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Books About Wheeler County Texas People and Places
What's Your Favorite Book about a Wheeler County Texas Person, Place or Event? Here are some of our favorites about Wheeler, Hide Town, Mobeetie and Shamrock

 

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The Best Cowboy Stories Ever ToldThe Best Cowboy Stories Ever Told

Found Inside: "... A bloody battle ensued, during which Owens and several other outlaws were killed and Dutch Henry wounded six times. Several of the posse were also shot. the story has a curious sequel. Many years later, when Emanuel Dubbs was county judge of Wheeler County, Texas, Dutch Henry came to his house and stayed there several days . . ."   Read more

Train to DurangoTrain to Durango

Mobeetie, Texas, April 10, 1885 Shankler and Pardue could have taken the train from Boulder to Dodge, and from there ridden horseback to Mobeetie, but they did not. Instead, they saddled their horses, placed a Winchester in their saddle and rode directly from Denver to Mobeetie . . .  Read more Look inside

APOLLOApollo : An Eyewitness Account By Astronaut/Explorer Artist/Moonwalker by Alan Bean

Alan LaVern Bean was born in Wheeler, Texas on March 15, 1932.

Artist and former astronaut Alan Bean presents his very personal account of a unique time in our history, sharing with readers his stories of his adventures on the Moon, and memorializing the heroes both in space and on the ground who helped the Apollo missions succeed. 90+ color paintings by Alan Bean . . .Read more

The Texas RangersThe Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-1900

Found inside: On the night of February 10, 1885, as Warren, Odom and several others sat around the stove in the lobby of Sweetwater's Central Hotel in Mobeetie, someone fired a shot through the window. The bullet grazed Odom and hit the Ranger detective in the face. "The victim never spoke, and died in his chair," the Abilene Quill reported. With Warren having been the principal witness in the fence-cutting cases, the state never gained . . . Read more Look inside

Classic Gunfights, Vol. 3

Here is the wildest of the Wild West gunfights, famous and obscure, brought vividly to life through the fabulous artwork and captivating prose of Bob Boze Bell.

Found inside: "January 24, 1876, fresh off the killing fields, some 400 buffalo hunters are in Sweetwater, Texas (Mobeetie), looking for whiskey and companionship. One of them, Bat Masterson, has found both. He has hooked up with a popular lass, Mollie Brennan, at the Lady Gay, a theatre and dance hall saloon. Unfortunately, Sgt. Melvin King has also taken a fancy to Mollie . . . " Read more Look inside

The Jones Girls of Wheeler County, Texas: A Dual Memoir

When the Jones girls arrived there in 1886, the Texas Panhandle was an open frontier. Fort Elliott fired a cannon every daybreak, dancehall girls courted gamblers in Old Mobeetie, and vast herds of sheep and cattle grazed the rolling plains. “Footings” for “nesters” were not easily had, so the ever-growing Jones family farmed, freighted, and herded sheep before establishing a ranch in Wheeler County. Sisters Millie and Leanna later described their childhoods in various books, published and unpublished — yet the Jones family story has never really been told in full until now . . . Read more Look inside

The Shadow of a Noose

"Mobeetie, Texas, July 10, 1871. By the time Jed and Tim Strange rode into the small town of Mobeetie, Texas, they had been out of supplies for the past four days, living once more on jackrabbit and creek water, much to Jed's dismay . . . " Read more Look inside

Into The Blue Far Distance: Memories and Musing from America's Roads

On April 26,2001, Michael Burns left his home in California. In July, after a journey that took him across the United States, he returned home. Michael is a paraplegic. He cannot walk or stand. He has used a wheelchair since 1967. His van was his only constant companion. Found inside: "Shamrock, Texas got the nod for breakfast and fuel. It was not because of its name or inherent beauty. The town was not immediately evident, but that is what the exit sign said. It was a convenient stop and I was hungry and the van was thirsty. There was an incessant drizzle . . ."  Read  more Look inside

