Mentone is the only town in Loving County, the last organized and most sparsely populated county in Texas, both in total population and per square mile. Established in 1931, it was named for an earlier town ten miles north, which legend says was named by a French surveyor-prospector after his home on the Riviera. With a population of 42, Mentone has no water system, and water is hauled in. It also has no bank, doctor, hospital, newspaper, lawyer, civic club, or cemetery. Only two graves are recorded in the county, though some Indian skeletons and artifacts have been found. The area is oil, farming, and cattle country.