DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells the story of Sterling County — and it's got more layers than a West Texas sky before a storm. This prairie region, split right down the middle by the north Concho River, is ancient ground. Comanche, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Lipan, and Wichita peoples hunted here long before anyone else showed up with ambitions.
And before even the Anglo-Americans arrived, Spanish explorers may have crossed this land — possibly six or so expeditions between 1540 and 1654. Possibly. The marker is careful with that word, and so am I.
Now fast-forward to the 1860s and 70s, when Anglo-American hunters came through working the buffalo commercially. One of those hunters — a fellow named Captain W. S.
Sterling — made himself a dugout home right on the creek that still carries his name. A dugout. The man dug himself into the earth and called it home, which tells you something about both the land and the man.
And then — and this is where the story takes a turn nobody quite expects from a county marker — in the 1870s, Frank and Jesse James kept horse herds on a tributary of Sterling Creek. Right here. In this quiet stretch of Texas prairie.
Make of that what you will. In 1874, the United States Army set up Camp Elizabeth, a Fort Concho outpost hospital, about ten miles west of where that marker stands. The army was planting roots too.
Meanwhile, ranchers from other counties had been quietly moving in through the 1870s, bringing large cattle herds to capitalize on what the marker plainly calls free grass. For a while they kept smaller outfits out. But eventually they let actual settlers share the range — family men who staked land claims, grew crops in the valleys, and opened stores, schools, and post offices.
The bones of a community, laid down one season at a time. Then came March 4, 1891. On the petition of 150 citizens, the county was officially created out of part of Tom Green County.
They named it for its first regular resident — that same buffalo hunter who'd dug himself into a creek bank and stayed. Sterling City became the county seat. Petroleum production took hold in the 1950s and has been important to the economy ever since.
But here's the thing the marker wants you to leave with: the land essentially remains range country, grazed by cattle and sheep. All that history — the Comanche and the Kiowa, the Spanish crossings, the outlaws and the army, the buffalo hunters and the petitions — and when the dust settles, it's still just grass and sky and livestock moving slow across the prairie. Sterling County hasn't forgotten what it is.
What the marker says
This prairie region split by the north Concho River is old Comanche, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Lipan, and Wichita hunting ground. Possibly it was crossed by six or so Spanish explorations between 1540 and 1654. In the 1860s and 70s, Anglo-Americans hunted buffalo commercially in this area. An 1860s hunter, Capt. W. S. Sterling, had a dugout home on the creek that bears his name. In the 1870s, bandits Frank and Jesse James kept horse herds on a tributary of Sterling Creek. In 1874 the United States Army occupied Camp Elizabeth, a Fort Concho outpost hospital, about ten miles west of here. Ranchers from other counties began to bring in large cattle herds in the 1870s, to capitalize on free grass. After keeping out small herds for a time, they permitted actual settlers to share the range. Family men staked land claims, grew crops in the valleys, and opened stores, schools, and post offices. On March 4, 1891, on the petition of 150 citizens, the county was created out of part of Tom Green County, and named for its first regular resident. Sterling City became the county seat. Petroleum production has been important to the economy since the 1950s; yet the land essentially remains range country, grazed by cattle and sheep.