Big Spring

History

The area had long been a popular watering hole for Native American residents and nomads, including members of the more recently established Jumano, Apache, and Comanche tribes. The first European to view the site was probably a member of a Spanish expedition exploring the Great Plains from New Mexico. During the 1840s and 1850s, Big Spring was often where Comanches assembled and organized themselves before departing on large-scale raids into northern Mexico during the Comanche-Mexico Wars. Captain Randolph B. Marcy's expedition in 1849 was the first United States expedition to explore and map the area. Marcy marked the spring as a campsite on the Overland Trail to California. The site began to collect inhabitants, and by the late 1870s, a settlement had sprung up to support buffalo hunters who frequented the area. The original settlement consisted largely of hide huts and saloons. Ranching quickly became a major industry in the area; early ranchers included F.G. Oxsheer, C.C. Slaughter, and B.F. Wolcott. One notable early rancher was Briton Joseph Heneage Finch, the seventh Earl of Aylesford. Finch purchased of ranchland in the area in 1883, and is credited with building Big Spring's first permanent structure, a butcher shop. The completion of the Texas and Pacific Railroad led to the founding in the early 1880s of Abilene, Colorado City, and Big Spring, three railroading and ranching cities where saloons and gambling dens flourished. More important in the city's history was the discovery of oil in the region during the 1920s. The early discoveries in the area marked the beginning of the oil industry in the Permian Basin area of West Texas, and the oil industry has continued to be a dominant part of the area's economy. The oil industry in Big Spring reached its…

Geography

Big Spring is located slightly south of the center of Howard County in the valley of Beals Creek, an eastward-flowing tributary of the Colorado River. Interstate 20 runs through the northern side of the city, with access from exits 174 through 182. I-20 leads east to Abilene and west to Midland. U.S. Route 87 (Gregg Street) until recently ran through the center of Big Spring, leading north to Lubbock and southeast to San Angelo. A bypass to the west of the city now carries US 87, while the old route is now Business US 87. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which , or about 56 acres, is covered by water. }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  261
• Great-tailed Grackle

  Quiscalus mexicanus (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  258
• White-winged Dove

  Zenaida asiatica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  247
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  226
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  191
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  185
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  181
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  172

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2026-09-08
  25 km SW of Garden City, Texas
• M 3.6 — 2026-09-05
  26 km SW of Garden City, Texas
• M 2.6 — 2026-08-29
  19 km NE of Gardendale, Texas
• M 2.6 — 2026-08-28
  18 km NE of Gardendale, Texas
• M 2.8 — 2026-08-23
  17 km SE of Ackerly, Texas
• M 2.5 — 2026-08-15
  37 km SSE of Midland, Texas