Twist Junction gets a Third Name

 

(Texas Day by Day) On this day in 1902, Dalhart became the county seat of Dallam County. The name is a combination of the names Dallam and Hartley.
The original settlement began where the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad crossed the tracks of the Fort Worth and Denver line, on the boundary between Dallam and Hartley counties. Continued

Dalhart Consumers Co-op

Grain Elevators: Dalhart, Texas

La Rita Theatre: Dalhart, TX

Cordia Sloan Duke

Marker reads:

Mrs. Cordia Sloan Duke - (Jan. 10, 1887 - July 23, 1966) Chronicler of a unique era in the history of the Southwest. Born in Belton, Mo. At 17, taught school in Indian Territory (Okla.) In 1907, she married Robert L. Duke, a ranch hand who had risen to division manager of the XIT Ranch (then world's largest). In addition to ther own family, she "looked after" the 150 cowboys who worked the 3,000,000-acre spread. Kept a diary of everyday events in ranch life around her and successfully encouraged 81 others to do likewise. Thus was preserved an authentic account of a passing phase of American life -- the cowboy and his work.

Empty Saddle Monument: Dalhart Texas

The Empty Saddle Monument is a tribute to Texas cowboys, particularly those of the XIT Ranch (pronounced X-I-T, not "zit"), a ranch that once spanned three million acres. The plaque reads as follows:
Great Texas ranch of international fame. Payment made in an 1882 contract for the construction of granite capitol building in Austin. As contractors, some out-of-state investors (headed by the wealthy Chicago merchants, John V. and Senator C. B. Farwell) built the largest state capitol in North America and received in payment 3,000,000-acres of land. The grant, 200 miles long and of varying widths (enclosed later by a 6,000-mile barbed wire fence), extended from near site of present Lubbock to the Oklahoma line 40 miles north of here. It included land in counties of Bailey, Castro, Cochran, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Hartley, Hockley, Lamb, Oldham, and Parmer. Trail Boss Abner Blocker delivered first herd to Buffalo Springs in 1885 and scratched the "XIT" in corral dust with boot heel to design famous brand. Although its land was parceled and sold, the XIT lives in Texas memories - especially here, 32 miles south of its Buffalo Springs headquarters. Dalhart holds an annual XIT reunion with rodeo and parade featuring a horse with an empty saddle, in honor of range riders of the past. Permanent tribute to XIT cowboys is this "empty saddle" monument, designed by western artist Bobby Dycke, dedicated in 1940.