Editing Hudspeth County, Texas (section)

==History==
[[Prehistory|Prehistoric]] [[Mogollon culture|Jornada Mogollón]] peoples<ref name="Jornada Mogollon">{{cite web | title=Jornada Mogollon  | publisher=Texas Beyond History  | url=http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/firecracker/mogollon.html | access-date=May 12, 2010}} Texas Beyond History</ref>  were practicing agriculture in the Rio Grande floodplain ''circa'' 900–1350 AD. These people left behind artifacts and [[Pictogram|pictographs]] as evidence of their presence.<ref name="Artistic Expression ">{{cite web | title=Artistic Expression | publisher=Texas Beyond History  | url=http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/trans-p/artistic/index.html | access-date=May 12, 2010}} Texas Beyond History</ref>

The Rodriguez-Sanchez Expedition<ref name="Rodriguez-Sanchez Expedition">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Rodriguez-Sanchez Expedition| id= upr01| author=Timmons, W H | retrieved=May 12, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> of 1581 encountered friendly Native Americans bestowing gifts upon the explorers.   [[Antonio de Espejo]]'s<ref name="de Espejo, Antonio">{{Handbook of Texas | name=de Espejo, Antonio| id= fes03| author=Blake, Robert Bruce| retrieved=May 12, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> 1582-83 expedition encountered Otomoaco people in the county.

The [[Mescalero|Mescalero Apache]]<ref name="Texas Indians Map">{{cite web | title=Texas Indians Map | publisher=R E. Moore and Texarch Associates | url=http://www.texasindians.com/map2.htm |access-date=May 12, 2010}} R E. Moore and Texarch Associates</ref> frequented the area to irrigate their crops. In 1849, John Salmon "RIP" Ford<ref name="Ford, John Salmon">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Ford, John Salmon| id= ffo11| author=Connor, Seymour V | retrieved=May 12, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> explored the area between [[San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio]] and [[El Paso, Texas|El Paso]] noting in his mapped report the productive land upon which the Mescalero Indians farmed. By the mid-17th century the Mescaleros expanded their territory to the Plains [[Navajo people|Navajos]] and [[Puebloan peoples|Pueblos]] from the Guadalupes, and [[El Paso|El Paso del Norte]]. Their feared presence deterred white settlers. In January 1870, a group of soldiers attacked a Mescalero Apache village near Delaware Creek in the Guadalupe Mountains. In July 1880, soldiers at Tinaja de las Palmas attacked a group of Mescaleros led by [[Victorio|Chief Victorio]].<ref name="Chief Victorio">{{cite web | title=Chief Victorio | publisher=King Snake | author=Stout, Joseph A. | url=http://www.kingsnake.com/hudspeth/victorio.htm |access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> In August 1880, buffalo soldiers ambushed Victorio at Rattlesnake Springs. Victorio retreated to Mexico and was killed in October by Mexican soldiers.<ref name="Victorio’s War">{{cite web | title=Victorio's War | publisher=Buffalo Soldier | author=Davis, Stanford L | url=http://www.buffalosoldier.net/BuffaloSoldiers&ChiefVictorio.htm | access-date=May 12, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070921033654/http://www.buffalosoldier.net/BuffaloSoldiers%26ChiefVictorio.htm | archive-date=September 21, 2007 }} Stanford L. Davis, M.A.</ref>  Two weeks later, Apaches killed seven [[buffalo soldier]],<ref name="Buffalo Soldiers and Indian Hot Springs">{{cite web | title=Buffalo Soldiers and Indian Hot Springs | publisher=Texas Historical Markers | url=http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5229005295 | access-date=May 12, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119022850/http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5229005295 | archive-date=January 19, 2011 }}Texas Historical Markers</ref> members of the famous black Tenth United States Cavalry.

The demand for new routes from Texas to California caused an uptick in explorations.<ref name="Hudspeth County">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Hudspeth County | id= hch21| author=Kohout, Martin Donell| retrieved=May 12, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association.</ref>  The San Antonio-to-El Paso leg of the San Antonio-California Trail was surveyed in 1848 under the direction of [[John Coffee Hays]]. Hudspeth became known as a place travelers passed through, on their way to somewhere else. [[Fort Quitman]]<ref name="Southern and Western Texas Guide for 1878">{{cite book | last =Rock | first =James L  | title =Southern and Western Texas Guide for 1878 |pages=33,40,271 | publisher=General Books LLC| year =2010 | isbn =978-1-4588-5239-7}}</ref> was established in 1858 to provide protection for travelers.

Lt. Francis Theodore Bryan<ref name="Bryan, Francis Theodore">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Bryan, Francis Theodore| id= fbral| author=Powell, William S | retrieved=May 12, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> camped at [[Guadalupe Pass (Texas)|Guadalupe Pass]] while exploring a route from San Antonio to El Paso via [[Fredericksburg, Texas|Fredericksburg]]. Upon reaching El Paso in July 1849, his report recommended sink wells along the route. In July 1848, Secretary of War [[William L. Marcy]] wanted a military post established on the north side of the [[Rio Grande]]. Major [[Jefferson Van Horne]]<ref name="Van Horne, Jefferson">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Van Horne, Jefferson| id=fva08| author=Kohout, Martin Donell | retrieved=May 12, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> was sent out in 1849 to establish Marcy's goal.

