Table Of ContentCourtesy Curtis Peoples, Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University
West Texas
A HISTORY OF THE GIANT SIDE OF THE STATE
Edited by
Paul H. Carlson and Bruce A. Glasrud
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS
NORMAN
ALSO BY PAUL H. CARLSON AND BRUCE A. GLASRUD
(co-edited with Tai D. Kreidler) Slavery to Integration: Black Americans in West
Texas (Abilene, Texas, 2007)
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Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: West Texas, an Overview
PART I: THE PLACE
1. The West Texas Environment
Monte L. Monroe
2. The Texas Panhandle
John T. “Jack” Becker
3. The West Texas Plains
Leland K. Turner
4. The Edwards Plateau and Permian Basin
James T. Matthews
5. The Trans-Pecos–Big Bend Country
Miguel A. Levario
PART II: THE PEOPLE
6. Native Americans in West Texas
Thomas A. Britten
7. Tejanos in West Texas
Arnoldo De León
8. African Americans in West Texas
James M. Smallwood
9. West Texas Women
Tiffany M. Fink
PART III: POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE
10. The Urban Centers of West Texas
Richard B. Wright
11. The Political Culture of West Texas
Sean P. Cunningham
12. The Varied Economy of West Texas
Stephen Bogener
13. Agriculture, Ranching, and Rural Life in West Texas
M. Scott Sosebee
PART IV: SOCIETY AND CULTURE
14. Literature and Finding West Texas in the Poets of Place
Andy Wilkinson
15. The Giant Side of Music
Curtis Peoples
16. Public Education in West Texas
Gene B. Preuss
17. Religion in West Texas
David J. Murrah
18. West Texas Parks and Recreation Areas
Sharon Morris Bogener
Notes
Selected Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index
Illustrations
FIGURES
Lohn, northern McCulloch County, in the 1920s
A big sky and oil pump jacks, characteristic of much of West
Texas
Cattle, Matador Ranch, 1880
Wheat harvest, Texas Panhandle, 1920s
A Bailey County farmer pauses from plowing across a cow
trail, 1915
Freighters hauling wool, San Angelo country, early 1900s
Southern Pacific Railway bridge across Pecos River west of
Del Rio, 1909
Comanche winter encampment near the Llano Estacado, ca.
1872
LULAC rally, ca. 1960
Daniel Webster “80 John” Wallace, 1880s, a cowboy who
became a cattleman
Ranch women visit their roundup crew, Lynn County, ca.
1895
Downtown Lubbock, 1942, just as the city entered its period
of rapid growth
Harry Truman, Bess Truman, and Buford Jester, Fort
Stockton, 1948
Presidio Mining Company in Shafter, Presidio County, ca.
1910
Murdo Mackenzie, Alexander Mackey, and N. Johnstone,
1892
Author Elmer Kelton, San Angelo, 1990s
Tommy Hancock and the Roadside Playboys, 1949, at the
Lubbock Cotton Club
West Texas schoolroom in session, ca. 1915
Outdoor baptism, 1895
Roaring Springs in Motley County, 1940s
MAPS
West Texas
West Texas features
West Texas subregions
Preface
This book grew from a series of discussions among
historians after a special session on West Texas history at
the 2009 annual meeting of the West Texas Historical
Association. Although most attendees conceded that many
aspects of the region’s rich past have been explored,
everyone recognized that no comprehensive survey of West
Texas history has yet been published. Many superb studies
have already appeared that treat a great variety of aspects
of West Texas history. In book or article form they examine
its people; its institutions; its social, cultural, and economic
life; its environmental issues; and its general background.
Until now, however, there has been no synthesis, no broadly
based narrative attempting to establish meaning and
provide an overarching description and analysis that might
explain the growth and development of the “giant side of
Texas” from its geological beginnings to its dynamic present.
Our discussions at the conference thus centered on the
need for a broad, general history of the large region, and
from those conversations grew the present volume, West
Texas: A History of the Giant Side of the State. The book
examines the long history of West Texas and by extension
the area’s relationship over time to Texas and the
Southwest. Its eighteen chapters are arranged in four parts.
Chapters that make up part I, “The Place,” focus on major
geographical and environmental subregions of West Texas.
Chapters of part II, “The People,” treat gender and local
ethnic groups and their contributions to West Texas history.
Chapters of part III, “Political and Economic Life,” consider
some of the larger cities of West Texas as well as the
region’s political heritage and economic activities, including
oil and gas production. Chapters of part IV, “Society and
Culture,” view the region’s music heritage, its educational
heritage, its parks and recreation areas, and intellectual
notions that have given the region a sense of itself.
The nonlinear organization of the book is intentional, and
the separate chapters, each on its own topic, may be read in
any order. Each chapter includes a list of suggested items
for further reading, and near the end of the book a selected
bibliography lists important works that review many aspects
of West Texas history. In short, the book covers both a wide-
ranging history and significant historiography of a very large
territory.
For help in putting the book together, we are indebted to
many people. Leland K. Turner of Midwestern State
University organized the special session from which the
book grew. Presenters at the important 2009 session
included Bruce A. Glasrud, Glenn Ely, M. Scott Sosebee,
Diana Davids Hinton, and Ty Cashion.
For the subtitle of our book, we acknowledge with
gratitude Eddie McBride, Phil Price, and the Lubbock
Chamber of Commerce. For several years, “The Giant Side
of Texas” has been a marketing slogan for the Lubbock
Chamber, and McBride, who is with the chamber, agreed to
our use of the idea.
Additional help came from Curtis Peoples of Texas Tech
University’s Southwest Collection. He drew the maps
presented in this book. Others at the Southwest Collection,
particularly Freedonia Paschal; Jennifer Spurrier; John
Holmes; and Randy Vance and his student assistants, Nicci
Hester, Glennisha Elliott, and Austin Allison, aided our
research. Vance also, with Monte L. Monroe, was especially
helpful in locating photographs and providing ideas and
information. Colleagues associated with the West Texas
Historical Association, including Tai Kreidler, Robert Weaver,
and Laura Horner, also provided assistance. In addition, Ty
Cashion, Gene Preuss, Diana Davids Hinton, H. Allan
