Artifacts of the Antelope Creek Indian culture abound along the Canadian River valley in Hutchinson County.

Nomadic Plains Apache also camped in this area, as did Comanche, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Cheyenne.

Known as Fort Adobe, it was blown up by traders three years later due to Indian depredations.

[7] The First Battle of Adobe Walls took place in 1864 when General James H. Carleton sent Colonel Kit Carson into the area to avenge for repeated Indian attacks.

Carson and several hundred cavalry soldiers were greatly outnumbered by Kiowa and Comanche and forced to retreat.

The Comanches, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Kiowa saw the fort and the decimation of the buffalo herd as a threat to their existence.

[8][9] In 1541, an expedition led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado traversed the area on its Great Plains quest for Quivira on the search for the mythical Seven Cities of Gold.

[10][11] Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate passed through in 1601 on his Kansas expedition.

[17] In November 1876, Kansan Thomas Sherman Bugbee established the Quarter Circle T Ranch.

[19] Coloradan Richard E. McNalty moved to Texas and began the Turkey Track Ranch, which he sold to Charles Wood and Jack Snider in 1881.

[22] For the next four decades, ranching dominated the county's economy, while crop cultivation made gradual headway.

1 J. C. Whittington well in southwestern Hutchinson County reached a depth of 3,077 feet (938 m) and found flowing oil.

[35] Spring Creek Independent School District consolidated into Borger ISD effective July 1, 2024.