Born in Panola County, raised in Stephens and Eastland County (graduated Ranger High School in 1907), this prominent American historian was one of the leading intellectual lights in Texas history. His move to west Texas and experiencing the challenges of limited water availability as a farm boy spurred him to investigate the vastly different cultural inputs to life in the American West. His book, The Great Plains, is a classic. He postulated that because of the scarcity of water, the 98th meridian marked where institutions radically changed to meet the new realities. Barbed wire, revolvers and windmills are what facilitated western settlement in his opinion.