View source for Haskell County, Kansas

{{short description|County in Kansas, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox U.S. county
|county             = Haskell County
|state              = Kansas
|type               = [[County (United States)|County]]
|ex image           = Haskell County, KS, Courthouse at Sublette, KS IMG_5961.JPG
|ex image cap       = Haskell County Courthouse in [[Sublette, Kansas|Sublette]] (2010)
|founded            = March 23, 1887
|named for          = [[Dudley C. Haskell|Dudley Haskell]]
|seat wl            = Sublette
|largest city wl    = Sublette
|area_total_sq_mi   = 578
|area_land_sq_mi    = 578
|area_water_sq_mi   = 0.4
|area percentage    = 0.06%

|population_footnotes = <ref name="QF"/>
|population_as_of   = 2020
|population_total   = 3780
|pop_est_footnotes  =
|pop_est_as_of      =
|population_est     =
|population_density_sq_mi = 6.5

|district           = 1st
|time zone          = Central
|website            = {{URL|https://www.haskellcounty.org/|HaskellCounty.org}}
}}

'''Haskell County''' is a [[U.S. county|county]] located in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Kansas]].  Its [[county seat]] and most populous city is [[Sublette, Kansas|Sublette]].<ref name="GR6">{{cite web|url=http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx|access-date=June 7, 2011|title=Find a County|publisher=National Association of Counties}}</ref>  As of the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]], the county population was 3,780.<ref name="QF">{{cite web |title=QuickFacts; Haskell County, Kansas; Population, Census, 2020 & 2010 |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/haskellcountykansas/POP010220 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817025013/https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/haskellcountykansas/POP010220 |archive-date=August 17, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>  The county was named after [[Dudley C. Haskell|Dudley Haskell]], a congressman during the 1870s and 1880s.

==History==
{{See also|History of Kansas}}
For [[millennia]], the [[Great Plains]] of [[North America]] were inhabited by [[nomadic]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].

In 1854, the [[Kansas Territory]] was organized, then in 1861 [[Kansas]] became the 34th [[U.S. state]].

Haskell County was founded in 1887.<ref name=blackmar>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_o8X5krq3fP8C/page/n822 | title=Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. | publisher=Standard Publishing Company | author=Blackmar, Frank Wilson | year=1912 | page=826}}</ref> It was named for [[Dudley C. Haskell]], a former member of Congress.<ref name=blackmar/>

===Origin of the Spanish flu pandemic===
Historian [[John M. Barry]] concluded that Haskell County was the location of the first outbreak of the [[1918 flu pandemic]] (nicknamed "Spanish flu"), which killed between 21 and 100 million people.<ref name="BarryNIH"/><ref>{{YouTube |id=7MHT5xTkL2g |time=4m55s |title=The 1918 Spanish Flu-A Conspiracy of Silence}}</ref> Loring Miner, a Haskell County doctor, warned the editors of ''Public Health Reports'' of the U.S. Public Health Service about the new and more deadly variant of the virus. It produced the common influenza symptoms with a new intensity: "violent headache and body aches, high fever, non-productive cough... This was violent, rapid in its progress through the body, and sometimes lethal. This influenza killed. Soon dozens of patients—the strongest, the healthiest, the most robust people in the county—were being struck down as suddenly as if they had been shot."  <ref>John M. Barry, ''[[The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History]]'' (New York: Penguin Books, c2004, 2005) p. 93.</ref> Barry writes that in the first six months of 1918, Miner's warning of "the influenza of a severe type" was the only reference in that journal to influenza anywhere in the world.<ref>, John M. Barry, ''The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History'' (New York: Penguin Books, c2004, 2005) pp. 94-95.</ref> 
<blockquote>Haskell County, Kansas, is the first recorded instance anywhere in the world of an outbreak of influenza so unusual that a physician warned public health officials. It remains the first recorded instance suggesting that a new virus was adapting, violently, to man. <br><br>
If the virus did not originate in Haskell, there is no good explanation for how it arrived there. There were no other known outbreaks anywhere in the United States from which someone could have carried the disease to Haskell and no suggestions of influenza outbreaks in either newspapers or reflected in vital statistics anywhere else in the region. And unlike the 1916 outbreak in France, one can trace with perfect definiteness the route of the virus from Haskell to the outside world.<ref name="BarryNIH">{{cite journal |last1=Barry |first1=John M |title=The site of origin of the 1918 influenza pandemic and its public health implications |journal=Journal of Translational Medicine |date=20 January 2004 |volume=2 |issue=1 |page=3 |doi=10.1186/1479-5876-2-3 |pmid=14733617 |issn=1479-5876 |pmc=340389 |doi-access=free }}</ref></blockquote>

