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Crane County, at the western edge of the Edwards Plateauqv in Southwest Texas, is bounded on the north by Ector County, on
the east by Upton County, on the south by Pecos County, and on
the west by Ward County. It was named for William Cary Crane,qv a president of Baylor University. Crane County comprises 795 square
miles of rolling prairie, bounded on the south and west by the
Pecos River, which, with Juan Cardona Lake,qv drains the land. The center of the county lies at 31°25'
north latitude and 102°30' west longitude, about forty miles
south of Odessa. Rainfall averages 12.97 inches annually. The
elevation varies from 2,400 to 3,000 feet above sea level. The
average minimum temperature in January is 29° F; the average
maximum in July is 96°. The growing season lasts 225 days,
but there is very little farming. Cattle raising brings in about
$1.5 million annually. Manufacturing income averages $1.4 million
annually, derived largely from steel and concrete products. The
county is among state leaders in oil and gas production. In 1982
oil production of almost 27,000,000 barrels earned $810,652,695.
The area that is now Crane County was within the
territory of the Lipan Apaches, who were among the originators
of the plains culture common to Apaches, Comanches, Kiowas, and
other Indians. This part of the Pecos country may have been crossed
by Spanish explorer Felipe de Rábago y Teránqv in 1761, and some of the early California-bound American
travelers passed through Castle Gap and Horsehead Crossing.qqv
Crane County was formed in 1887 from land previously
assigned to Tom Green County the same year, but for many years
the area's scant rainfall deterred settlement. In 1890 only fifteen
people lived in Crane County; as late as 1900 the United States
census enumerated only fifty-one people and twelve ranches in
the county. Almost 17,650 cattle and 3,750 sheep were counted
that year.
The county seems to have experienced a brief burst
of settlement during the first years of the twentieth century;
census figures show that in 1910 there were seventy-one farms
or ranches in the county, and that the population by that year
had risen to 331. Almost no crop production was reported for the
county that year, however, and in any case most of the new settlers
had moved away by 1920, when only eight ranches, thirty-seven
people, and about 4,700 cattle were reported. As late as 1918
the county had no roads, although the Texas and Pacific Railway
crossed the northwest corner and the Panhandle and Santa Fe crossed
the southern tip.
The area only began to develop after oil was discovered
in the county in 1926, when an oil boom attracted thousands to
the county. O. C. Kimmison opened a realty office and platted
a townsite, where he named the streets of what became the town
of Crane for his daughters and sons. He also invited a preacher
to hold services in the area; according to county tradition, local
gamblers resented the gesture and gave Kimmison a beating for
it.
Crane County was attached to Ector County for administrative
purposes until 1927, but with (according to one estimate) 6,000
oil boomers in the area by that time, the county was ready for
organization. The town of Crane, bustling with as many as 4,500
fortune-seekers, was designated as the county seat, and citizens
organized to build a courthouse. Water was a scarce commodity.
People paid a dollar a barrel for water brought from a well seven
miles east of town, or, if prosperous, paid $2.25 a barrel for
better water from Alpine. Water was too precious then for any
use but cooking or home-made whiskey; women sent their laundry
to El Paso. According to the census 2,221 people were living in
Crane County in 1930.
The county became one of the most productive oil
counties in the state. In 1938 more than 5,494,600 barrels of
oil was produced in the area; in 1944 more than 9,557,500 barrels
was pumped, and in 1948 production was 16,851,698 barrels. Almost
27,377,800 barrels was produced in 1956, almost 30,731,500 in
1960, almost 34,092,000 in 1978, and about 26,866,000 in 1982.
In 1990 the county produced almost 19,026,000 barrels of oil.
By the beginning of 1991 almost 1,552,324,000 barrels of oil had
been produced in the county since discovery in 1926.
Thanks almost exclusively to the oil industry Crane
County's population rose to 2,841 in 1940, 3,956 in 1950, 4,699
in 1960, and 4,172 in 1970. In 1980, 4,600 people lived in the
county, and in 1992 the area had an estimated population of 4,652.
Highways in the county include U.S. Highway 385 and Farm Road
1053 (north to south); U.S. Highway 67/385, which crosses the
southeast corner; and State Highway 329, Farm Road 11, and Farm
Road 1223 (west to east). The town of Crane (1992 estimated population
3,553) is the county's only community and its seat of government.
In 1992 business establishments in the town included a foundry
and a surfboard manufacturer. Tourist attractions included historic
pioneer trails and Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Crane News, 40th Anniversary
Edition, June 15, 1967.
John Leffler
This information comes from the Texas State Historical Association
Handbook of Texas Online.
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