SALT CREEK, TEXAS. Salt Creek was near the North Wichita River, presumably near its confluence with Salt Creek, in southeast Cottle County. The town was in existence by the late 1880s before the county organized and was settled near the Salt Creek crossing of a buffalo road from Henrietta. Names of early settlers included McGuire, Permenter, Simpson, and Day. The original name of the settlement was Zury, although a school established in 1891 took the title of Salt Creek. A post office was established by Richard V. Work at Zury on October 2, 1889, although Work changed its name to Cottle in April of 1980. Within a year O. J. Combest opened a general store. After the new town of Paducah became the county seat in 1892, the Cottle community became known as Salt Creek. The post office was discontinued and moved to Paducah in October of 1900. The rural settlement kept its identity through the late 1940s, although 1980 county maps gave no indication of its location.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ed Ellsworth Bartholomew, The Encyclopedia of Texas Ghost Towns (Fort Davis, Texas, 1982). Carmen Taylor Bennett, Our Roots Grow Deep: A History of Cottle County (Floydada, Texas: Blanco Offset Printing, 1970).

Charles G. Davis