JIM HOGG COUNTY
With a surface area of 1,136 square miles, Jim Hogg County is only 28 mile from the Mexican border and 66 miles from the Gulf Coast. Vegetation of mesquite, scrub brush, grasses, and chaparral cover a rolling plain of white blow sand and sandy loan soils. Its altitude varies from 249 to 886 feet above sea level. Low temperatures average 42 in January and mean highs are 97 in July. Average rainfall is 23 inches per year. About nine out of ten of the county’s 5,281 inhabitants (2000 population) live in the county seat of Hebronville which lies at the intersection of State Highways 16, 289, and 359. The Texas State Demographer projects that the county will grow slowly to about 6,000 by 2020 (mid-range assumptions).
The early Coahuiltecans, hunter-gatherers, gave way to Lipan Apaches. Land grants were made by the Spanish and Mexican governments in the 1800’s with the earliest received by Xavier Vela in 1805. The Mexican War resolved the issue of sovereignty in what became Jim Hogg County in 1913 when it was formed from parts of Duval and Brooks Counties.
From its earliest history of European settlement, ranching has been the major agricultural activity in the county with only a very limited amount of land in cultivation. The number of cattle reached about 50,000 head by the early 1980’s. Oil production began in 1921 and petroleum remains one of the two major employers in the county. Hunting is the principal tourist attraction. The county is in the center of a white-tailed deer and bobwhite quail hunting area, and numerous hunters from around the state come to the county during the fall and winter.