Settlers Arrived

When the first ranchers came to the area of Texas that would later be Hale County, the prairie grass was knee high to a grown man. Buffalo, which had grazed the area in vast numbers, had all been killed by the buffalo hunters. Antelope were abundant in number but were only good for meat and the cattlemen preferred beef to any other kind of meat. Wild horses were plentiful but ranchers did not want them because they were too small to do hard work. There was also the ever deceptive mirage which represented a sheet of water or an image that appeared to be suspended in the sky.

Hale County was organized in 1876. The first recorded settlers were in the northwest part of the county in 1881.

The state of Texas enacted a law designed to encourage railroads to build in the state. This law granted railroad companies sixteen sections of 640 acres each for each mile of railroad built and operated in the state. In order to get the school land surveyed, the railroads were required to survey one section of school land for each section of railroad land surveyed. Thus the odd numbered sections became railroad land and the even numbered were school land.

The state school lands in Hale County were classified as agriculture land and priced at two dollars per acre with forty years to pay at five percent interest. Interested buyers were allowed to purchase only one section.

Because of uncertainty in farming, and one section being inadequate for ranching, Col. R.P. Smyth worked through the legislature and got the law changed in 1893. A settler then could buy four sections of school land with three of these sections within five miles of their home section. Terms of sale then were one-fortieth in cash and forty years to pay at three percent interest. Hale County was reclassified as grazing land and the price was reduced to one dollar per acre.

Many playa lakes and a few springs and streams provided water for the early ranchers and stock. It was not until 1888 that wells were drilled and windmills erected.

As the pioneer families came in covered wagons, buggies, and horseback with all their early possessions, they were not unaware of the hardships and loneliness which they must endure for a time. They were a courageous, intelligent group of people. Many of the settlers were highly educated people with university degrees. These people had a great desire for getting a home for themselves and their families.

These settlers lived in tents and dugouts. Many of the women would line their dugouts with tow sacks and even put tow sacks on the floors. Some would whitewash the walls of their dugouts and do many things to make their homes attractive. Each family tried to raise its own meat supply. The antelope, which were plentiful until 1910, were an additional source of meat. With the excess windmill water, they raised gardens to provide vegetables for the family. Cowchips were the main source of fuel. Coal was used as a supplement, especially in the winter. Sometimes maize heads and corn cobs were also used for fuel. Supplies were hauled by wagon from Amarillo or Colorado City. Later freighters brought supplies to Plainview and Hale Center where settlers could temporarily replenish dwindling supplies until their regular shopping trip, which usually occurred about three times a year. After the railroad was built from Amarillo to Plainview, obtaining supplies was made much easier.

During the early years, prairie fires were frequent and greatly dreaded by the stockmen. Often fires destroyed the dry grass on which the herds depended for winter grazing. Sometimes the prairie fires started in New Mexico. Pushed by driving winds, they raged across the open plains all the way to the Caprock. Fire guards were plowed and burned around pastures and homes. The high winds that accompanied the fire would often pick up a burning cowchip and roll it across a too-narrow fire guard and start the fire on the other side. Rabbits with burning fur would run from the fire into the grass and spread the fire.

Before schools could be organized, the children were taught at home. There were one room schools set up in abandoned dugouts, buildings were moved in from other sites, or buildings were built in a central location for a group of families. The teachers usually lived with the families during the school term.

Church services were held in the school buildings, and many social events were also held at the school.

Beginning in 1888, mail came regularly each week to Plainview. W.L. Tharp carried the mail on a route from Plain view to Estacado. The mail for the area residents was left at Hale Center. When someone was in Hale Center for supplies they picked up the letters and packages and brought them back to the school. When someone went to Hale Center, they went to the school, picked up the out-going mail, and took it to Hale Center.

At first it seemed almost certain the railroad would be built several miles west of Plainview and would come through the Norfleet and Barton land. A town was platted on the Barton land in July, 1907.

The town platted on the Barton land, and named Bartonsite, grew for a short time. Ten residences and a number of business houses were built; a lumber yard, a hotel, a grocery store, a blacksmith shop, a post office, a church, and a school.

The church was used by the Baptists and Methodists, alternately. Mail was brought daily to the post office from Hale Center.

Bartonsite had grown to about 250 residents by 1909. Then disturbing news came. The railroad was going to miss the town. It would pass a few miles to the east.

The advent of both the railroad and the automobile brought in the land prospectors. Immigrants came from all over the United States lured by attractive advertisements, talkative salesmen, their own land hunger, and the availability of land. The boom continued for several years. Like the early settlers, these people were good citizens, industrious, and intelligent home-seekers who played an important role in the development of the country.