Hockley County Texas

In 1876 the Texas legislature formed Hockley County from lands formerly assigned to Bexar and Young counties. Because settlers were slow to move into the area, however, the county was assigned to Lubbock County for administrative purposes until 1920.  Today, its county seat is Levelland, and the county is named for George Washington Hockley, a Secretary of War of the Republic of Texas.

Much of the history of the area revolves around Yellow House Canyon. The Comanches, hunting buffalo and attacking enemies, watered at the springs in the canyon for decades before white men took an interest in the region; the canyon lay along a north-south trail between New Mexico and Mexico. In 1879 a squad of Texas Rangers led by Capt. George W. Arrington found Yellow House Canyon during a fierce blizzard.

The Causeys were the first settlers in the area; after several years of buffalo hunting in Kansas and Texas, they established a base at Yellow House Canyon in 1877 and built the first house in the county. When the buffalo herds were depleted, the Causeys went into the bone business, and in 1882 they established a ranch. In 1885, however, the XIT Ranch, one of the state's largest cattle-raising ventures, was founded in the area, and the Causeys were forced to move.

CITIES, TOWNS,  AND POPULATED PLACES 

* Anton * Levelland (county seat) * Opdyke West * Pettit * Pep * Sundown *

 * Ropesville * Smyer * Whitharral * Clauene * Coble  * Roundup  * Oklahoma Flat  *