Yonder in Young County

As of the 2019 estimate, Young County has about 18,000 people which is

Cowboy and cactus near courthouse

three percent less than it had during the previous census. And if you take the path we did, it’s about 100 miles from Keller. As you head west the countryside becomes more arid, letting you know that you’re about to hit the rolling plains. This is cattle country, but that doesn’t mean that ranchers can raise lots of stock on small amounts of land. Some of the largest ranches in Texas were located on these plains. Rather than being out on the ranch, the ranch headquarters were located in towns, making it easier to do business and giving wide spots in the road a more positive economic basis from which to grow.



This part of Texas was inhabited long before explorers entered the ‘new country’. By the 18^th Century, the plains Indians had well established

Site of one of the Indian raids

villages along several of the rivers. In fact, Diego Ortiz Parrilla interacted with the Taovaya tribe as he passed through the area; Pedro Vial also had dealings with the tribes while he was charting the Santa Fe Trail. Scarcely 50 years later, land that would become Young County was included in the Peters Colony land grant, although it remained relatively unsettled by Anglos until the 1850s. The United States Army Fort Belknap, founded by Brevet Brigadier Geneneral William G. Belknap in 1851, was established to protect the settlers from Indian attacks. However, three years later, General Randolph B. Marcy created the Brazos Indian Reservation to protect the Shawnee, Tonkawa, Wichita, Choctaw, and Caddo from raids by the Comanche. The reservation was large enough for each tribe to have its own village and to grow their own crops with the government providing beef cattle for food. Although this seemed like a good idea, the settlers continued to blame the reservation Indians for attacks by the Comanche and Kiowa.

Young County, named for William Cocke Young, officially came into existence in 1956, but wasn’t actually organized until 1874 (or 1857,

Farmland ready for planting

depending on who you read). It was carved out of Bosque and Fannin Counties with the town of Belknap becoming the county seat. However, Indian/Anglo conflict continued with murderous raids perpetrated by both sides. The discrimination by the Anglos against the reservation and non-reservation Indians also continued until Governor Hardin Richard Runnels ordered John Henry Brown to the area with 100 troops to enforce peace and to protect the innocent. Brown and the military faced down John Baylor and his vigilantes, protecting the reservation Indians from attack. After Baylor’s group murdered an Indian woman and an elderly man, non-reservation Indians slaughtered them; since this occurred off of the reservation, the military could do nothing to avenge the Anglos. Because of the Civil War, Fort Belknap was surrendered to the Confederacy in 1861. During these years, many of the settlers left for safer places and by 1865 the county government was dissolved with all of the records transferred to Jacksboro (seat of Jack County). By 1867 the federal troops were in charge of the fort and settlers began moving back to the area.

Gustavus A. and Edwin S. Graham, primary shareholders in the Texas Emigration and Land Company of Louisville, Kentucky (a.k.a. Peters’ Colony Company), purchased 125,000 acres (510 km²) of Young County, then moved to Texas after the Civil War. One of their goals was to help

Downtown Graham, Texas

rebuild the area. To do this, they bought the local saltworks and started the town of Graham; they also set up the Graham Land Office. The salt proved too expensive to ship but the land office did a good business. A post office opened in 1873 and Young County was reorganized in 1874, making Graham the county seat. Two years later the local newspaper, the Leader, began printing and remains in business. By 1876 Graham was hosting meetings of the area ranchers who were concerned about cattle rustling; this group became the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Edwin Graham and his wife, Agnes Mary “Addie” Kintner Graham, became pillars of the local society and after his death in 1899, she set up the Graham Foundation to support the city; she also was responsible for the establishment of the Eden Home for the aged. Economic development was further boosted by the railroads: the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway, the Wichita Falls and Southern, and the Gulf, Texas and Western Railroad all rolled through Graham. The Graham Mining Company was formed in 1891 by a group of investors looking for gold, silver, and coal in the area; they would have thrived if they’d looked for oil instead. That commodity was discovered in 1917, making Graham a boomtown.

The frame, two-story courthouse built in 1876 and was replaced by a

Young County courthouse

native sandstone courthouse in 1884, which was replaced in 1932. The only remnant of the second courthouse is the native sandstone archway that belonged to the east hall. The 1932 Young County courthouse was designed by G.E. Withers and Jesse Thompson, architects from Fort Worth, in the Moderne style of architecture, using limestone for the exterior walls. It was constructed during the Great Depression, but is twice the size of the previous courthouse, standing in the center of what is billed as ‘America's Largest Downtown Square’. During this time the Work Projects Administration restored old Fort Belknap. Young County along with 65 other counties formed the Brazos River Conservation and Reclamation District. ‘It has statutory responsibility for developing and conserving the surface water resources of the Brazos River basin in Texas and for putting these resources to use in the best interest of the people of Texas.’ And part of the responsibility for this group is to make sure that the waters don’t become polluted, particularly with oil. The Lindy Lou No. 1 oil well came in during the early part of the 20^th century, and by 1990 about 3,431,000 barrels (545,500 m³) were produced.

Pet pig somewhere in Graham, Texas

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