![]() ![]() It is not strange that the brand became so well known, for cattle with XIT burned on them covered a ranch 575 miles around a ranch which had as its northwest corner the northwest corner of the Stale, and extended south 185 miles to a point in Hockley County the east line of the ranch was 175 miles long, and the north line 80 miles long. The ranch, like hundreds of others, was commonly known by the name of the brand it used it was said that the brand, XIT stood for Ten (Counties) in Texas. It was chartered in England, however, because the Farwelis of Chicago, who owned it, went to England and there obtained the loan which enabled them to finish the capitol building and to develop the vast territory which composed their holdings in the Panhandle. Many people have been under the impression that the Capitol Syndicate was an English concern, but it was not. 3,000,000 acres of which the State of Texas traded for its huge granite capitol building, and 500,000 acres which the capitol Syndicate purchased. ![]() This was the XIT Ranch, composed of a vast body of land. While the old order was passing there existed in the Panhandle of Texas, one of the largest ranches in the world one whose organization was to exert an immense influence upon the development of Northwest Texas. Texas fever, increasing number of nesters along the trails, barbed wire fences, and the expansion of railroads had brought to an end one of the most picturesque periods of history of the old Southwest, and were ushering in a period of development which will not reach its full height for many years to come. The museum sponsors a robust schedule of education and community outreach programs designed to bring history alive.THE EARLY and middle nineties saw the last of the great trail herds of Texas following the long road to northern pastures and northern markets. Other permanent exhibits highlight the area’s wildlife, a history of the railroad in the Panhandle, and a special exhibition on the long line of Dallam-Hartley county Sheriffs. ![]() In addition, the museum features several period rooms including an early pioneer kitchen, a living room, and chapel. Appropriately named the “XIT Museum”, the historic venue is sponsored by the Dallam-Hartley County Historical Association and archives a remarkable collection of XIT Ranch artifacts and interpretive exhibits. A ranch the size of the historic XIT deserves a museum all its own, a courtesy provided by the Plains Trail Region community of Dalhart. This new ranch, the XIT, covered parts of 10 counties across the Texas Panhandle, and was fenced with over 3,000 miles of barbed wire. Following a fire in 1881 that burned the state capitol building to the ground, the State of Texas, finding itself land-rich and cash-poor, granted three million acres of land at one dollar per acre to a Chicago corporation to pay for the construction of a new state capitol building. ![]()
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