Miner's report was not published until April 1918 and it failed to collect the attention it needed. It was not until after 2000 that historians' research revealed the origin of one of the deadliest epidemics in human history.

Historians have generally reported that the path of the disease from Haskell to the world occurred when newly inducted soldiers from the county traveled 200 miles from the county to [[Camp Funston]] (now [[Fort Riley]]) and were then deployed to Europe at the beginning of United States involvement in [[World War I]].<ref name="BarryNIH"/>

However, Haskell County's role in the pandemic is [[Spanish flu|widely disputed]]. Many pathologists believe that Haskell County did not play a role in the virus's origin and that historical accounts are entirely coincidental.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Taubenberger |first=Jeffery K. |last2=Morens |first2=David M. |date=January 2006 |title=1918 Influenza: the mother of all pandemics |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3291398/ |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=15–22 |doi=10.3201/eid1201.050979 |issn=1080-6040 |pmc=3291398 |pmid=16494711}}</ref>

===Surviving the Dust Bowl===
The railroad and the development of oil and gas fields in the 1930s, and the locating of many deep wells for irrigation significantly improved the economy of the area helping overcome the "dust bowl" of that period.<ref name=pedia>[https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/haskell-county-kansas/15296 Haskell County, Kansas], Kansapedia. Retrieved April 8, 2020.</ref> Haskell County was one of the hardest hit counties in the Midwest during the drought of 1930–1937.

The first rodeo and fair was held in Sublette in 1916 and the fair continues at the same location. The first school district was founded in Santa Fe in 1887. Amanda I. Watkins, who owned a considerable amount of land in the county, was named "World Wheat Queen" in 1926.<ref name=pedia/>

==Geography==
[[Image:Crops Kansas AST 20010624.jpg|thumb|250px|Satellite image of circular crop fields in Haskell County in late June 2001.]]

According to the [[U.S. Census Bureau]], the county has a total area of {{convert|578|sqmi}}, of which {{convert|578|sqmi}} is land and {{convert|0.4|sqmi}} (0.06%) is water.<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=April 23, 2011|date=February 12, 2011|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}}</ref>

Haskell County is the flattest county in Kansas.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LdD5adyrRFEC&pg=PA12 | title=Kansas Trivia | publisher=Thomas Nelson Inc. | author=Brackman, Barbara | year=1997 | pages=12| isbn=9781418553814 }}</ref>

===Adjacent counties===
* [[Finney County, Kansas|Finney County]] (north)
* [[Gray County, Kansas|Gray County]] (east)
* [[Meade County, Kansas|Meade County]] (southeast)
* [[Seward County, Kansas|Seward County]] (south)
* [[Stevens County, Kansas|Stevens County]] (southwest)
* [[Grant County, Kansas|Grant County]] (west)
* [[Kearny County, Kansas|Kearny County]] (northwest)

==Demographics==
[[Image:USA Haskell County, Kansas age pyramid.svg|thumb|175px|left|[[Population pyramid]] based on 2000 census age data]]
{{US Census population
|1890= 1077
|1900= 457
|1910= 993
|1920= 1455
|1930= 2805
|1940= 2088
|1950= 2606
|1960= 2990
|1970= 3672
|1980= 3814
|1990= 3886
|2000= 4307
|2010= 4256
|2020= 3780
|estyear=2023
|estimate=3630
|estref=<ref name="USCensusEst2023">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/data/tables.html|title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=April 3, 2024}}</ref>
|align-fn=center
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=U.S. Decennial Census|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=July 26, 2014}}</ref><br />1790–1960<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu|title=Historical Census Browser|publisher=University of Virginia Library|access-date=July 26, 2014}}</ref> 1900–1990<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/ks190090.txt|title=Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=July 26, 2014}}</ref><br />1990–2000<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327165705/http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf |archive-date=March 27, 2010 |url-status=live|title=Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=July 26, 2014}}</ref> 2010–2020<ref name="QF"/>
}}

