Hansford County High Point Trip Report
unnamed (3,378+/- ft)
Date: November 11, 2000
Author: Scott Surgent
This county is a real bugger as it has 10 separate candidate regions that could contain the highpoint.
However, a study of the topo maps and a visit to the areas can convincingly eliminate about 7 of these
areas from contention.
Nine of the ten areas are located near the junction of TX-15 and FM-1573 near some bluffs overlooking
Coldwater Creek. The 10th area is about 15 miles south. The junction of the highways and 7 of the 10
areas are contained on the "West of Gruver" 7.5 topo map, which has contours for every 10 feet and in a
few cases, dashed contours for the intervening five feet. It is inside such a dashed contour (measuring
3,375 feet) that the two highways meet and where a spot elevation of 3,378 feet is located. I drove in this
area and stopped at a couple points along the highway where it seemed to rise a little, and walked around
a bit. This 3,375-foot dashed contour contains roughly 1.5 square miles of land.
The other 6 areas on the "West of Gruver" topo are 3,370-foot contours, and all are very small, each
containing no more than 1-2 acres each. Two are along TX-15 about 1/4 mile west of the junction, and
are easily accessible. But extrapolating inside these areas makes it highly unlikely that any point inside
reaches 3,375 feet, much less 3,378 feet. The other four 3,370-foot areas are about a mile to the north
along the bluffs. Observing from the road indicates the land is very flat, and again, unlikely to rise to the
3,375-foot level.
Moving south slightly along FM-1573 and onto the "Hanna's Draw West" topo, there are two very small
regions contained inside 3,375-foot contours. (This topo marks off every 5 feet instead of every 10, as the
West of Gruver topo did.) One area right along the highway is extremely small, and the flatness of the
land again makes it unlikely to reach 3,378 feet. Another 3,375-foot contour is about a mile west along
the county line, with similar observations.
The last area I did not visit. It is about 15 miles south along the county line on the "Capps Switch SE"
topo, which marks off in 10-foot intervals. A single 3,370-foot contour encompasses about an eighth of a
square mile. On the Hanna's Draw West topo, the continuation of the same 3,370-foot contour is shown,
and a 3,375-foot contour outside the county tending away from the Hansford county line. For this reason I
conclude that this 3,370-foot area on the Capps Switch SE map very likely does not reach 3,375 feet.