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January / February 2012
Volume 24, Number 1

History of a Texas County

Reeves County Population Boosted by Early 20th Century School-Land Rush

Reeves County is in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas with the northern edge of its irregular shape touching New Mexico. On the northeast it borders the Pecos River, which separates it from Loving and Ward counties. It is bounded on the southeast by Pecos County, on the southwest by Jeff Davis County, and on the west by Culberson County.

The first people to inhabit Reeves County lived in the rock shelters and caves around the edge of the Barrilla Hills and built permanent camps near Phantom Lake, San Solomon Spring, and Toyah Creek. These prehistoric people left behind artifacts and pictographs as evidence of their presence. The Jumano Indians irrigated crops of corn and peaches from San Solomon Spring, where Balmorhea State Recreation Area is now located. The park, including its large rock-walled swimming pool, was built around San Solomon Springs by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. The springs, which have been called Mescalero and Head Springs at various times, issue from caverns in the bottom of the swimming pool. Farmers of Mexican descent who irrigated from San Solomon Spring in the last half of the 19th Century found a lucrative market for grains, vegetables and beef at Fort Davis. The first Anglo farmers arrived in Toyah Valley in 1871, when George B. and Robert E. Lyle began irrigating crops from Toyah Creek. Open range ranching first attracted white settlers to the Davis Mountains in 1875.

By 1881 the Texas and Pacific Railway had built tracks through Reeves County. At that time section houses were constructed at Pecos and Toyah, which opened a post office that year and later became a shipping point for local ranchers. Pecos was named the seat of government when Reeves County was separated from Pecos County in 1883 and organized in 1884. Pecos constructed a threeroom school in 1883 and opened a post office in 1884. The county was named for Confederate colonel George R. Reeves, who served as a Grayson County official and in the Texas Legislature from 1856-1858 and again in 1870, 1875, 1879 and 1881-1882, when he was speaker of the House.

In 1900, the agricultural economy of Reeves County was affected when the state ended free use of its land. Agents were sent across West Texas to collect rents from ranchers on public land. Between 1901 and 1905, however, state law permitted sale of school lands in West Texas, allowing individuals to purchase four sections of land on generous credit terms. Reeves and other West Texas counties experienced a rush of new settlers, which continued even after Map courtesy of the 2006-2007 Texas Almanac Reeves County Population Boosted by Early 20th Century School-Land Rush the law was changed in 1905 to award land to the highest bidder.

Between 1903 and 1913 several new communities developed, but most were ephemeral. Both Alamo, renamed Pera in 1905, and Dixieland opened post offices in 1903. Other towns receiving post offices included Panama in 1904, Orla in 1906, and Hermosa and Arno in 1907. Balmorhea began operation of both a school and a post office in 1908, and post offices were organized in 1910 at Pyle, Mont Clair, and Angeles; the latter moved to Orla some time later. Hoban received a post office in 1911 and Crystal Water in 1913. By the 1990s, however, only the post offices at Orla and Balmorhea were still in existence. The 1910 census reflects the effects of the school-land rush after 1901, showing the population more than doubled in a decade to 4,392.

In 1911 the Pecos Valley Southern Railway completed tracks from Pecos to Toyahvale, allowing improved transportation of agricultural products. A drought swept across the county in 1916, however, and many families who had come during the school-land rush gave up their farms and moved away.

The Toyah field, a gas-producing area, was discovered in 1952, and the Geraldine-Ford field began production in 1956. In 1960, the Reeves County population reached an all-time high of 17,644. High school graduates represented 9 percent of the residents, and 669 were college graduates. Although by 1980 West Texas experienced a dramatic oil boom with greatly-increased drilling activity and an influx of new people to fill blue collar jobs, the population of Reeves County fell to 15,801 in that year. The county faced problems of declining oil prices and crude reserves. Overgrazing, which occurred when its arid pasturelands were first pioneered, had improved under management, and reduction in irrigated agriculture and the use of underground water supplies had improved the level and availability of water.

Reeves County is noted for its West of the Pecos Museum at Pecos and for Balmorhea State Recreation Area and Lake. The county celebrates a Rodeo Week, June Fest, Golden Girl of the West Pageant, Night in Old Pecos, and an 1800s Parade at Pecos in June; a Fourth of July Parade, Old Fiddlers Contest, and West of the Pecos Rodeo at Pecos in July; a Frijole Cookoff at Balmorhea and cantaloupe festival in August; and Fall Fair Festival at Pecos in October.

The information above is excerpted from the Handbook of Texas, an encyclopedia published by the Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook can be accessed online at www.tshaonline.org/handbook.