Terrell County, Texas
Encyclopedia
Terrell County is a county located in the U.S. state
of Texas
. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos
region of West Texas
. In 2000, its population was 1,081. Its county seat
is Sanderson
. The county was named for Alexander W. Terrell
, a Texas state senator. It is the setting for Cormac McCarthy
's novel
No Country for Old Men
, and the Academy Award winning film adaptation
of the same name
.
, the county has a total area of 2358 square miles (6,107.2 km²), virtually all of which is land.
Adjacent counties and municipios
of 2000, there were 1,081 people, 443 households, and 295 families residing in the county. The population density
was less than 1/km² (1/sq mi). There were 991 housing units at an average density of 0 per square mile (0/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 88.34% White
, 1.67% Native American
, 0.65% Asian
, 8.33% from other races
, and 1.02% from two or more races. 48.57% of the population were Hispanic
or Latino
of any race.
There were 443 households out of which 29.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.40% were married couples
living together, 7.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.40% were non-families. 31.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the county, the population was spread out with 26.50% under the age of 18, 5.00% from 18 to 24, 23.40% from 25 to 44, 27.50% from 45 to 64, and 17.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 103.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.50 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $24,219, and the median income for a family was $28,906. Males had a median income of $21,429 versus $15,804 for females. The per capita income
for the county was $13,721. About 21.20% of families and 25.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.40% of those under age 18 and 31.10% of those age 65 or over.
of Terrell County are found on the county’s various ranches – arrowheads, tools, burned-rock middens
, caves and shelters containing Indian pictographs
. Pieces of reed sandals, baskets, and evidence of burials have been found in the caves. The most pictographs are on cliff walls above Myers Spring near Dryden, overpainting giving to the theory that several Indian cultures were involved.
to explore from Mission San Juan Bautista
up the Rio Grande
to the mouth of the Rio Conchos. Berroterán crossed the southern border, where at a spring near Dryden, legend has it that he placed a large wooden cross. Six years later another Spaniard, Blas María de la Garza Falcón
, found the cross while conducting an expedition in the area and named the spot Santa Cruz de Maya. Captain Samuel Highsmith, under the command of John Coffee Hays
, crossed the county in 1848 in an ill-fated expedition to open a road from San Antonio
to El Paso
.
In 1851 Army officer and geographer Lt. Nathaniel Michler, working under Major William H. Emory
, mapped this portion of the boundary between Mexico and the United States. Under Lt. William Echols in 1859, caravans of the U.S. Camel Corps crossed the county searching for a shorter route to Fort Davis
.
. It was organized the same year. Sanderson
became the County Seat. In 1881, Texas and New Orleans Railroad surveyors reached the site of present day Sanderson. Originally named Strawbridge by founder Cyrus W. “Charley” Wilson, the name was later changed in honor of railroad Engineer Joseph P. Sanderson. Charles Downie, a Scot
, homesteaded in 1881 and became the first permanent sheepman in the area. Together, the railroad, cattle and sheep industries were the major economic assets. Ranges were still unfenced. Dryden became a large shipping point for cattle ranchers. Terrell County became one of the biggest sheep and wool producers in the U.S. In 1926, eleven thousand lambs averaging $6 per head were sold in one of the largest lamb sales in history. Thousands of pounds of wool and mohair were sold annually through the Sanderson Wool Commission. Dryden, the only town besides Sanderson in the county, was also started in 1882, but is now a ghost town. Judge Roy Bean
is said to have operated a saloon at Sanderson. The oil and gas industry became increasingly important to Terrell County's economy after 1957, when the Brown-Bassett gas field was discovered in the northeast part of the county. Only gas was produced until the 1970s, when high petroleum prices encouraged limited oil production as well.
Sanderson was struck by a flood on June 11, 1965, in which twenty-eight people died. Two of them were never found. The Texas State Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 1, 76th Legislature, Regular Session (1999) declared Sanderson and Terrell County the "Cactus Capital of Texas."
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos
Trans-Pecos
The term Trans-Pecos, as originally defined in 1887 by the Texas geologist Robert T. Hill, refers to the portion of Texas that lies west of the Pecos River. The term is considered synonymous with "Far West Texas", a subdivision of West Texas...
region of West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
. In 2000, its population was 1,081. Its county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
is Sanderson
Sanderson, Texas
Sanderson is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Terrell County, Texas, United States. The population was 861 at the 2000 census. Sanderson was created in 1882 as a part of neighboring Pecos County...
