Moving - Archer County, Texas

Are you planning a move into or out of Archer County, TX, any time soon?  Movers USA, a local moving company, can help.  We can plan every step of your move for you and help make it an easy event.  Call Continental Relocation or just click here to begin your moving process.

Have you read the history of Archer County, TX?  Well, here is a brief summary for your pleasure.

A Brief History of Archer County

Archer County is located in north central Texas, bounded on the North by Wichita County, on the west by Baylor County, on the south by Young County, and on the east by Clay and Jack counties. Archer County's center is at 98°30' west longitude and 35°30' north latitude, twenty-five miles south-southwest of Wichita Falls. The county comprises 900 square miles of the Central Rolling Red Plains, Central Rolling Red Prairies, and Western Cross Timbers. Soils range from sandy loams and clays to stony soil on the plains and prairies and sand or loams in the timbers. Major deposits of oil and gas, copper deposits, and beds of sand and gravel make up the natural resources of this generally agricultural county. The Big Wichita, the Little Wichita, the West Fork of the Trinity, and the Brazos rivers drain Archer County. The Big Wichita River touches the county's northwestern corner, and the diversion dam of the Wichita Valley irrigation system is located at this point. Lakes Wichita, Kickapoo, and Arrowhead furnish soft water for county towns as well as Wichita Falls. The altitude ranges from 900 to 1,400 feet, the yearly rainfall averages 25.26 inches, the temperature averages range from 28° to 98° F, and the growing season lasts 220 days.

Before white settlement, Apaches, Wichitas, Tawakonis, Kichais, Caddoes, Comanches, and later Kiowas camped and hunted in the area now known as Archer County. Spaniards and Anglos crossed through the area at various times, and in the eighteenth century French traders operated a post close to the two small mesas in the west central area later called Little Arizona. Kichais defeated the Texas Rangers^qv in the battle of Stone Houses^qv in southeastern Archer County in 1837, and Kiowas led by Kicking Bird^qv defeated United States cavalrymen led by Capt. Curwen B. McClellan in the battle of the Little Wichita River^qv in the northwestern part of the county in 1870. On January 22, 1858, the Texas legislature marked off Archer County from Clay County and named it in honor of Republic of Texas commissioner Branch Tanner Archer.^qv No settlers had yet arrived. By 1875, however, the United States Army had driven all the Indians from North Texas and the area was open to settlement.

In 1874 the first American settler, Dr. R. O. Prideaux, originally from England, settled on the West Fork of the Trinity River in southeastern Archer County. He had observed that the buffalo^qv he had shot there were fat. Soon other cattlemen and farmers moved in, and scattered herds of longhorn cattle^qv were introduced to different parts of the county's grasslands. Along with buffalo hunters, the pioneer cattlemen led the way for other American settlers by eliminating great herds of buffalo and antelope. Imaginary lines were drawn and agreed upon between herd owners. Cowboys rode these lines daily to drive stray animals back to their respective territories. Barbed wire^qv was introduced in the fall of 1880, and great pastures were fenced. Herd owners divided the county into three portions. The T Fork and 99 pastures controlled the north section, the OX Ranch^qv and Circle Ranch (see PIERCE, ABEL HEAD) pastures formed the central part, and the LM, TIP, JJ, CLA Bar, Mule Shoe, GAR, Figure 3, Lazy H, and other smaller ranches occupied the southern portion.

Meanwhile, farmers were also moving into the area. Colonists located vacant or unpatented lands throughout the county and built dugout^qv or log, board, or stone houses. By 1880, 596 people lived on fifty-three ranches and farms in Archer County. Over 56,000 cattle were counted by the United States agricultural census in the county that year, along with 1,423 sheep. Over 400 acres was planted in corn in the county in 1880, and smaller areas were planted with oats and wheat. Cotton, grown on about 100 acres, produced forty-three bales.

In November 1879 farmers combined with the small ranchers in Archer County and presented a petition to the commissioners' court of Clay County calling for the political organization of Archer County. Larger cattle interests, bitterly opposed to organization, protested and delayed the process, but in the spring of 1880 the court ordered an election. Archer County was organized on July 27 of that year.