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Found inside: "These kinds of sentiments do not seem to have originated in Guthrie's imagination, for many who experienced the ravages of Black Sunday also mention the religious fears this storm evoked. Detailing similar but even more heightened fears, Clella Schmidt (who lived in Spearman, Texas, during the Great Depression) recalls the reaction of a frightened young female neighbor. Before the storm of April 14th came, Clella's family tried to pick up this woman and her baby. Just as they got to her house, the dust storm hit . . . " Read more Look inside

Found inside: "They were hunting buffalo on Christmas Day 1873 in a break along the North Palo Duro Creek in what would become Hansford County when a gentle snow grew into a dangerous blizzard. Realizing they faced a long winter, they built themselves a dugout with cottonwood timber and buffalo hides and settled in until the weather broke. Freezing precipitation did not constitute the only danger that winter. The Comanche and Kiowa still considered the High Plains of Texas their hunting ground, but the brothers Jim and Bob Cator managed to keep their scalps until . . . " Read more Look inside . . . for more like this please see Christmas in Texas 

Found inside: "On what's called "the Top of Texas," the northern border of the Panhandle, the jeep rolled through territory where two intrepid British buffalo hunters and ranchers had established the town of Zulu Stockade, Texas in 1872. James Hamilton Cator and his kid brother, Robert, were the first permanent settlers of Hansford County. They were natives of Ireland but . . . " Read more

Found inside: "Originally from England, James and Bob Cator were legendary buffalo hunters who pioneered the Texas Panhandle in the early 1870s. In 1874 the Cator brothers fought the Comanches alongside Billy Dixon at the second battle of Adobe Walls. Though risk-takers, they were also practical individuals and soon settle the High Plains north of the Canadian River. There they established the historic hamlet of Zulu Stockade, so named because the region was as remote as Zululand. The brothers witness the passing of the frontier and wrote influential letters to their siblings back in England. Bert O. Cator, a younger brother, first arrived at the remote Zulu Stockade in 1878 with his sister Clara. Bert served as Hansford County's first commissioner in 1889 . . . " Read more Look inside

Found inside: "An early resident of the Hansford County area found the northern Panhandle so infested with lobo wolves that the county paid a two-dollar bounty on each wolf head. So numerous were the lobos, however, that wolf hunting became a lucrative business, and the county was compelled to stop bounty payments to protect its treasury . . . Read more Look inside

Found inside: "In the spring of 1886, Wright drove the balance of his herd to Hansford County, Texas, and sold to Harry McGee. Wright then became interested in "town booming," seeing therein an opportunity to recoup his cattle losses. He located the town of Hansford, Texas. But he couldn't stay out of cattle . . ." Read more Look inside

Found inside: " In 1889 he and his brother Ira built a dugout on Palo Duro Creek in Hansford  County, fenced two sections of land, and the next year bought eight-three head of cattle that Boss branded NF ... In the 1890s the oldest Hitch brother, Elias, moved to neighboring Hansford County, Texas, where Jim also acquired ranching interest. There Elias was elected county treasurer . . ." Read more Look inside

Hit by a car as a toddler, Saul struggled to walk and lived with pain most of his life. At the time, his family lived in Mexico but when an opportunity arose to come to the U.S. for a better life, they took it. Saul struggled to cope with a new language and new culture on top of his physical issues. He was afraid to hope that his life would ever be normal, but with the love of family, friends and his new community of Gruver, Texas miracles suddenly seemed normal . . . Read more

by David Murrah and Paul Carlson

The distinctive high mesa straddling West Texas and Eastern New Mexico creates a vista that is equal parts sprawling lore and big blue sky.  ... Found inside: "David J. Murrah, PhD Has written or edited eight books and numerous articles on Texas history and is a fellow of both the Texas State Historical Association and the Texas Texas Historical Association. A native of the High Plains (Gruver, Texas), he and his wife, Ann now live on the Texas coast of Rockport . . . " Read more Look inside

By Paul H. Carlson and David J. Murray from Gruver Texas

The Llano Estacado, or "Staked Plain," of Texas and eastern New Mexico spreads two hundred miles across what early visitors called "an ocean of land." No other place on Earth is quite like it. Humans first inhabited the area more than twelve thousand years ago. Subsequently, settlers came to convert the grassland to ranches and then to sprawling farms . . . Read more Look inside

by David J. Murray from Gruver Texas

Born during the infant years of the Texas Republic, C. C. Slaughter (1837–1919) participated in the development of the southwestern cattle industry from its pioneer stages to the modern era. Trail driver, Texas Ranger, banker, philanthropist, and cattleman, he was one of America’s most famous ranchers. David J. Murrah’s biography of Slaughter, now available in paperback, still stands as the definitive account of this well-known figure in Southwest history . . . Read more Look inside

Resources:

West Texas History & Memories (Face Book Group)

Early Life in Texas County by County

Books about Texas People and Places

Famous People from Texas County by County