About
Ochiltree County
Ochiltree County is in the far northern
Panhandle, bordered on the north by Oklahoma, on
the east by Lipscomb County, on the south by
Roberts County, and on the west by Hansford
County. The county is in the heart of the High
Plains, and occupies 907 square miles of level
prairies
Perryton, the county seat, is in the north
central part of the county, 120 miles northeast
of Amarillo. The area was named for William Beck
Ochiltree, a Republic of Texas judge, secretary
of treasury, and an officer in the army of the
Confederacy.
Prehistoric cultures occupied this region, then
the Plains Apaches appeared. The historic-era
Apaches arrived, then were pushed out of the
region in the early eighteenth century by the
Comanche Indians, who dominated the Texas
Panhandle until the 1870s. The Red River War of
1874-75 led to the removal of the nomadic Indians
to Indian Territory, which in turn led to the
arrival of the ranching era. In 1876 the Texas
legislature established Ochiltree County from
lands formerly assigned to the Bexar District.
Proximity to the railroad, built in 1887 into
nearby Lipscomb County, brought an influx of
settlers into the county, especially after 1900,
and the ranching economy evolved into a
stock-farming system. Between 1900 and
1910, however, stock farming began to give way to
wheat farming. By 1920 there were 336 farms and
ranches; almost 42,000 acres were planted in
wheat, and 14,500 acres devoted to sorghum.
Although oil and gas exploration had occurred in
the county as early as 1912 and continued
periodically through the 1920s and 1930s, the
first successful major producer blew in
1955. More than 341,500 barrels of crude
oil were produced in the county that year, and
production rapidly expanded.
Ochiltree County possesses a diversified economy
centered around agriculture, oil, and gas.
In the 1980s, the agricultural sector earned $70
million in 1983, primarily through the production
of cattle, hogs, wheat, sorghums, corn, and
alfalfa. Irrigation, which began in the late
1940s and expanded in the 1960s and 1970s, was
used on 40 percent of the county's croplands in
the early 1980s.
Oil production, valued at $61 million in 1983,
helped to balance the agricultural economy.
Feedlot operations, agribusinesses, and oilfield
services also added to the local economy.
Communities in the county include Perryton (1990
population, 7,606), the seat of government; Waka
(145); Huntoon (21); Farnsworth (149); and
Twichell (22).
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Ochiltree County
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