. The county was named for Alexander W. Terrell
Alexander W. Terrell
Alexander W. Terrell was a U. S. minister to Turkey and a Confederate military officer.-Biography:Terrell was born in Patrick County, Virginia. In 1831, his Quaker family moved to Boonville, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Missouri and was admitted to the bar in 1849. He practiced...
, a Texas state senator. It is the setting for Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and modernist genres. He received the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road...
's novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
No Country for Old Men
No Country for Old Men
No Country for Old Men is a 2005 novel by U.S. author Cormac McCarthy. Set along the United States–Mexico border in 1980, the story concerns an illicit drug deal gone wrong in a remote desert location. The title comes from the poem "Sailing to Byzantium" by William Butler Yeats...
, and the Academy Award winning film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of the same name
No Country for Old Men (film)
No Country for Old Men is a 2007 American crime thriller directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. The film was adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name...
.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the county has a total area of 2358 square miles (6,107.2 km²), virtually all of which is land.
Major highways
U.S. Highway 90
U.S. Highway 285
State Highway 349
Adjacent counties and municipiosMunicipalities of MexicoMunicipalities are the second-level administrative division in Mexico . There are 2,438 municipalities in Mexico, making the average municipality population 45,616...
- Pecos CountyPecos County, TexasPecos County is a county located in Texas which is named for the Pecos River. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. In 2000, its population was 16,809. The county seat is Fort Stockton....
(north & west) - Crockett County (northeast)
- Val Verde CountyVal Verde County, TexasVal Verde County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2008, estimated population was 55,000. Its county seat is Del Rio. In 1936, Val Verde County received Recorded Texas Historic Landmark number 5625 to commemorate its founding.Val Verde, which means "green...
(east) - Brewster CountyBrewster County, TexasBrewster County is a county located in western part of the US state of Texas, along the border with Mexico. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. As of the 2000 census, the population is 8,866. In 2009, the population was estimated to be 9,481. Its...
(southwest) - Acuña, Coahuila, MexicoAcuña (municipality)Acuña is a one of the 38 municipalities of Coahuila, in north-eastern Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Ciudad Acuña, which contained over 98% of the municipality's population in 2010. The municipality covers an area of 11,487.7 km² and is located on the international border between Mexico...
(south)
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 1,081 people, 443 households, and 295 families residing in the county. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was less than 1/km² (1/sq mi). There were 991 housing units at an average density of 0 per square mile (0/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 88.34% White
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 1.67% Native American
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.65% Asian
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 8.33% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.02% from two or more races. 48.57% of the population were Hispanic
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
or Latino
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
of any race.
There were 443 households out of which 29.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.40% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 7.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.40% were non-families. 31.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the county, the population was spread out with 26.50% under the age of 18, 5.00% from 18 to 24, 23.40% from 25 to 44, 27.50% from 45 to 64, and 17.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 103.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.50 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $24,219, and the median income for a family was $28,906. Males had a median income of $21,429 versus $15,804 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the county was $13,721. About 21.20% of families and 25.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.40% of those under age 18 and 31.10% of those age 65 or over.
Native Americans
Evidence of the indigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
of Terrell County are found on the county’s various ranches – arrowheads, tools, burned-rock middens
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...
, caves and shelters containing Indian pictographs
Pictogram
A pictograph, also called pictogram or pictogramme is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to considerable extent pictorial in appearance.Pictography is a...
. Pieces of reed sandals, baskets, and evidence of burials have been found in the caves. The most pictographs are on cliff walls above Myers Spring near Dryden, overpainting giving to the theory that several Indian cultures were involved.
Early Explorations
Capt. José de Berroterán in 1729 commanded an expedition on behalf of SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
to explore from Mission San Juan Bautista
Mission San Juan Bautista
Mission San Juan Bautista was founded on June 24, 1797 in what is now the San Juan Bautista Historic District of San Juan Bautista, California. Barracks for the soldiers, a nunnery, the Jose Castro House, and other buildings were constructed around a large grassy plaza in front of the church and...
up the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
to the mouth of the Rio Conchos. Berroterán crossed the southern border, where at a spring near Dryden, legend has it that he placed a large wooden cross. Six years later another Spaniard, Blas María de la Garza Falcón
Blas Maria de la Garza Falcón
Blas María de la Garza Falcón was a Spanish settler of Tamaulipas and South Texas.- Biography :...
