XIT Ranch South Line

This line marked one of the most famous boundaries in Texas, the edge of the XIT, a ranch empire bartered away by Texas for its Capitol building. In 1879, the 16th Legislature designated a 3,000,000-acre tract to be used in payment for the Capitol. The grant extended 200 miles north from this line and, besides the portion in this county, included lands in Castro, Cochran, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Hartley, Hockley, Lamb, Oldham, and Parmer counties. The investors who built the Capitol were headed by wealthy Chicago merchants John V. and C.B. Farwell, and their surveying began in 1886.

Texas · United States