This area was one of the last frontiers of Texas, where Anglo settlement lagged sixty years behind the rest of the state because of Indians and the scarcity of water. In 1886, O.B. Holt became the first man to file for county land, and the first settlers included the Cowden brothers and Peter Von Holebeke. In 1900, the county had 87 people, and it was finally organized in 1910. With windmill pumps and drift fences, ranching became feasible, although the soil was so dry that one day a grazing cow crashed through a dugout roof into a bed. In 1930, the discovery of oil brought wealth and rewarded the tenacity of the first pioneers.