, found the cross while conducting an expedition in the area and named the spot Santa Cruz de Maya. Captain Samuel Highsmith, under the command of John Coffee Hays
John Coffee Hays
Col. John Coffee "Jack" Hays was a Texas Ranger captain and military officer of the Republic of Texas. Hays served in several armed conflicts, including the Indian and the Mexican-American War.-Biography:...
, crossed the county in 1848 in an ill-fated expedition to open a road from San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
to El Paso
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
.
In 1851 Army officer and geographer Lt. Nathaniel Michler, working under Major William H. Emory
William H. Emory
William Hemsley Emory was an United States Army officer and surveyor of Texas.-Early life and career:...
, mapped this portion of the boundary between Mexico and the United States. Under Lt. William Echols in 1859, caravans of the U.S. Camel Corps crossed the county searching for a shorter route to Fort Davis
Fort Davis National Historic Site
Fort Davis National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located in unincorporated Jeff Davis County, Texas. Located within the Davis Mountains of West Texas, the historic site was established in 1961 to protect one of the best remaining examples of a United States Army fort in...
.
County Established and Growth
In 1905, Terrell County was created by the Texas Legislature by carving about 1500000 acres (6,070.3 km²) out of Pecos CountyPecos County, Texas
Pecos County is a county located in Texas which is named for the Pecos River. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. In 2000, its population was 16,809. The county seat is Fort Stockton....
. It was organized the same year. Sanderson
Sanderson, Texas
Sanderson is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Terrell County, Texas, United States. The population was 861 at the 2000 census. Sanderson was created in 1882 as a part of neighboring Pecos County...
became the County Seat. In 1881, Texas and New Orleans Railroad surveyors reached the site of present day Sanderson. Originally named Strawbridge by founder Cyrus W. “Charley” Wilson, the name was later changed in honor of railroad Engineer Joseph P. Sanderson. Charles Downie, a Scot
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
, homesteaded in 1881 and became the first permanent sheepman in the area. Together, the railroad, cattle and sheep industries were the major economic assets. Ranges were still unfenced. Dryden became a large shipping point for cattle ranchers. Terrell County became one of the biggest sheep and wool producers in the U.S. In 1926, eleven thousand lambs averaging $6 per head were sold in one of the largest lamb sales in history. Thousands of pounds of wool and mohair were sold annually through the Sanderson Wool Commission. Dryden, the only town besides Sanderson in the county, was also started in 1882, but is now a ghost town. Judge Roy Bean
Roy Bean
Phantly Roy Bean, Jr. was an eccentric U.S. saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas, who called himself "The Law West of the Pecos". According to legend, Judge Roy Bean held court in his saloon along the Rio Grande in a desolate stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert of...
is said to have operated a saloon at Sanderson. The oil and gas industry became increasingly important to Terrell County's economy after 1957, when the Brown-Bassett gas field was discovered in the northeast part of the county. Only gas was produced until the 1970s, when high petroleum prices encouraged limited oil production as well.
Sanderson was struck by a flood on June 11, 1965, in which twenty-eight people died. Two of them were never found. The Texas State Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 1, 76th Legislature, Regular Session (1999) declared Sanderson and Terrell County the "Cactus Capital of Texas."
Communities
There are no incorporated communities in Terrell County.- SandersonSanderson, TexasSanderson is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Terrell County, Texas, United States. The population was 861 at the 2000 census. Sanderson was created in 1882 as a part of neighboring Pecos County...
- DrydenDryden, TexasDryden is an unincorporated community in south central Terrell County, Texas, United States.-History:The community was founded in 1882 and named for Eugene E. Dryden, the chief engineer of the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway, which was building its tracks through Terrell County and...
-
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Terrell County, Texas
- USS Terrell County (LST-1157)USS Terrell County (LST-1157)USS Terrell County , originally USS LST-1157, was a built for the United States Navy in 1952. Named for Terrell County, Texas, and Terrell County, Georgia, she was the only U.S. Navy vessel to bear the name...
External links
- Terrell County government’s website
- Entry for Alexander Watkins Terrell from the Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas published 1880, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.