As of the [[United States Census, 2000|U.S. Census in 2000]],<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=January 31, 2008|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref> there were 4,307 people, 1,481 households, and 1,153 families residing in the county. The [[population density]] was {{convert|8|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|people&nbsp;|people|}}. There were 1,639 housing units at an average density of {{convert|3|/mi2|/km2|}}. The [[Race (United States Census)|racial makeup]] of the county was 85.07% [[White American|White]], 0.63% [[Asian American|Asian]], 0.58% [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]], 0.19% [[Black American|Black]] or [[African American]], 11.45% from other races, and 2.09% from [[Multiracial|two or more races]]. [[Hispanic]] or [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Latino]] of any race were 23.57% of the population.

There were 1,481 [[household]]s, out of which 43.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.40% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 5.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.10% were non-families. 20.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.35.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 32.90% under the age of 18, 9.10% from 18 to 24, 27.80% from 25 to 44, 19.50% from 45 to 64, and 10.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 103.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.30 males.

The [[Median household income|median income for a household]] in the county was $38,634, and the median income for a family was $43,354. Males had a median income of $31,296 versus $22,857 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the county was $17,349. About 8.00% of families and 11.60% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 15.40% of those under age 18 and 9.40% of those age 65 or over.

==Government==

===Presidential elections===
As do most counties in rural western Kansas, Haskell County leans heavily [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]. The last time Haskell County was carried by a Democratic presidential nominee was 1964, when [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] won the county as part of his nationwide landslide victory.
{{Hidden
|headercss  = background: #ccccff; font-size: 100%; width: 100%;
|contentcss = text-align: left; font-size: 100%; width: 100%;
|header     = Presidential election results
|content    =
{{PresHead|place=Haskell County, Kansas|source=<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS |title = Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|1,045|221|13|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|1,122|268|20|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|1,040|245|69|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|1,159|215|22|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|1,277|278|15|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|1,356|227|16|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|1,323|263|30|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|1,143|304|107|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|1,023|336|467|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|964|427|39|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|1,152|283|17|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|1,014|374|111|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|761|676|27|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|1,036|383|29|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|762|476|169|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|570|820|19|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|853|471|4|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|829|341|6|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|870|283|18|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1948|Republican|592|466|25|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|520|342|6|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|607|425|6|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|442|626|1|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|456|639|31|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|646|222|12|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|493|167|97|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|444|150|44|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|248|349|88|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|61|100|79|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|172|139|42|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|120|46|6|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|79|44|0|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|81|54|3|Kansas}}
{{PresRow|1892|Republican|177|0|111|Kansas}}
{{PresFoot|1888|Republican|291|197|41|Kansas}}
}}<!-- End of Hidden template -->

===Laws===
Although the [[Kansas Constitution]] was amended in 1986 to allow the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with the approval of voters, Haskell County remained a prohibition, or [[dry county|"dry"]], county until 2023, after voters in the county approved the 1986 amendment with a 30% food sales requirement.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 1, 2023 |title=Map of Wet and Dry Counties |url=https://www.ksrevenue.org/pdf/abcwetdrymap.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007054247/https://www.ksrevenue.gov/pdf/abcwetdrymap.pdf |archive-date=October 7, 2023 |access-date=December 4, 2023 |publisher=[[Kansas Department of Revenue]] Alcoholic Beverage Control}}</ref>

==Education==

===Unified school districts===
* Sublette USD 374
* Satanta USD 507

==Communities==
[[Image:Map of Haskell Co, Ks, USA.png|thumb|300px|2005 map of Haskell County<ref name="County-Map-Current"/> ([[:File:Kansas official transportation map legend.png|map legend]])]]
List of townships / incorporated cities / unincorporated communities / extinct former communities within Haskell County.<ref name="County-Map-Current">{{cite web |title=General Highway Map of Haskell County, Kansas |url=https://www.ksdot.gov/Assets/wwwksdotorg/bureaus/burTransPlan/maps/county-pdf/haskell.PDF |publisher=[[Kansas Department of Transportation]] (KDOT) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240325142938/https://www.ksdot.gov/Assets/wwwksdotorg/bureaus/burTransPlan/maps/county-pdf/haskell.PDF |archive-date=March 25, 2024 |date=November 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Cities===
* [[Satanta, Kansas|Satanta]]
* [[Sublette, Kansas|Sublette]] (county seat)

