Borden County had remained quite sparsely populated until 1903, when the locally famed "War of Ribbons", inspired by a state-sanctioned land grab, took place.

By 1910, Gail was home to more than 700 residents, and though this would decline to 600 by 1912, the community remained the economic and administrative hub of Borden County.

Changes in agricultural practices and patterns, coupled with the impact of the Great Depression, hindered the town and county's prosperity.

[5] In 1956, two prisoners objected to Sheriff Sid Reeder's attempt to place them into one of the jail's cells when they noticed a rattlesnake sleeping inside.

John R. "Rich" Anderson, owner of the 64,000-acre (26,000 ha) Muleshoe Ranch near Gail, won the 1992 National Cattleman's Association Environmental Stewardship Award.

[2] This climate type occurs primarily on the periphery of the true deserts in low-latitude semiarid steppe regions.