Editing Menard County, Texas (section)

==History==
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Around 8000 BC, Native American inhabitants arrived. Later Native Americans included [[Comanche]] and [[Lipan Apache people|Lipan Apache]].<ref name="Menard County, Texas">{{cite web|last=Smyrl|first=Vivian Elizabeth|title=Menard County, Texas|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcm11|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=November 30, 2010}}</ref> In 1757, Father Alonso Giraldo de Terreros founded Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas, as a support for Santa Cruz de San Sabá Mission, for the Apache Indians.<ref>{{cite book|last=Robinson III|first=Charles M|title=The Plains Wars 1757-1900|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-96912-3|pages=11–13}}</ref>
In the 1830s, [[James Bowie]] and [[Rezin Bowie|Rezin P. Bowie]] scoured the San Saba valley seeking a silver mine that the Spanish had believed to be in the area. They were unsuccessful, but the legend of the Lost Bowie Mine, also known as the Lost San Saba Mine or the Los Almagres Mine, fed the imaginations of treasure-seekers for the next 150 years.<ref>{{cite book|last=Graves|first=John|title=Texas Rivers |year=2002|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-70198-4|author2=Wyman Meinzer|author2-link=Wyman Meinzer|page=79}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Lost San Saba Mines|url=http://www.texfiles.com/texashistory/san_saba_mines.htm|publisher=Tex Files|access-date=November 30, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421015015/http://www.texfiles.com/texashistory/san_saba_mines.htm|archive-date=April 21, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Fort McKavett State Historic Site|Camp San Saba]] was established in 1852 to protect settlers from Indian attacks.<ref name="Fort McKavett">{{cite web|title=Fort McKavett|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasHillCountryTowns/Fort-McKavett-Texas.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=November 30, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Parent|first=Laurence|title=Official Guide to Texas State Parks|year=1997|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-76575-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/officialguidetot0000pare/page/71 71–72]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/officialguidetot0000pare/page/71}}</ref>  The state legislature formed Menard County from [[Bexar County, Texas|Bexar County]] in 1858. The county was named for Michel Branamour Menard, the founder of Galveston. Menardville, later known as [[Menard, Texas|Menard]], became the county seat.<ref>{{cite web|title=Menard, Texas|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasHillCountryTowns/MenardTexas/MenardTx.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=November 30, 2010}}</ref>

By 1870, the county population was 667: 295 were white, and 372 were black, possibly due to the [[10th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|Buffalo Soldiers]] at Fort McKavett.<ref name="Menard County, Texas"/><ref name="Fort McKavett"/>
The next year, county residents elected their own officials.<ref name="Menard County, Texas"/> The county had an immigrant influx from Mexico.<ref name="Menard County, Texas"/>
In 1911, the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railroad Company arrived.<ref name="Menard County, Texas"/>
Gas deposits were tapped in 1929, but plugged for lack of a market.<ref name="Menard County, Texas"/>
The local [[Parent-Teacher Association]] offered free lunches for needy children in 1931.<ref name="Menard County, Texas"/>

In 1934, the Texas Relief Cannery was in operation. The Drought Relief Program bought cattle and sheep from area ranchers.<ref name="Menard County, Texas"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Texas Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes - Article 2372e. Buildings For Canneries For Unemployment Relief|url=http://law.onecle.com/texas/vernons/2372e.00.html|publisher=Texas Vernon|access-date=November 30, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312105712/http://law.onecle.com/texas/vernons/2372e.00.html|archive-date=March 12, 2012}}</ref> A gas well was redrilled in 1941, and produced about seven million cubic feet of gas.<ref name="Menard County, Texas"/> In 1946, a small oilfield was discovered northeast of Fort McKavett, but was abandoned the following year.<ref name="Menard County, Texas"/>
By the 1960s, oil and gas production had an average annual yield more than {{convert|270000|oilbbl}}.<ref name="Menard County, Texas"/> In the 1980s, of the county's 40 oilfields, about 20 were still active, producing 132,000 to {{convert|185000|oilbbl}} annually.<ref name="Menard County, Texas"/>