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Hudspeth County is a
county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
located in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,432. Its
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
is Sierra Blanca, and the largest community is Fort Hancock. The county is named for Claude Benton Hudspeth, a
state senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...
and
United States Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
from
El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
. It is northeast of the Mexico–U.S. border. Hudspeth County is included in the
El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of
West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the desert climate, arid and semiarid climate, semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Texa ...
. Hudspeth County is one of two Texas counties to entirely observe Mountain Time, along with neighboring El Paso County, while Culberson County partly observes it (in the northwestern region, as the rest of the county observes Central Time).


History

Prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins  million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
Jornada Mogollón peoples Texas Beyond History were practicing agriculture in the Rio Grande floodplain ''circa'' 900–1350 AD. These people left behind artifacts and
pictographs A pictogram (also pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto) is a graphical symbol that conveys meaning through its visual resemblance to a physical object. Pictograms are used in systems of writing and visual communication. A pictography is a wri ...
as evidence of their presence. Texas Beyond History The Rodriguez-Sanchez Expedition Texas State Historical Association of 1581 encountered friendly Native Americans bestowing gifts upon the explorers.
Antonio de Espejo Antonio de Espejo (c. 1540–1585) was a Spanish explorer who led an expedition, accompanied by Diego Perez de Luxan, into what is now New Mexico and Arizona in 1582–83.pg 189 - The expedition created interest in establishing a Spanish col ...
's Texas State Historical Association 1582-83 expedition encountered Otomoaco people in the county. The
Mescalero Apache Mescalero or Mescalero Apache () is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan languages, Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the M ...
R E. Moore and Texarch Associates frequented the area to irrigate their crops. In 1849, John Salmon "RIP" Ford Texas State Historical Association explored the area between
San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
and
El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
noting in his mapped report the productive land upon which the Mescalero Indians farmed. By the mid-17th century the Mescaleros expanded their territory to the Plains Navajos and Pueblos from the Guadalupes, and El Paso del Norte. Their feared presence deterred white settlers. In January 1870, a group of soldiers attacked a Mescalero Apache village near Delaware Creek in the Guadalupe Mountains. In July 1880, soldiers at Tinaja de las Palmas attacked a group of Mescaleros led by Chief Victorio. In August 1880, buffalo soldiers ambushed Victorio at Rattlesnake Springs. Victorio retreated to Mexico and was killed in October by Mexican soldiers. Stanford L. Davis, M.A. Two weeks later, Apaches killed seven buffalo soldier,Texas Historical Markers members of the famous black Tenth United States Cavalry. The demand for new routes from Texas to California caused an uptick in explorations. Texas State Historical Association. The San Antonio-to-El Paso leg of the San Antonio-California Trail was surveyed in 1848 under the direction of John Coffee Hays. Hudspeth became known as a place travelers passed through, on their way to somewhere else. Fort Quitman was established in 1858 to provide protection for travelers. Lt. Francis Theodore Bryan Texas State Historical Association camped at Guadalupe Pass while exploring a route from San Antonio to El Paso via Fredericksburg. Upon reaching El Paso in July 1849, his report recommended sink wells along the route. In July 1848, Secretary of War William L. Marcy wanted a military post established on the north side of the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
. Major Jefferson Van Horne Texas State Historical Association was sent out in 1849 to establish Marcy's goal.
John Russell Bartlett John Russell Bartlett (October 23, 1805 – May 28, 1886) was an American historian and linguist. Early life Bartlett was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 23, 1805, the son of Smith Bartlett and Nancy (Russell) Bartlett. In 1819 he ...
Texas State Historical Association was commissioned in 1850 to carry out the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo. After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...
. Bartlett declared the Guadalupe Mountains dark and gloomy, and proposed a transcontinental railroad be built south of the peaks. Three years later, Captain John Pope Texas State Historical Association was sent to scout out a railroad route, and in the succeeding year to search for artesian water supplies. Texas Commissioner Robert Simpson Neighbors Texas State Historic was sent by Governor Peter Hansborough Bell in 1850 to organize El Paso. The
Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service in ...
and the San Antonio-San Diego Mail served the county from 1857 to 1861. These mail coaches provided a means for travelers to reach California in 27 days, if the passenger had the $200 for a one-way fare and was courageous enough to withstand the weather and dangers en route. Men from San Elizario and the other villages along the Rio Grande near El Paso had become dependent on the salt trade Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. for their livelihoods. After the Civil War, they broke a road from Fort Quitman to the Salt Basin in northeastern Hudspeth County, but Anglo politicians tried to capitalize on this trade by asserting ownership of the salt lakes and levying fees on the traders. The result was the 7-year
San Elizario Salt War The San Elizario Salt War, also known as the Salinero Revolt or the El Paso Salt War, was an extended and complex range war of the mid-19th century that revolved around the ownership and control of immense salt lakes at the base of the Guada ...
, Texas State Historical Association which heightened tensions between Mexicans and Americans in the 1870s. Rival railway companies began competing for rights of way. The
Texas and Pacific Railway The Texas and Pacific Railway Company (known as the T&P) was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California. However its lines never went we ...
and the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway eventually reached an agreement to share the tracks, with a number of towns arising along the way Hudspeth was formed in 1917 from
El Paso County, Texas El Paso County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 865,657, making it the ninth-most populous county in the state of Texas. Its county seat is the city of El Paso, the sixth-mos ...
. Sierra Blanca was named the county seat, and has the only adobe courthouse Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. in Texas. From 1992 to 2002, the county accepted over 200 tons per day of treated, dried sewage from
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. The waste was spread over a remote site in the county. In recent times, Hudspeth County has become notorious as a location for frequent drug arrests for individuals traveling east on
Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...
from El Paso, due to the presence of a US Border Patrol checkpoint. Several celebrities, including touring musicians
Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...
,
Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...
, and
Fiona Apple Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She released five albums from 1996 to 2020, all of which reached the top 20 on the U.S. Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 chart. As of 2021, she has sold over ...
, and actor Armie Hammer have been arrested on drug charges at this location.


Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (0.02%) is covered by water. It is the third largest county in Texas by land area. Part of Guadalupe Mountains National Park lies in the northeast corner of the county.


Major highways

*
Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...
* U.S. Highway 62/ U.S. Highway 180 * State Highway 20


Adjacent counties and municipalities

* Otero County, New Mexico (north) * Culberson County (east) * Jeff Davis County (south) * Presidio County (south) * El Paso County (west) * Guadalupe, Chihuahua, Mexico (south) * Práxedis G. Guerrero, Chihuahua, Mexico (south)


Protected areas

* Guadalupe Mountains National Park ** McKittrick Canyon


Demographics

As of the 2010 United States census, 3,476 people resided in the county. 78.8% were
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 1.4% Black or African American, 1.1% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 16.1% of some other race, and 2.2% of two or more races; 79.6% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, 3,344 people, 1,092 households, and 841 families resided in the county. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . The 1,471 housing units averaged . The racial makeup of the county was 87.23% White, 0.33% African American 1.41% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 8.76% from other races, and 2.09% from two or more races. About 75.03% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 1,092 households, 45.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.9% were not families. About 21.1% of all households were made up of one person, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.03 and the average family size was 3.56. In the county, the population was distributed as with 34.1% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 102.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.3 males. The median income for a household in the county was $21,045, and for a family was $22,314. Males had a median income of $22,862 versus $18,594 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the county was $9,549. About 32.6% of families and 35.8% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 41.3% of those under age 18 and 42.6% of those age 65 or over. The county's
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
makes it one of the poorest counties in the United States.


Education

Hudspeth County is served by four school districts. The Fort Hancock Independent School District, based in Fort Hancock, covers the western part of the county, along the El Paso County line from the Mexican border to the New Mexico state line. A strip along the Culberson County line in the eastern part of Hudspeth County, which includes Allamoore, is served by the Culberson County-Allamoore Independent School District based in Van Horn. Most of the northern part of the county is served by the Dell City Independent School District, based in Dell City. Most of the southern part of the county is served by the Sierra Blanca Independent School District, based in Sierra Blanca. The former Allamoore ISD merged into Culberson County ISD in 1995. According to statistics from January 2009, 52% of Hudspeth County adults were illiterate in English. All of the county is in the service area of El Paso Community College.Texas Education Code, Section 130.178, "El Paso County Community College District Service Area"


Communities


City

* Dell City


Census-designated places

* Fort Hancock * Sierra Blanca (county seat) *
Acala or Achala (, "The Immovable", ), also known as (, "Immovable Lord") or (, "Noble Immovable Lord"), is a Fierce deities, wrathful deity and ''dharmapala'' (protector of the Dharma) prominent in Vajrayana, Vajrayana Buddhism and East Asian Budd ...


Unincorporated communities

* Allamoore * Cornudas * Desert Haven * Esperanza * McNary


Ghost towns

*
Acala or Achala (, "The Immovable", ), also known as (, "Immovable Lord") or (, "Noble Immovable Lord"), is a Fierce deities, wrathful deity and ''dharmapala'' (protector of the Dharma) prominent in Vajrayana, Vajrayana Buddhism and East Asian Budd ...
*
Birchville Birchville is a suburb of Upper Hutt, New Zealand in the North Island. Its centre lies at the entrance to the Akatarawa Valley, in the north of the city, near confluence of the Akatarawa River with the Hutt River (New Zealand), Hutt River. It i ...
* Etholen * Finlay * Fort Quitman * Salt Flat


Politics


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Hudspeth County, Texas * Recorded Texas historic landmarks in Hudspeth County * ''
No Country for Old Men ''No Country for Old Men'' is a 2007 American neo-Western crime thriller film written, directed, produced and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin ...
''


References


External links

*
Historic Hudspeth County materials
hosted by th
Portal to Texas History.
{{coord, 31.45, -105.37, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TX_source:UScensus1990 1917 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1917 Trans-Pecos Majority-minority counties in Texas