Texas panhandle

{{Short description|Region in Texas, United States}}

{{distinguish|Panhandle, Texas}}

{{for|the western panhandle-like area of Texas|Trans-Pecos}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}

{{Infobox settlement

| name = Texas panhandle

| native_name =

| other_name =

| settlement_type = Region

| image_skyline = Buffalo Lake Texas Windmill 2009.jpg

| image_caption = Windmill on the level plains of the Texas Panhandle

| nickname =

| etymology =

| subdivision_type = Country

| subdivision_name = {{flagu|United States|name=United States|size=23px}}

| subdivision_type1 = State

| subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Texas|size=23px}}

| subdivision_type2 = Region

| subdivision_name2 = High Plains

| subdivision_type3 =

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| subdivision_name4 =

| image_map = Texas Panhandle.PNG

| map_caption = Map of the Texas Panhandle

| pushpin_map =

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| coordinates = {{Wikidatacoord|Q2297417|region:US-TX|display=inline,title}}

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| area_footnotes =

| area_total_km2 = 67046

| area_total_sq_mi =

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| elevation_footnotes =

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| population_as_of = 2020

| population_footnotes =

| population_total = 434,358

| population_density_km2 = auto

| population_density_sq_mi =

| population_demonym =

| timezone1 = Central

| utc_offset1 = −6

| timezone1_DST =

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| area_codes = 806, 940 (Childress County)

| geocode =

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| website = [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ryp01 Handbook of Texas: "Panhandle"]

}}

The Texas panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to the Oklahoma Panhandle, land which Texas previously claimed. The 1820 Missouri Compromise declared no slavery would be allowed in states admitted from the Louisiana Purchase above 36°30′ north latitude. Texas was annexed in 1845 from still more westerly land. The Compromise of 1850 removed territory north of this line from Texas, and set the border between the Texas Panhandle and the New Mexico Territory at the 103rd meridian west. The eastern border at the 100th meridian west was inherited from the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, which defined the border between the United States and New Spain. The Handbook of Texas defines the southern border of Swisher County as the southern boundary of the Texas Panhandle region.

Its land area is {{cvt|66883.58|km2|sqmi|order=flip}}, or nearly 10% of the state's total. The Texas Panhandle is slightly larger in size than the US state of West Virginia. An additional {{cvt|162.53|km2|sqmi|order=flip}} is covered by water. Its population as of the 2010 census was 427,927 residents, or 1.7% of the state's total population. As of the 2010 census, the population density for the region was {{convert|16.6|/sqmi}}. However, more than 72% of the Panhandle's residents live in the Amarillo Metropolitan Area, which is the largest and fastest-growing urban area in the region. Despite being geographically the northernmost part of Texas, the Panhandle is distinct from the region commonly called "North Texas", which is to the south and east.

West of the Caprock Escarpment and North and South of the Canadian River breaks, the surface of the Llano Estacado is rather flat. South of the city of Amarillo, the level terrain gives way to Palo Duro Canyon, the second-largest canyon in the United States. This colorful canyon was carved by the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River, a tributary of the Red River. North of Amarillo lies Lake Meredith, a reservoir created by Sanford Dam constructed on the main stem of the Canadian River. Lake Meredith and the Ogallala Aquifer are the primary sources of freshwater in this semi-arid region of the High Plains.

Interstate Highway 40 passes through the Panhandle, and also passes through Amarillo. The freeway passes through Deaf Smith, Oldham, Potter, Carson, Gray, Donley, and Wheeler Counties.The Tascosa Pioneer, October 11, 1890, quoted in Lester Fields Sheffy, The Life and Times of Timothy Dwight Hobart, 1855–1935: Colonization of West Texas (Canyon, Texas: Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, 1950), p. 156

File:Caprock Canyons Haynes Ridge 2005.JPG of Briscoe County]]

File:Buffalo Lake Texas Canyon 2009.jpg]]

File:Palo Duro 2002.jpg]]