My Life As An Astronaut

by Alan Bean

The astronaut who landed on the moon in November 1969 and also lived and worked in Skylab in 1973 tells about his past and present life, which is devoted to painting scenes from the American experience in space. Found inside: "... my life started far from the high technology and great achievements of the Space Age. It began in a most unlikely spot---a dusty corner of  western Texas---in a sleepy little town called Wheeler . . . " Read more Look inside

The Texas Rangers in Transition: From Gunfighters to Criminal Investigators, 1921–1935

In a Texas awash in booze and oil in the Prohibition years, the Rangers found themselves riding herd on gamblers and bootleggers, but also tasked with everything from catching murderers to preventing circus performances on Sunday. Found inside: "Wheeler County urgently required attention. County attorney R. S. Allred informed Governor Moody that the element had full sway over the county, especially at Shamrock. The sheriff and other officers  . . . " Read more Look inside

The LS Brand: The Story of a Texas Panhandle Ranch

Found inside: "Occasionally, people along the street were delighted to see Temple Houston, a Mobeetie lawyer and youngest son of General Sam Houston. When he appeared in a beautifully tailored buckskin, black hair worn shoulder length, and a . . . " Read more Look inside

When the Smoke Clears: Gunslingers and Gunfights of the Old West

 Found inside: "The soldier playing cards at the Lady Gay Saloon in Sweetwater, Texas, (current Mobeetie) rose from his chair in disgust, threw his hand down, and stormed out the door, Another player, Bat Masterson, watched him leave, not knowing the two would meet again before the night ended ... Once the game ended on the night of January 24, 1876, Bat Masterson left the table and joined in conversation with black-haired and blue-eyed Mollie Brennan, a well-known soiled dove . . . " Read more Look inside

That Old Ace in the Hole

From Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Annie Proulx comes an exhilarating story brimming with language, history, landscape, music, and love.

Found inside: "While Granddaddy was pickin up bones and horns, he got some a his cowboys a help him and one day they hauled a wagon-full down to Mobeetie. ... Most a them still teenagers. They commenced a toss a few bones at hands from other ranches they seen walkin past. ...And that's how the big Mobeetie Bone and Horn fight got started . . . Read more Look inside

Memory Cups of the Texas Panhandle

“...by turning our memory cups this way and that as we gaze into their depths, we might catch glimpses of things that were, back when the Panhandle was young.” —Millie Jones Porter. Found inside: "He came to Mobeetie, got a contract to carry the mail from Mobeetie to Bascomb, New Mexico and bought his equipment . Mother said she thought he equipped it too elaborately , at any rate he came back to Austin for his family and when we . . ." Read more Look inside

Twin Bridges: Sweetwater Creek

Mobeetie Texas, or Hidetown originally, is the oldest town in the Texas Panhandle, where Twin Bridges is located north east of town. Back in the 1930s and 40s, Mobeetie served the community with two grocery stores, a drug store, pool hall, hotel with business in front down stairs, a lumber yard with two gas pumps, one which was “coal oil”, and even a bank and post office. As of the 2010 census record, 100 people still live there. Only one business left . . . Read more Look inside

Bones Hooks: Pioneer Negro Cowboy

Matthew 'Bones' Hooks was a true pioneer who not only built a town, schools, and churches, but also broke down racial barriers as one of the first black cowboys to work alongside whites as a ranch hand. Found inside: "Bones went up to Mobeetie in the northeastern part of the Panhandle following the devastating winter. Mobeetie, the first town established in the Panhandle in 1876 , was still wild . It grew up alongside Fort Elliott , which had been the " Read more   . . . for more like this please see Black History in Texas

Getting Away with Murder on the Texas Frontier: Notorious Killings and Celebrated Trials

