TX: Loving County

MENTONE, TX - APRIL 6: Mike Vaughan stands on a fence waiting for a herd of yearling calves to be brought in during a cattle round-up on the Haley family's 9000-acre ranch April 6, 2007 in Mentone, Texas. Mentone is the county seat of Loving County. The third generation of her family to work the drought-prone land, Mary Nell Haley organized her extended family and nearby cowboy friends to gather the yearling heifers for branding and cutting. Her property benefits from productive oil and gas wells. Loving County's 84 residents are reported to have one of the highest per-capita incomes in the US of $89,471. The high income level in the sparsely populated county is due to the large oil and gas reserves. Much of Loving County's oil wealth began during the oil boom of the late 1920's - 1930's. The county's natural gas production came later in the 1970's. Incorporated in 1893, Loving County has no school system and buses its children to adjacent Winkler County. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)