Garza County History 1922

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Garza County History Written in 1922

Garza County. While formal boundaries were given to Garza County in 1876, it remained without county government for more than thirty years, and was organized in 1907. Its development has been greatly promoted since the completion of the Texico-Coleman cut-off of the Santa Fe System in 1911. This railroad crosses the county from southeast to northwest.

Until recent years, the entire area was given over to the grazing of cattle. With the completion of the railroad came the advance guard of farmers, and now many cares are in cultivation. Farming and fruit growing reaches its highest state of development in the vicinity of Post, one of the new and prosperous towns in the state. Post was named in honor of the late C. W. Post, who acquired the ownership of about 300,000 acres in that locality and did a great deal for the town and surrounding country by introducing improved methods of farming as well as cattle raising. The chief agricultural crop is cotton, and Post has a cotton mill.

How rapidly the county has been settled in recent years is indicated by population statistics. In 1880 the number of inhabitants was 36, and in 1890, only 14; in 1900, 185, and the last census, 1920, reported 4,253 inhabitants.

Besides Post, the county seat, there are several railway stations and small trading centers. The last enumeration reported 18,310 cattle and 2.645 horses and mules. The total area of the county is 556,800 acres. While the greater part is occupied by farmers and ranchmen, the amount of land in cultivation in 1900 was given as 545 acres, and by 1910 this class of land had increased to 16,400 acres. There were thirty-eight farms and ranches in the county in 1900, and eighty-one in 1910. In 1909, 7,118 acres were planted in kaffir corn and milo maize ; 660 acres in cotton and 654 acres in corn. The assessed wealth of the county in 1900 was $1,915,395; in 1913, $3,004,174, and in 1920, $4,613,810. - History of Texas, 1922, by W. Barrett Travis.