Hansford County. Organized February 14, 1889, Hansford County had a population in 1880 of 18 ; in 1890, 133 ; in 1900, 167 ; in 1910, 935 ; in 1920, 1,354. Situated in the northern tier of Panhandle counties, it has a branch of the Santa Fe Railroad, constructed in 1919 running to Spearman, which has a population of 530 inhabitants. Besides the underground water supplies, reached at a convenient depth but as yet little utilized, it has several streams, and the valley lands are noted for their wild hay crop, and in recent years a large amount of land has been cultivated in alfalfa. It is estimated that about 1,000 acres are now irrigated from the Palo Dora Creek. Important improvements have been noted in the grading of live stock, and considerable attention is also given to the poultry industry.
All the towns of the county are small settlements, and the county seat is Hansford [Spearman became the county seat in 1929, a few years after this history was written.] The county's property valuation in 1903 was $909,821 ; in 1913, $1,489,777 ; in 1920, $2,218,103. The total area of the county is 564.480 acres, and the last census reported 233,559 acres in farms. The number of farms rose from 22 in 1900 to 152 in 1910, and the amount of "improved land" from about 2,260 acres in the former year to about 33,000 acres in the latter. Live stock enumerated comprised 11,239 cattle ; about 2,000 horses and mules; 6,342 sheep, and a considerable number of hogs. In 1920 the number of cattle was 22,348 ; of horses and mules, 3,563. The chief crop in 1909 was hay and forage crops, with 6,973 acres planted, including 1,830 acres in alfalfa, a larger acreage than almost anywhere else in the Panhandle in this particular crop. In kaffir corn and milo maize, 3,942 acres were planted ; in wheat, 3,900 acres ; in oats, 1.730 acres, and in corn, 337 acres. - History of Texas, 1922, by W. Barrett Travis.
36° 11' 54.132" N, 101° 11' 32.568" W
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