Editing Armstrong County, Texas (section)

==History==

===Native Americans===

[[Paleo-Indians]] first inhabitants as far back as 10,000 BC. [[Apache]]an cultures roamed the county until [[Comanche]] dominated around 1700. The Comanches were defeated by the [[United States Army]] in the [[Red River War]] of 1874. Later tribes include [[Kiowa]] and [[Cheyenne]].<ref name="Armstrong County">{{cite web|last=Abbe|first=Donald R|title=Armstrong County|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hca06|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 13, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101221154826/http://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hca06| archive-date= December 21, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>

===County established and growth===
In 1876, the [[Texas Legislature]] established Armstrong County from portions of [[Bexar County, Texas|Bexar County]], and it organized in 1890 with Claude as the county seat.<ref name="Armstrong County"/><ref name="publications.newberry.org"/>

In 1876, [[Charles Goodnight]] brought a herd of 1,600 cattle into the Palo Duro Canyon, and he and [[John George Adair]] established ranching in the county. The JA Ranch encompassed over a million acres (4,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), spread over Armstrong County and five adjoining counties. The county land use was primarily ranch-related, even after the trickling in of homesteaders, for the remainder of the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hagen|first=William Thomas|title=Charles Goodnight: Father of the Texas Panhandle|year=2007|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-3827-5|pages=45–60|chapter=Launching the JA Ranch 1877-1880}}</ref>

In 1887, the JA Ranch split up, giving way to a terminus for the [[Fort Worth and Denver Railway|Fort Worth and Denver City Railway]]. The first town from the ranch was [[Goodnight, Armstrong County, Texas|Goodnight]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Goodnight, Texas and Charles Goodnight|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/Goodnight-Texas.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=December 13, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101221020600/http://texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/Goodnight-Texas.htm| archive-date= December 21, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> Landowner Robert E. Montgomery platted the town of Washburn, named after railroad executive D.W. Washburn.<ref>{{cite web|title=Washburn, Texas|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/Washburn-Texas.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=December 13, 2010}}</ref>

The next year, railroad lines turned Washburn into a boom town. In the same year, Armstrong City was renamed [[Claude, Texas|Claude]] in honor of railroad engineer Claude Ayers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Claude, Texas|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/Claude-Texas.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=December 13, 2010}}</ref> In 1890, the two towns competed for the county seat, with Claude winning.

At the beginning of the 20th century, ranching began to share the land with cotton and wheat crops, although ranching remained the leading industry. The [[Great Depression]] had a severe effect on the county's economy, and recovery took years. Ranches still occupied about 68% of the land in the county in 2005.<ref name="Armstrong County"/>

Many scenes of the 1963 [[Paul Newman]] film ''[[Hud (1963 film)|Hud]]'' were filmed at Goodnight and Claude.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dingus|first=Anne|title=Texas Movies|journal=Texas Monthly|date=July 1991|page=92}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Baker|first=T. Lindsay|title=More Ghost Towns of Texas |year=2005|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-3724-7|pages=68–69}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Carlton|title=Picking Up the Tab: The Life and Movies of Martin Ritt|year=1994|publisher=Popular Press 1|isbn=978-0-87972-672-0|page=70}}</ref>