Yoakum County. Lying on the extreme western side of the Staked Plains, with New Mexico as its western border, Yoakum County is many miles from railroads, has only two or three postoffices. including Plains, the county seat, Sligo and Bronco, and its population consists almost entirely of stockmen and their followers. The following description of the county is from the last issue of the Texas Almanac: "Farming is a secondary occupation, the raising of live stock occupying the attention of the people. While fully 80 per cent of the land is susceptible to cultivation by dry farming methods, very little attention has been given to agricultural lines. Indian corn, maize, kaffir corn, cot ton and various forage plants have been successfully grown in a limited way. A few small orchards and vineyards are found at various ranches, but no effort has been made to develop the fruit industry.
Yoakum County was created in 1876, and for a number of years had no permanent population. At the census of 1890 only four inhabitants were enumerated, and in 1900 only twenty-six. By 1910 the population had increased to 602, and in 1920, 406 were enumerated. A county government had been instituted in 1907, with the county seat at Plains. In 1900 the census reported only one farm or ranch in the county, but by 1910 there were 107. In a total area of 562,560 acres, 439,779 acres were included in farms in 1910. While ten acres were classified as "improved land" in 1900 the amount had been in creased to 8,339 acres.
The livestock interests in 1910 comprised 22,506 cattle and about 1,000 horses and mules. In 1920 there were 25,247 cattle and 1,250 horses and mules.
In 1909, 2,703 acres were planted in kaffir corn and milo maize, and 1,676 acres in corn. The assessed valuation of property in the county in 1913 was $1,412,232, and in 1920, $1,620,079. - History of Texas, 1922, by W. Barrett Travis.
33° 11' 19.356" N, 102° 49' 40.764" W
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