Crosby County's Deep History: Comanches, Quakers, and Cowboys

People have lived in Crosby County for a very long time. Artifacts found here date back roughly 13,000 years, including Clovis and Folsom points. Comanches dominated the area into the 1870s. In 1871, U.S. Army Colonel Ranald Mackenzie fought the Comanches in Blanco Canyon, which cuts through the eastern edge of the county. That battle was part of the broader push that opened the High Plains to Anglo settlement.

In 1879, a Quaker colonist named Paris Cox bought 32 sections of land for about $0.25 per acre and founded a settlement at what became Estacado — the county's first seat. By the 1880s, large cattle operations like the Two-Buckle Ranch and the C. B. Livestock Company ran tens of thousands of acres. In 1908, the C. B. company laid out the town of Crosbyton. In 1910, local investors raised $75,000 to induce railroad construction to Crosbyton, which grew the town into the county seat it remains today. The Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum in Crosbyton, established in 1958, holds much of this local record.