DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the XIT Ranch South Line, out here in Bailey County. Now, about a hundred feet south of where this marker stands, there's a line in the dirt that might not look like much. But that line — that humble stretch of Texas earth — is one of the most famous boundaries in the whole state.
Because everything north of it, for two hundred miles, once belonged to the XIT Ranch. The XIT. Say it slow and let it sink in.
A ranch empire. And how Texas came to give away three million acres of its own land is a story that starts not with cattle, not with cowboys, but with a building. The Capitol building.
The 16th Legislature, back in 1879, had themselves a problem and a solution all wrapped up in one grand bargain. Texas needed a Capitol. Texas also had land — more land than most folks could picture.
So the Legislature designated a tract of three million acres to be used as payment for constructing that Capitol. Three million acres, traded away for a building. That is either the best deal or the most Texas thing that has ever happened, and I'll let you decide which.
The grant stretched two hundred miles north from the south line — the very line sitting just south of this marker. It reached across Bailey County, where you're standing now, and spilled into Castro, Cochran, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Hartley, Hockley, Lamb, Oldham, and Parmer counties. Ten counties.
Two hundred miles of rolling High Plains. Heading up the investors who took on the job of building that Capitol were two wealthy Chicago merchants — John V. Farwell and C.
B. Farwell. They surveyed the land, they organized the empire, and by 1886 their surveying of the XIT had begun.
So the next time you pass a fence line that seems to stretch out past the edge of everything, remember: somewhere just south of this marker, a line was drawn. And on the strength of that line, Texas got its Capitol, and the Farwells got three million acres of sky and grass. Out here on the South Plains, that line is still one of the most famous boundaries the state has ever known.
What the marker says
(About 100 feet south of this marker) One of most famous boundaries in Texas. Marked edge of XIT -- ranch empire bartered away by Texas for its Capitol building. The 16th Legislature in 1879 designated a 3,000,000-acre tract to be used in payment for the Capitol. The grant extended 200 miles north from line here. Besides portion in this county, it included lands in counties of Castro, Cochran, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Hartley, Hockley, Lamb, Oldham, and Parmer. Heading the investors who built the Capitol were wealthy Chicago merchants, John V. and C. B. Farwell. Their surveying was begun in 1886. (1970)