Knox County History 1922

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Knox County History Written in 1922

Knox County. The railroads and other factories which have been operating in recent years to develop Haskell County have also been working to break up the large ranches and promote the building of towns and the establishment of agriculture on a permanent basis in Knox County. Knox County, created in 1858, was organized March 20, 1886. A few stockmen had found their way into this section during the late '70s, and in a few years the buffalo had been driven out and domestic cattle were grazing over the rolling prairies and along the valleys of the Wichita and Brazos Rivers, both of which streams have their courses through this county. At this time the ranchman occupy and own the greater part of the lands, but the influx of agricultural settlers has been particularly rapid since two railroad lines were finished. 1904 the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Road was built through the county from south to north and put in operation by 1905. In 1907 the Wichita Valley Railroad was built across the southeastern corner of the county. Along the line of the first railway are the towns of Knox City, Benjamin, the county seat, and Truscott. On the Wichita Valley is Munday, probably the largest town in the county, and Goree.

The population of the county in 1880 was only 7 ; in 1890, 1,134 ; in 1900, 2,322 ; in 1910, 9,625, and in 1920, 9,240. The assessed value of property in 1903 was $1,919,672; in 1913, $6,259,477; in 1920, $6,638.681. In 1909 the presence of twenty cotton gins, a cottonseed oil mill, a flouring mill, a dairy and other smaller establishments indicate the chief productive activities of this section. There were in 1910, $1,175 farms and ranches, as compared with 366 in 1900. The total area of the county is 551,680 acres, of which 520,450 acres were occupied in farms in 1910. and 142.000 acres were "improved land" as compared with about 46,000 acres at the preceding census. The census reported 27,331 cattle ; about 9,100 horses and mules ; 5,146 hogs. The crop acreage in 1909 was : Cotton, 36,219 acres ; corn, 24,870 acres ; wheat, 13,188 acres ; oats. 8,023 acres ; hay and forage crops, 7,620 acres ; kaffir corn and milo maize, 3,878 acres ; about 350 acres in potatoes, sweet potatoes and other vegetables ; and about 33,000 orchard fruit trees. - History of Texas, 1922, by W. Barrett Travis.