SWEETWATER

city, seat (1881) of Nolan county, west-central Texas, U.S. It lies on the Callahan Divide between the Colorado and Brazos rivers, 41 miles (66 km) west of Abilene. A trading post called Blue Goose (1877) on nearby Sweetwater Creek was moved to the present site when the Texas and Pacific Railway arrived (1881). Sweetwater was incorporated in 1884, but its growth was handicapped by a severe blizzard (1885), which devastated livestock, and by a great drought (188687); the resulting desolation formed the background for Dorothy Scarborough's novel The Wind (1925). The town's recovery as a cattle, cotton, and wool centre was sustained by the arrival of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (1911). Local oil resources were tapped in the 1920s, and deposits of gypsum, sand, and clay have been worked since the 1940s. The city's industries manufacture wearing apparel and electronic products. The nearby Sweetwater, Trammell, and Oak Creek lakes are maintained for water supply and recreation. Annual fairs, expositions, and indoor rodeos are held at the Nolan County Coliseum in Newman Park, where live snakes, caught during the annual (March) Rattlesnake Roundup and used for snakebite serum and medical research, are displayed. Inc. city, 1902. Pop. (1993 est.) 11,919.