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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 Resources 
