The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946 Page: 130
717 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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130 Southwestern Historical Quarterly
approximately one-third of it lies to the north and two-thirds, to the south
of this natural barrier.
The climate is typical of a semi-arid region, with the rainy season coming
during the summer months. The average rainfall is 17.64 inches; the aver-
age snowfall is 7.4 inches. Sand storms are associated particularly with
the early spring, and hail storms frequently come with summer. The mean
temperature is 62.5 degrees. The average velocity of the wind is 12 miles
an hour. There is no timber, but trees have been planted along the high-
ways and around the homes. No minerals were listed for Lamb County
until late in 1944, when oil was discovered. Once a land where men died of
thirst, Lamb County is now known to be in the shallow-water belt of the
South Plains; this means that sufficient water is found at depths of 20 to
120 feet. The soil is sandy loam, red, brown, and reddish brown. The crops
are those especially adapted to dry-land farming: the grain sorghums,
cotton, and some wheat, north of the Sand Hills. In 1940, 942 per cent of
the entire county was in cultivation; only 2.3 per cent of this acreage was
irrigated. Lamb County was first a ranching country, then a farming
country, but now it is a combination of both, a stock-farming country.
On August 21, 1876, the Fifteenth Legislature of Texas created Lamb
County from Bexar Territory. The new county was named for Lieutenant
George A. Lamb,zv a South Carolinian, who was killed in the Battle of San
Jacinto. Lamb County has passed through five definite periods in its
transition from a part of the Great American Desert to a modern county
of the twentieth century. First, there were the Indians, who used the South
Plains as a refuge and as a meeting place for trading with the New Mexi-
cans. One much used Comanchero trail crossed Lamb County in the south-
west corner, touching Bull Lake; another trail, later named the Mackenzie
Trail,qv followed the well-known water holes across the northern part of
the county. By 1872, however, the soldiers were in close pursuit, and the
Indians were no longer safe even on the South Plains; by 1875 they had
ceased to be a menace. Following the soldiers came the buffalo hunters, who
virtually cleared the Plains of the buffalo by 1878. This opened the way for
cattlemen and large ranches. Lamb County was one of the ten counties from
which the 3,000,000 acres was taken to pay for the present State Capitol.
A great part of the county was patented to the Capitol Syndicate and was
by it, in 1885, incorporated into the Yellow House and Spring Lake Divisions
of the XIT Ranch.av In 1901 these two divisions were sold. In 1907 and
1908, the first subdivision, which was in the northeast part of the county,
was put on the market. It was quickly sold out to the permanent settler,
the farmer, whose advent marked the beginning of the fifth and present
period.
Lamb County was organized May 12, 1908. Olton, which is north of the
Sand Hills, was named the county seat. In 1912 the development of the
southern part of the county began. By January 1, 1914, traffic was mov-
ing over the recently completed Santa Fe Railroad, which remains the only
one in the county. Three towns are located along this railroad: Amherst,
Littlefield, and Sudan. Other communities in the county are Fieldton,
Lum's Chapel, Hart's Camp, Earth, Spring Lake, Spade, Pleasant Valley,
and Yellow House Switch. There are four paved highways which cross
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946, periodical, 1946; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146056/m1/141/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.