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ZULU,
TEXAS
AKA Zulu StockadeHansford
County, Texas
Panhandle
No Directions Available
Population:
Unknown |
History in a
Pecan ShellAlthough
it was never a community, Zulu Station deserves inclusion for being the first
non-native “foothold” in what would become Hansford County.
The area was
grazing land for the huge herds of buffalo
that roamed these vast expanses. In 1873 when the area was still under Comanche
“occupation” James and Robert Cator arrived. The English brothers had been sent
by their father to start a farm in Kansas, but buffalo hunting was a faster way
to make a living – without depending on cooperating weather. |
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As the buffalo were
slaughtered, and the Red River Wars* removed the Comanche into Indian Territory,
the brothers and their sister Clara decided to try ranching.
They settled in along North Palo Duro Creek and built a house. They were soon
joined by others who replaced the dead buffalo herds with domestic cattle.
They
named their house and store the Zulu Stockade – perhaps for the prairies resemblance
to the Zulu-lands of South Africa (which would soon erupt in the 1879 Zulu War).
When Hansford County was organized in1876, there were so few people that the county
had to be administered by Wheeler County. The first census taken was in 1880 when
only 18 people were counted.
Descendants of the Cators and Billy Dixon
of Adobe Walls fame, continue to live in the
region. |
| 1907
Hansford County postal map showing Zulu and Hansford.
Spearman
has yet to be formed. Courtesy Texas General Land Office | |
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