[[John Russell Bartlett]]<ref name="Bartlett, John Russell">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Bartlett, John Russell | id=fba93| author=Faulk, Odie B| retrieved=May 12, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Bartlett, John Russell | publisher=The John Russell Bartlett Society | url=http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/jrb/about.html | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> was commissioned in 1850 to carry out the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]]. Bartlett declared the [[Guadalupe Mountains]] dark and gloomy, and proposed a transcontinental railroad be built south of the peaks. Three years later, [[John Pope (general)|Captain John Pope]]<ref name="Cutrer, Thomas W">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Pope, John | id=fpo16| author=Cutrer, Thomas W| retrieved=May 12, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> was sent to scout out a railroad route, and in the succeeding year to search for artesian water supplies. Texas Commissioner [[Robert Simpson Neighbors]]<ref name="Neighbors, Robert Simpson">{{Handbook of Texas | name=Neighbors, Robert Simpson| id= fne08| author=Richardson, Rupert N | retrieved=12 May2010}} Texas State Historic</ref> was sent by [[Peter Hansborough Bell|Governor Peter Hansborough Bell]] in 1850 to organize El Paso.

The [[Butterfield Overland Mail]]<ref name="900 Miles on the Butterfield Trail">{{cite book | last =Greene | first =A C  | title =900 Miles on the Butterfield Trail | publisher=University of North Texas Press| year =2006 | isbn =978-1-57441-213-0}}</ref> and the San Antonio-San Diego Mail <ref name="San Antonio-San Diego Mail">{{cite web | title=San Antonio-San Diego Mail | publisher=State of California Parks Department | url=http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=24437|access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> served the county from 1857 to 1861. These mail coaches provided a means for travelers to reach California in 27 days, if the passenger had the $200 for a one-way fare and was courageous enough to withstand the weather and dangers en route.

Men from San Elizario and the other villages along the Rio Grande near El Paso had become dependent on the salt trade<ref name="Salt Flat">{{cite web | title=Salt Flat | publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. | url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Texas_ghost_towns/SaltFlatTexas/SaltFlatTx.htm | access-date=May 12, 2010}} Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC.</ref> for their livelihoods. After the Civil War, they broke a road from Fort Quitman to the Salt Basin in northeastern Hudspeth County, but Anglo politicians tried to capitalize on this trade by asserting ownership of the salt lakes and levying fees on the traders. The result was the 7-year [[San Elizario Salt War]],<ref name="San Elizario Salt War">{{Handbook of Texas | name=San Elizario Salt War | id=jcs01 | author=Sonnichsen, C L| retrieved=May 12, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> which heightened tensions between Mexicans and Americans in the 1870s.

Rival railway companies began competing for rights of way. The [[Texas and Pacific Railway]]<ref name="Texas and Pacific Railway ">{{cite web | title=Texas and Pacific Railway | publisher=Texas and Pacific Railway| url=http://www.texaspacificrailway.org/structures/tx/el-paso |access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref>  and the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway<ref name="Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway">{{cite web | title=Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway | publisher=Texas Transportation Museum | url=http://www.txtransportationmuseum.org/Sunset.htm | access-date=May 12, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930190318/http://www.txtransportationmuseum.org/Sunset.htm | archive-date=September 30, 2011 | url-status=dead }}</ref> eventually reached an agreement to share the tracks, with a number of towns arising along the way

Hudspeth was formed in 1917 from [[El Paso County, Texas]].  [[Sierra Blanca, Texas|Sierra Blanca]] was named the county seat, and has the only adobe courthouse<ref name="Hudspeth Courthouse">{{cite web | title=Hudspeth Courthouse | publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. | url=http://www.texasescapes.com/WestTexasTowns/SierraBlancaTexas/Hudspeth-County-Courthouse-Sierra-Blanca-Texas.htm | access-date=May 12, 2010}} Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC.</ref> in Texas.

From 1992 to 2002, the county accepted over 200 tons per day of treated, dried sewage from [[New York City]]. The waste was spread over a remote site in the county.<ref>Minor drug busts at border checkpoint breaking Texas county’s budget, by Andrew Becker and G W Shulz, June 19, 2013, Center for Investigative Reporting</ref>

In recent times, Hudspeth County has become notorious as a location for frequent drug arrests for individuals traveling east on [[Interstate 10]] from El Paso, due to the presence of a [[US Border Patrol]] checkpoint. Several celebrities, including touring musicians [[Willie Nelson]], [[Snoop Dogg]], and [[Fiona Apple]], and actor [[Armie Hammer]] have been arrested on drug charges at this location.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://news.yahoo.com/singer-fiona-apple-arrested-drug-charge-texas-border-201627980.html |title=Singer Fiona Apple arrested on drug charge in Texas - Yahoo! News |access-date=January 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121128024752/http://news.yahoo.com/singer-fiona-apple-arrested-drug-charge-texas-border-201627980.html |archive-date=November 28, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>