History of Armstrong County, Volume 1 Page: 6
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Armstrong County
THI PAN LEA A A)L TODAY
By
Mrs. C. /ay Cohea, 1938
The Panhandle of Texs, as it is kr ~w today, is ar empire of more
than 25,000 sci are miles of level to un ulati n plains, newly
wrested from the buffalo and Indian, now a rer i1 ;evoted to a
variety of industries. Ranchin , farming , oil and gas in its various
phaees, are sources of rTeat wealth and much activity, In addition
to these industries, there are natural resources in this region which
have not been developed at all, but are lying in wait for the time
when their demand vill be so great as to justify commercialiation,
:Ranchin ;, w.ich built the Panhandle, is still of great importance.
In the sheltered valleys and breaks around streams and canyons, and
including much of the hi h "flats" will be found the huge cattle
ranches of the area, some of them ere remnarts of the vast estates
of the open range days, others scarcely reduced either in acreage or
herds. MBany of the outfits control hundreds of thousands of acres
and rnr thousands of cattle, Deep in secluded nooks around canyons
and streams the headquarters drowse in t: e shade of hugh old cotton-
woods. Around them Ir comfortable con usior sprawl bunkhouses and
corrals.
At the appointed times chuck and hoodlum wagons rumble out to the
herds, the tyrannical "coosie" wrangling his pots, pans, and ,rub,
the hoodlum boy hauli~r such humble necessities as wood and water.
Across the tide "baldies" and deep in the canyons clouds of smoke
and dust arise, and cowboy yells and bawling of ca tie are carried
or every wind that blows; for branding time still comes to the
Panrhandle. Cowhands sweat. roud horses take their places,
"rourdir' , cuttin' and ropin'" as tens of thousands of calaes
feel the scorch of the branding iron. of old, the cattle busi ess
is a calling followed by short rass aristocracy. Sleep in the
range country legs are as bowed and saddle muscles as supple as
they were whet trails were dust, on the way to Dodge.
Today the "nester", the "fool man with a hoe", has discardedd his
hoe for tractors, combires, one-ways, and drills; for even the
earliest nester has li..d to witness this " arren desert, urfit
for human habitation" turned into a sea of wavig grain. In the
spring the delicate green of young wheat covers hundreds of miles.
Early summer sees fleets of combines cutting, threshing, scattering
strow and chaff back to the soil as they rumble across wide fields.
lost of the large wheat farms are on the iigh "flats", upon land
which to all practical purposes is level. a ny farms handle an
average of about 2,500 acres. Larms of 6,000 acres or even more,
however, are quite common, -roduction varies with the years. lOne
county in the Panhardle has a production of 3,500,000 to '000, 000
bushels of wheat yearly. Farmers use from one to five tractors
and combines in numbers necessary to the acreage cultivated. During
harvest and planting seasons work continues through twenty-four
hours a day, crews working in twelve hour shifts. elevators tower
along the railforads wherever there are switches, and little towns
of a few hundred pop latior frequently have as ;igh as five elevators.
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The Woman's Development Club. History of Armstrong County, Volume 1, book, 1939; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth182365/m1/15/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Armstrong County Museum.