Dallam County

James Wilmer Dallam was born in Baltimore in 1818 and moved to Matagorda in 1839. His Digest of the Laws of Texas of 1845 came to be called the "lawyer's Bible" and was reprinted in 1881, 1883 and 1904; the Handbook of Texas notes that it kept its importance because modern Texas law rests on the laws of the Republic. He founded the Colorado Herald at Matagorda in 1846 and wrote two short romances, The Lone Star and The Deaf Spy. He died of yellow fever in New Orleans on August 20, 1847, aged twenty-eight.

What the plaque says

Formed from Young and Bexar territories: Created August 21, 1876; Organized July 28, 1891. Named in honor of James W. Dallam, 1818-1847. Compiler of digest of decisions of Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas, 1845. County Seat, Texline, 1891-1903. Dalhart, since this area was once part of XIT Ranch. (1936)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• XIT Museum — 2.5 mi
  Dalhart's museum of the three-million-acre ranch Texas traded for its capitol, in a 1929 Chrysler dealership that once housed a USO club for Black soldiers.
• Rita Blanca National Grassland — 27 mi
  Scattered tracts of shortgrass on old XIT range, failed Dust Bowl farms the government bought back and regrassed, with two picnic sites in the open country near Texline.

More markers nearby

• Heartland of Old XIT Ranch — 2.2 mi
• Mrs. Cordia Sloan Duke — 2.2 mi
• Dalhart Army Air Field — 2.5 mi
• Hartley County — 15 mi