For much of the first half century after statehood, West Texas remained a frontier wilderness and--unlike the expanding cities in East and Central Texas--sparsely populated with Anglo-American settlements. The scarce rainfalls, freezing blue northers, dusty winds, and scorching heat waves dissuaded many Texans from homesteading west of the U.S. Army's frontier fort system. For decades, only the hardiest attempted to forge their brand of civilization...