BUCHEL COUNTY. The Texas legislature passed an act making Buchel, Foley, and Jeff Davis counties out of Presidio County on March 15, 1887, shortly after passing a similar act making Brewster County out of part of Presidio County. The original Brewster County occupied the northwestern portion of what is now Brewster County, and Buchel County occupied the northeastern part, including the town of Marathon, which was selected as the county seat. Buchel and Foley counties were not organized, however, and on March 22, 1889, the legislature passed an act attaching them to Brewster County for surveying purposes. Buchel County had 298 residents, all but eleven of whom were white, in 1890. Seven years later the legislature passed a bill abolishing Buchel and Foley counties and attaching their territory to Brewster County; this bill was presented to Governor Charles A. Culberson on April 9, 1897, but he neither signed it nor returned it with his objections to the Senate within the constitutional time limit, so it became law without his signature. With the abolition of Buchel and Foley counties, Brewster County became the largest in Texas. Buchel County was named for A. Carl Buchel.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hans Peter Nielsen Gammel, comp., Laws of Texas, 1822-1897 (10 vols., Austin: Gammel, 1898).