Found inside: "A battle-scarred Civil War veteran, Arrington joined the Texas Rangers in 1875. His combat and leadership skills were quickly recognized. He first gained fame as an Indian fighter on the West Texas frontier. Later, he teamed up with the venerable Colonel Charles Goodnight in an unrelenting war on cattle rustler. Still Later, he was drafted as sheriff of Wheeler County, Texas, when that county along  with" . .  . Read more Look inside

Panhandle

The Texas Panhandle of the late 1880s is the last great open range of American legend. Into that wild unknown country ride two young cowboys. Found inside: "A rotation had been worked out whereby all of the hands could get a little time in Mobeetie for the holiday. Those left on guard with the herd would be relieved by others who had already spent their allotted time enjoying the sights. The only . . . " Read more Look inside

The Francklyn Land & Cattle Company: A Panhandle Enterprise, 1882-1957

Found inside: "Although it was late in the season, supplies were yet to be purchased and transported by freight wagons from Dodge City to Mobeetie, two hundred miles distant, and then distributed to various points on the property where they were most needed. Cattle were to be purchased and located " . . .  Read more Look inside

North to Yesterday

Found inside:" Now all he had to do was get out of town, walk down the road a piece, and wait under a shade tree for the mail hack to take him to Mobeetie. With a carefree air, after poking a cigar between his lips so he'd remember not to whistle, Maury . . . " Read more Look inside

Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism

In this groundbreaking work, sociologist James W. Loewen, author of the classic bestseller Lies My Teacher Told Me, brings to light decades of hidden racial exclusion in America. In a provocative, sweeping analysis of American residential patterns, Loewen uncovers the thousands of "sundown towns" ... Found inside: "In Wheeler County, Texas, in the 1920s, according to Arthur Raper, “as one man put it, Negroes were not even permitted 'to stick their heads out of the train coaches . . . " Read more Look inside

Black Cowboys of Texas

In the early days of Texas, the work of the cowhand was essential to the newly arrived settlers building a life on the frontier. The story of the Anglo cowboys who worked the ranches of Texas is well known, but much more remains to be discovered about the African American cowhands who worked side-by-side with the vaqueros and Anglo cowboys. Found inside: "The two earliest towns in the area were Mobeetie and Tascosa, both of unsavory character, and towns that Mathew did not enjoy visiting on the annual trail drives . Mobeetie, some eighty miles northeast of present - day Amarillo, had . . ." Read more Look inside   . . . for more like this please see Black Texans in History

Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman

Found Inside: "In 1880, Judge J. A. Carroll, sent from Denton to hold the first court, made his way by rail to Emporia, Kansas, thence to Dodge City, and took the stage to Mobeetie—a trip of eight hundred miles. The next year the mammoth Thirty Fifth Judicial was created, and Frank Willis, who was appointed District Judge, secured the first conviction, finding true bills, according to Goodnight, 'against every officer except himself,, and Fleming.' . . . Read more Look inside

Facts As I Remember Them: The Autobiography of Rufe Lefors

Rufe LeFors recorded his story over the course of a decade, finishing up in 1941 in his eighty-first year. His memoirs span the period from the War between the States to the early twentieth century, when the Panhandle was still scarcely settled, a true frontier. In his time LeFors was trail driver, pony express rider, and rancher. He traveled for a year with Arrington's Texas Rangers, and he wore the badge of deputy sheriff in the wild west town of Old Mobeetie . . . Read more Look inside

Early Days in Texas: A Trip to Hell and Heaven

Gentlemen, reprobate, killer, lawman--Jim McIntire was all of these, and more. In the 1870s McIntire was a regular fixture in the life of such Texas towns as Fort Griffin, Jacksboro, Fort Belknap, and Mobeetie . . . Read more

