Texas leads the nation in cattle with 14 million head, and also in horses, with over 1,000,000, according to the Texas A & M Department of Animals Sciences and the American Horse Council. In fact, cattle and horses are more numerous than people in the wide, open spaces between Amarillo, Texas, home of the American Quarter Horse Association, and Fort Worth, home of the National Cutting Horse Association.

But in the early 1900s, an enterprising Swedish investor and his sons who owned 298,000 acres of cattle range in the Texas Panhandle decided to market 673 square miles of it as farm land, after persuading Burlington’s Texas Central Railroad to run a route through the site. The first train arrived in the fledgling town of Spur, 60 miles east of Lubbock, in 1909.

“The farmers’ opportunity to secure a home in the richest valleys and uplands of Texas,” promised a 1912 advertisement for S.M. Swenson & Sons.

“To the first comers we are willing to sell one-half of our holdings of 673 square miles on easy terms and reasonable prices. We reserve the other half for the big increase to come with development. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the homeseeker.”

Advertised prices ranged from $12.00 to $17.50 per acres, with “some additions when close to town. The Swensons were part of a syndicate that had purchased the land for one dollar an acre from Spur Ranch (formerly) Espuela Land & Cattle Company) in 1906.

“The great extent and variety of land insures the homeseeker such range of selection that the man early on the ground can find exactly what he wants,” the ad further promised. “Spur is in Dickens County; beautiful location, surrounded in all directions by miles upon miles of fertile farming country and is fast becoming a city.”

According to the Handbook of Texas, 600 lots were sold, although it is not clear how many were farm lots. At its height, in 1940, Spur supported a population of 3,000; today the population is just over 900.

The famous Pitchfork Ranch still maintains part of its extensive range in Dickens, County.

Stamford, founded by the Swensons in 1899 and home of the Swenson Ranch headquarters, has fared better than Spur. The famous Texas Cowboy Reunion, held annually since 1930, draws over 10,000 rodeo participants and fans to the little town of just over 3,600 residents.