Hutchinson County. There he built a dugout shelter near the Canadian River. He used the acreage as the family homestead. In 1901, Whittenburg donated acreage from the homestead land, for the establishment of Plemons. When Barney Plemons filed for land there, the town was named for him. Plemons became the county seat in 1901.

2nd County Seat--The county seat is Stinnett. The county was created in 1876 but not organized until 1901. It is named for Andrew Hutchinson, an early Texas attorney.

Hutchinson co. Courthouse, Stinnett

Hutchinson County is part of the Borger, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Amarillo-Borger, TX, Combined Statistical Area. It is located in the northern portion of the Texas Panhandle.

  • History of Hutchinson County is accented in downtown Borger in the Hutchinson County Historical Museum, called Boomtown Revisited.

Geography

North Central Plains is bounded by the Caprock Escarpment in the Panhandle. The Caprock is higher in elevation than the rest of the North Central Plains. A noted fact of one who has lived there,- over the ages the creeks and rivers run-off of water wears the region down to the river. This is known as the Breaks.

The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. The Handbook of Texas defines the southern border of Swisher County to be the southern boundary of the Texas Panhandle region.

According to the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission, the following counties constitute the Texas Panhandle:

  • Armstrong County,

Briscoe County, Carson County, Castro County, Childress County, Collingsworth County, Dallam County, Deaf Smith County, Donley County, Gray County, Hall County, Hansford County, Hartley County, Hemphill County, Hutchinson County, Lipscomb County, Moore County, Ochiltree County, Oldham County, Parmer County, Potter County, Randall County, Roberts County, Sherman County, Swisher County, Wheeler County

Adjacent counties

North- Hansford
East - Roberts County
South - Carson County
West - Moore County
Southwest - Potter County
Southeast - Gray County
Northwest - Sherman County
Northeast - Ochiltree County

Protected areas

Adobe Walls
Canadien River
Lake Meredith National Recreation Area

Demographics

Panhandle of Texas

Cities

Towns

Unincorporated communities:


Ghost Towns

Phillips refinery


Formed From

Bexar County, and Young county

County Resources

Soil is black and brown sandy loam. Early years economy was cattle ranching and agricultural (farming of wheat (harvested in early summer). Other crops were corn, sorghum, and oats.

  • 1974- 38,279,469 barrels (6,085,949.2 m3) extracted from county lands.
  • 1980's Hutchinson County had an economy based on agriculture, oil, and transportation


WARS

Indian Wars
Texas Panhandle history:-- several battles over an adobe fort known as Adobe Walls.

1) 1845, an adobe fort was built in the panhandle of Texas (near Hutchinson to house the post, which was blown up by traders in 1848 due to the Indian attacks.

2) First Battle of Adobe Walls- In 1864, the ruins were the site of a a well known battle to people living in the Panhandle of Texas (one of the largest battle on the Great Plains. Colonel Christopher "Kit" Carson led 335 soldiers eastward from New Mexico. A group of 72 Ute and Jicarilla Apache against greater than 1000 Comanche, Kiowa and Plains Apache. This large Indian force caused the retreat of Carson.

Note Carson was accredited with striking a blow against the Indians as well as removing his men out of a trap.
Indian Warriors.
Marker- Participants.

3) June, 1874- SECOND BATTLE of ADOBE WALLS: 1872-73, a small group of men tried to rekindle a settlement around Adobe Walls, with store, saloons, blacksmith shop, and corrals and a sod store to purchase buffalo hides. That year a couple hunters were killed. The free-ranging Indians viewed this limited settlement as encroaching upon their hunting territory. The Indians attacked a group of gathered there including many buffalo hunters and men from the East who came to try to kill buffalos. This battle went on for over 5 days. The second day they had to drag the dead Indians away from the camp, until William "Billy" Dixon fired a lucky shot which killed an Indian from horseback.. Bat Masterson and others were there participating in the battle as well. See: William "Billy" Dixon . Eventually the Indians left. It is said that possibly Quanah Parker may have been wounded in that battle.

4) Red River War of 1874–75, The Adobe Walls battle morphed into the Red River Wars. This resulted in the final relocation of the Southern Plains Indians to reservations in what is now Oklahoma.

Artifacts of the Antelope Creek Indian culture have been found in the Canadian valley in Hutchinson County. Archaeologists have found 1,300 acres (5.3 km2) of Alibates flint in the area that was used as a quarry for shaping flint tools. Nomadic Plains Apache also camped in this area as did Comanche, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Cheyenne.

Census

1880 50
1890 58
1900 303
1910 892
1920 721
1930 14,848
1940 19,069
1950 31,580
1960 34,419
1970 24,443
1980 26,304
1990 25,689
2000 23,857
2010 22,150

Notables

.

William (Billy) Dixon

Land Grants

  • Billy Dixon acreage


  • James Andrew Whittenburg filed on four sections of land in Hutchinson County. There he built a dugout shelter near the Canadian River. He used the acreage as the family homestead. In 1901, Whittenburg donated acreage from the homestead land, for the establishment of Plemons. When Barney Plemons filed for land there, the town was named for him. Plemons became the county seat in 1901. Currently Stinnett is county seat.

Cemeteries


  • Holt Cemetery Near Hansford county line Many Hansford citizens are buried here.
'

Sources:

  1. ↑ https://texasalmanac.com/topics/government/hutchinson-county
  2. ↑ http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-biggest-ranches/
  3. ↑ http://texasalmanac.com/topics/business/history-oil-discoveries-texas
  4. ↑ Memories of Mary Richardson
  5. ↑ Borger Texas
  6. ↑ http://borgertx.gov/history.htm
  7. ↑ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/aps14
  8. ↑ http://borgertx.gov/history.htm
  9. ↑ http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/Phillips-Texas.htm
  10. ↑ https://www.legendsofamerica.com/tx-hutchinsonghosttowns/3/




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