Cochran County Texas History and Genealogy - presented by Genealogy Trails

Cochran is named for Robert E. Cochran, a defender of the Alamo. Its county seat is Morton. According to archeological evidence, Indians hunted in the area that is now Cochran County 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. In the 1600s Kiowas and Apaches made war and hunted in the region after acquiring horses from the Spanish. In the 1700s, Comanches of the Quahadi or Antelope band took the area in battle; relying on buffalo hunting and raiding of other Indians and whites, they were dominant until the United States Army subdued them in the 1870s. In 1880, a detachment of Texas Rangers led by George W. Arrington stopped at Silver Lake on the way from Yellow House Canyon to New Mexico in search for the legendary "Lost Lakes."

The 1890 census does not show any residents in the county, and in 1900 only twenty-five people lived there. In 1901 George Washington Littlefield bought 238,858 acres, including some of Cochran county, for his great ranch; other parts of the county were ranched by C. C. Slaughter. In 1924, after the influx of new farmers had begun, the county was formally organized. During the 1930s many residents were hurt by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The county had some of the worst sandstorms ever seen; new sand dunes as high as twenty-eight feet were reported. The discovery of oil in 1936 also helped to provide jobs and to stabilize the economy during this period. The first producing well in the county was drilled in 1936 at the Duggan ranch.