The Banditti of the Plains

by A. S. Mercer

His account is told in his book The Banditti of the Plains (1894), which was suppressed in its day, and is still difficult to find in public libraries in some parts of the Western U.S. In 1876, Mercer went to Texas, where he became editor and publisher of four newspapers. These papers were the Bowie Cross Timber, the Vernon Guard, the Wichita Herald and the Mobeetie Panhandle. These were then Texas cattle towns, starting points for buffalo skinners, headquarters for big ranching outfits, and supply centers . . . Read more Look inside

Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers

Found Inside" On Sweetwater Creek in the east, the army established Fort Elliott in 1875 and thus brought Hidetown, a buffalo hunters' camp, to life as Mobeetie, the "mother city" of the Panhandle . . .  " Read more Look inside

Robert Clay Allison

Cimarron badman legend Clay Allison takes his readers on a ride through his uneven and turbulent life while trying to grab a part of his own American dream: an extensive ranch with herds of cattle, and a progeny of sons to generate his name and legacy into the future. Found inside: "Wheeler County to the south, where the Allison's eventually settled, measured nine-hundred fourteen square miles, and was the largest in head-count, five-hundred and twelve. This included the two-hundred ninety-six military personal of Fort Elliot on Sweetwater Creek, northwest of Mobeetie . . . " Read more Look inside

Texas Women and Ranching: On the Range, at the Rodeo, and in Their Communities

Found Inside: "The only way to get anything to the Panhandle was by wagon, and jelly jars did not provide high enough profit to justify shipping them, so Mary Jane Alexander had to be inventive. She went to Mobeetie in the mornings or early afternoons when the saloons were quiet and gathered bottles that had been tossed out behind the tents. She brought the bottles home and cleaned them, then soaked string in kerosene, tied it around the bottles and set it on fire. As soon as it burned out, she dropped each bottle into a bucket of water, and the top would crack off, leaving a jar for her jelly . . ." Read more Look inside

My Life with Bonnie and Clyde

The next morning at daybreak, we were in Shamrock, Texas. We were cold, hungry, and sleepy, and W. D. and Clyde had to have medicine for their wounds. We needed to stop some place for a couple hours. We pulled up to a small tourist cam, woke the owner, and got a cabin. It was a dirty place with no running water. But it had a stove, although we would have to wait until seven 0'clock before the little grocery store opened nearby. We got water and heated it. Then we bathed and dressed everybody's wounds as best we could.  When the store opened, I was sent to buy food. I had washed the blood from my dress as best I could I " . . . Read more Look inside

Tascosa Gun: The Story of Jim East

I'll personally take him to the lockup in Mobeetie." Jim frowned. Mobeetie was better than a hundred thirty miles downriver. "Why Mobeetie? We're a county now, with a sheriff and a jail right up the road in Tascosa." "Tascosa jail's a joke," the . . . " Read more Look inside

It's Not All Black and White:

From Junior High to the Sugar Bowl, an Inside Look at Football Through the Eyes of An Official

President and CEO of a bank by day, Liner has been a Texas football official on Fridays and Saturdays for the past 35 years. Found inside: " During the game I looked down on at the sideline and happened to notice that my cousin, Danny Martin, was the head linesman on the officiating crew. At that time, he was a high school science teacher in nearby Shamrock, Texas. I had no idea he was going to officiate, and I was thinking how much I would love the opportunity to do that, too. Being a typical fan that day, I was watching my"  . . . Read more Look inside

Buck Owens: The Biography

Found inside: "Gene Price of Shamrock, Texas, was just another young, starry-eyed singer songwriter when he landed in Bakersfield in 1967. He found full-time work in the oil fields by day and worked as a freelance musician by night. Gene went to Buck's house to talk to him about Buck using some of his songs. . . " Read more Look inside

All Satan's Apples Have Worms

by Dr. John R. Rice

Found inside: "At Shamrock, Texas , where I was pastor of the First Baptist Church , Miss Irene Bryan came one day and said , “ Brother Rice, a neighbor girl of mine , very prominent in society and moneyed circles , told me she is so despondent that she is . . . ' Read more Look inside . . . for more like this please see Texas Church Histor

