Winkler County

Winkler County, Texas

Winkler County, Texas

View of the Monahans Sandhills State Park located across both Ward and Winkler Counties, in Texas.
Photograph Credit: Robert Plocheck.
Winkler County, Texas

Winkler County, Texas

Landscape of the Monahans Sandhills State Park located across both Ward and Winkler Counties, in Texas.
Photograph Credit: Robert Plocheck.
Winkler County, Texas

Winkler County, Texas

The Winkler County Courthouse is located in Kermit, Texas, the county seat. Photograph by Carol M. Highsmith.
Winkler County, Texas

Winkler County, Texas

Map of Winkler County, Texas. Map Credit: Robert Plocheck.
Product photo
Promotion: Winkler County

Winkler County is mostly in the Pecos Valley of West Texas; its northeastern section is on the Llano Estacado. The county is adjacent to the southeastern corner of New Mexico. Kermit, the county seat, is forty miles west of Odessa. The center of the county lies at 31°40' north latitude and 103°03' west longitude. Winkler County comprises 840 square miles of gently rolling to level terrain. Stretching diagonally across the central section of the county is a belt of sand dunes, which are active, windblown, and raised as much as thirty to forty feet above the surrounding surface. Soils are dark-brown to reddish-brown neutral sands, sandy loams, clay loams, and some shallow calcareous clay loams. The nearly flat surface of the county has insignificant drainage. Rainfall is collected in many large and small playas. Several small gullies head along Concho Bluff, a west-facing escarpment, which defines the edge of the Caprock. Two intermittent draws-Cheyenne and Monument-run through the central and west central areas of the county. Vegetation consists of grasses, scrub brush, creosotebush, cacti, and scattered mottes of willows and wild plums. Altitudes vary from 2,671 to 3,193 feet above sea level. Temperatures vary from average lows of 28° F in January to average highs of 97° in July. Average rainfall is twelve inches per year. The growing season extends 220 days. Large annual yields of oil and gas place the county among the leading petroleum producers in the state.

The first people to live in the area of Winkler County were the Anasazi Indians, who migrated there about 900 and left their discarded pottery as evidence of their presence. At some later time, the Apaches etched a trail across the county from Monument Springs in New Mexico to Shafter Lake in the area of present Andrews County. After the Apaches, the Comanche Indians moved into the White Sandhills and Blue Mountain areas of the county territory, using them as meeting places from the seventeenth century until the 1870s. These Native Americans were attracted to the area by its water, which was readily available from the interdunal ponds or from digging to the shallow water table. The first military expeditions entered the area of present Winkler County in the last half of the nineteenth century. Capt. Randolph B. Marcy brought his soldiers into the area on September 25, 1849, as he searched for the best wagon route to California. Bvt. Capt. John Pope surveyed the thirty-second parallel, which separates Winkler County from New Mexico, for possible railroad construction in 1854. On June 29, 1875, Col. William R. Shafter and eighty-one men and officers tracked Comanches into county lands, when Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie conducted a campaign to drive them from the area. By 1876 all threat of Comanche attack was eliminated, and the area of Winkler County was opened for White settlement. In 1881 the Texas and Pacific Railway was built across nearby Ward County, giving easy assess to the area. With good transportation, with the land outside the dunefields covered in tall grasses, and with a good water supply available, the area was well equipped for open range ranching. A few ranchers took advantage of free state land to carve out large ranches. Among those first ranchers were John Avary, J. J. Draper, and the Cowden brothers-Doc, Tom, and Walter.

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Julia Cauble Smith | © TSHA

Handbook of Texas Logo

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Winkler County is classified as a County

Altitude Range

2665 ft – 3400 ft

Size

Land area does not include water surface area, whereas total area does

  • Land Area: 841.1 mi²
  • Total Area: 841.3 mi²

Temperature

January mean minimum: 28.9°F
July mean maximum: 96.9°F

Rainfall, 2019

13.1 inches

Population Count, 2019

8,010

Civilian Labor Count, 2019

3,916

Unemployment, 2019

11.8%

Property Values, 2019

$1,686,326,364 USD

Per-Capita Income, 2019

$57,584 USD

Retail Sales, 2019

$163,920,096 USD

Wages, 2019

$64,130,151 USD

Winkler County

Highlighted:
  • Winkler County
Place Type Population (Year/Source) Currently Exists
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town 6,016 (2021) Yes
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town 882 (2021) Yes
Town

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