===Unincorporated community===
* Tice

===Ghost town===
* [[Santa Fe, Kansas|Santa Fe]] (historical)

===Townships===
[[File:Map of states and counties affected by the Dust Bowl, sourced from US federal government dept. (NRCS SSRA-RAD).svg|thumb|right|Area affected by 1930s [[Dust Bowl]]]]
Haskell County is divided into three [[Civil township|townships]]. None of the cities within the county are considered ''governmentally independent'', and all figures for the townships include those of the cities. In the following table, the population center is the largest city (or cities) included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size.
{| class="toccolours" border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4 style="text-align:center; border-collapse:collapse; font-size:90%;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! Township !! [[FIPS place code|FIPS]] !! Population<br/>center
! Population !! Population<br/>density<br/><small>/km<sup>2</sup> (/sq&nbsp;mi)</small>
! Land area<br/><small>km<sup>2</sup> (sq&nbsp;mi)</small> !! Water area<br/><small>km<sup>2</sup> (sq&nbsp;mi)</small> !! Water %
! Geographic coordinates
|-
| [[Dudley Township, Haskell County, Kansas|Dudley]]|| 18825 || || 1,814 || 4 (9) || 499 (193) || 0 (0) || 0.03% || {{coord|37|30|40|N|101|0|28|W|}}
|-
| [[Haskell Township, Haskell County, Kansas|Haskell]]|| 30625 || || 1,971 || 4 (10) || 498 (192) || 0 (0) || 0.07% || {{coord|37|32|25|N|100|51|43|W|}}
|-
| [[Lockport Township, Haskell County, Kansas|Lockport]]|| 41675 || || 522 || 1 (3) || 498 (192) || 0 (0) || 0.09% || {{coord|37|34|19|N|100|43|11|W|}}
|-
|colspan=9|Sources: {{Cite web| url=https://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/places2k.html| title=Census 2000 U.S. Gazetteer Files| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020802223743/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/places2k.html| archive-date=August 2, 2002}}
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Kansas}}
* [[High Plains (United States)]]
* [[Great Plains]]
{{See also Kansas counties}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Kansas books}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Haskell County, Kansas}}
;County
* {{Official website|https://www.haskellcounty.org/|Haskell County - Official}}
* [https://www.lkm.org/members/?id=41260441 Haskell County - Directory of Public Officials]
;Maps
* Haskell County Maps: [https://www.ksdot.org/Assets/wwwksdotorg/bureaus/burTransPlan/maps/county-pdf/haskell.PDF Current], [https://www.ksdot.org/bureaus/burtransplan/maps/PastPublishedCounty.asp Historic], KDOT
* Kansas Highway Maps: [https://www.ksdot.org/burtransplan/maps/MapsState.asp Current], [https://www.ksdot.org/burtransplan/maps/HistoricStateMaps.asp Historic], KDOT
* Kansas Railroad Maps: [https://www.ksdot.org/BurTransPlan/maps/RRStateMap.asp Current], [https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/227379 1996], [https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/227380 1915], KDOT and Kansas Historical Society

{{Geographic location
|Center    = Haskell County, Kansas
|North     = [[Finney County, Kansas|Finney County]]
|Northeast = [[Gray County, Kansas|Gray County]]
|East      =  
|Southeast = [[Meade County, Kansas|Meade County]]
|South     = [[Seward County, Kansas|Seward County]]
|Southwest = [[Stevens County, Kansas|Stevens County]]
|West      = [[Grant County, Kansas|Grant County]]
|Northwest = [[Kearny County, Kansas|Kearny County]]
}}

{{Haskell County, Kansas}}
{{Kansas}}
{{Authority control}}
{{coord|37|34|N|100|52|W|type:adm2nd_region:US-KS|display=title}}

[[Category:Haskell County, Kansas| ]]
[[Category:Kansas counties]]
[[Category:1887 establishments in Kansas]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1887]]