When a Christian Sins

Found Inside: "I had been called to the First Baptist Church of Shamrock , Texas , my first full - time pastorate . The little church was divided , defeated , worldly . It had been without a pastor for long months . Lightning had struck the church building and burned . . ." Read more . . . for more like this please see Texas Church Histor

A Private in the Texas Rangers:

A.T. Miller of Company B, Frontier Battalion

Found inside: "John Pierce Matthews had a domineering personality with a troubled past. He had killed an African American in Louisiana, come to Texas, dropped Matthews from his name for awhile, and was responsible for the 1884 accidental death of cowboy James Mankins in Wheeler county. Despite all that, or maybe because of it, he handily won election in 1892 as Childress County's second sheriff. Sheriff Matthews and two companions died some drinking that day, according to the later report of Sergeant Grude Britton . . . " Read more Look inside

Put up or shut up

John Decker , who was one of the early officers at Mobeetie , was a teamster for the army at the time . He is the only man who was with Custer that I know of who resided at Mobeetie . There may have been others , but if so I never heard of

The Long Trail: How cowboys & longhorns opened the West

Found Inside: "The cowboys rode back into Mobeetie and asked for men they knew had fled the town . Then they searched the town — for men they knew were not there. They said they might ride out to the hills . Another horseman rode out to inform the . . . Learn more

St. Patrick's Day Cookbook Shamrock, Texas:: The Official State of Texas St. Patrick's Day Celebration

Over 250 ( some recipes are listed under two or more categories, but they are only counted once) mouthwatering Irish recipes for you and your family for your St. Patrick's Day Celebration. Or any day of the year. "If you are lucky enough to be Irish, you are lucky enough!" Brought to you from Shamrock, Texas. A town where everyone is Irish. Shamrock annually hosts the Official State of Texas St. Patrick's Day Celebration. You can be Irish every day of the year with these fantastic Irish / St. Patrick's Day recipes . . . Read more

We Just Toughed It Out: Women Heads of Households on the Llano Estacado, 1880-1935

Found Inside: "C . W . Alexander was selected in 1884 by the Home Mission Board of the Presbyterian Church USA to organize a church and Sunday school in Mobeetie , Texas , and to develop other churches in the surrounding areas" . . .  Learn more . . . for more like this please see Texas Church Histor

A Family of the Land: The Texas Photography of Guy Gillette

Found inside: " Cathi was a Texas Panhandle girl, born in Shamrock and raised in Wheeler, though now working in the concrete canyons of Houston. She and Guy Porter began seeing  one another and married a couple of years later. The ceremony was held . . . " Read more Look inside

Ghost Towns of Route 66: The Forgotten Places Along America’s Famous Highway

Found inside: "By 1911, Shamrock was an incorporated community with a promising future, two banks, the Wheeler County Texan newspaper, numerous businesses, and the Cotton Oil Mill. Amazingly, the prosperous little town depended on hauled water . . .  " Read more Look inside

1930 Yearbook: Wheeler High School, Wheeler, Texas

Resources:

West Texas History & Memories

Early Life in Texas County by County

Books about Texas People and Places

Famous People from Texas County by County

Texas History in the 19th Century (Amazon)

Texas History by Category and Event

Life in Wheeler County 1850 -1950

Life in Wheeler County Texas 1850 -1950Early Life in Wheeler County Texas

Wheeler County Unclaimed Estates

These Deceased Residents from Wheeler County left a total $11,440 in Unclaimed Money for their heirs. Know the Heirs? Please Share this with your Family and Friends in Wheeler and Shamrock Texas . . . Check the list

 

What's your Favorite Book about a Texas County, Town, Person or Place? Here's our best reads list County by County

 

Mysterious TexasTrue Stories of Amazing People and Places in Texcas
 Loneliest, Least Populated Counties in Texas
Texas Cowboy HistoryBooks about Texas People 

County by County