Motley County (E-10), in the Rolling Plains region of Northwest Texas, is bounded on the east by Cottle County, on the south by Dickens County, on the west by Floyd County, and on the north by Briscoe and Hall counties. Its center is at 34°03' north latitude and 100°45' west longitude, about eighty miles northeast of Lubbock. The county is named for Junius William Mottley,qv who died in the battle of San Jacintoqv (a spelling error was made when the county was named.) This sparsely settled county comprises 959 square miles of rough and broken terrain drained by the North Pease, Middle Pease, and South Pease rivers and their tributaries. Elevations range between 1,928 and 3,034 feet above sea level. The county lies just below the Caprock.qv Its soils are sand and black and red clay, mixed or not mixed with sand. The average rainfall is 20.35 inches. The average minimum temperature is 26° F in January, and the average maximum is 96° in July. The growing season lasts 218 days. The county produces about $14 million average annual income from agriculture, half of which derives from beef cattle and horses and half primarily from cotton, peanuts, wheat, guar, and other grains. In the mid-1980s about 95 percent of the land in the county was in ranches and farms; 13 percent of the county was cultivated, and 9 percent was irrigated. In 1990 the county produced almost 304,500 barrels of crude oil. U.S. Highway 62/70 runs east to west; State Highway 70 is the major route north to south.

Comanches of the Wanderers, Liver-Eaters, and Downstream bands hunted buffaloqv and other game in the area before white settlement, but were displaced by the army's Indian campaigns of the 1870s. In 1876 the Texas legislature formed Motley County from lands formerly assigned to the Bexar District and attached the area to Crosby County for judicial purposes. Sometime in the 1870s a buffalo hunter named Ballard established a supply station at the springs that now bear his name. In the mid-1870s Frank Collinson was commissioned by Samuel R. Coggin to bring 8,000 of John S. Chisum'sqv cattle to establish the first ranch in the area. Collinson had known the country as a buffalo hunter in 1874, but had left because of problems with the Indians in the area. In 1878, Henry H. Campbellqv began buying cattle from Collinson and others for his Matador Land and Cattle Company.qv Campbell was the first owner of the famed Matador Ranch,qv which came to control much of the land in the area. In 1879 Arthur B. Cooperqv moved into the county and established a store at TeePee City, which, according to one source, was a "thriving" settlement at the time. In 1880 the census counted twenty-four residents in the county.