Dalhart was founded in 1901. The city was founded at the site of a Railroad junction, which heavily contributed to its early growth. Dalhart was in the center of the Dust Bowl, an area adversely affected by a long period of drought and dust during the Great Depression of the 1930’s.
Dallam & Hartley Counties are located in the far northwestern corner of the Texas Panhandle; bordering both New Mexico and Oklahoma. Dalhart located on the Dallam-Hartley County line. Dalhart is the county seat for Dallam County and Channing is the county seat for Hartley County located in the southeast part of Hartley County. These two counties are leading agricultural producers for the state in commodities of Beef, Dairy, Pork, Corn, Wheat and Potatoes.
Below are some fun facts about Dallam & Hartley Counties;
Cows out number people about 70 to 1
Dalhart is located closer to six other state capitals than to Texas’ capital of Austin. In surface mileage (over major highways), Dalhart is 579 miles from Austin, but is 263 miles from Santa Fe, New Mexico, 343 miles from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 348 miles from Denver, Colorado, 448 miles from Cheyenne, Wyoming, 461 miles from Topeka, Kansas, and 540 miles (870 km) from Lincoln, Nebraska.
Three US states are smaller than Dallam & Hartley Counties land area of 2,968 square miles. Those states are Delaware 2,489 sq. mi. Rhode Island at 1,545 sq. mi. and District of Columbia at 68.25 sq. mi.
Dallam & Hartley Counties was once part of XIT Ranch that comprised 3,000,000 acres ran for 200 miles along the border with New Mexico and stretched across all or portions of ten Texas counties.
XIT Ranch came about as a deal with the State to build the Texas State Capitol in Austin with mostly British investors for $3,000,000 and to accept 3,000,000 acres in the Texas Panhandle as payment.
Hilmar Cheese Company with facilities in Dalhart and Hilmar California produces products for customers in more than 40 Countries.
In 2012 combined agricultural value for Dallam & Hartley Counties was a $726.9 million industry.
