Plains Trail Region, This Daydream Landscape Is Reality, Where Cowboy Culture and Ranching Heritage Come to Life
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Land of the Frontier Spirit — owboys, cattle and wide-open spaces –– for many, it’s Texas of the imagination. In the Texas Plains Trail Region, this daydream landscape is reality, where cowboy culture and ranching heritage come to life. This 52-county southern stretch of the Great Plains has always attracted self-reliant folks — Native Americans, Spanish explorers, ranchers, farmers and oilmen — who lived off the land and left their mark behind. Archeological sites reveal 12,000-plus years of human occupation. Paleoindians used projectile points including Folsom and Clovis types to hunt ancient bison and mammoth. Apache tribes were here from the 16th century until after 1700, when Comanches arrived on Spanish mustangs, dominating life on the plains until the late 1800s. Naming the area Llano Estacado, or staked plains, Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado arrived in 1541 searching for gold and silver. According to legend he marked his route across the treeless plains with stakes. Residents of Northern Mexico, in what is now New Mexico, hauled goods in oxcarts from ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Santa Fe to trade with the Comanches. Freighter Josiah Gregg dubbed the traders Comancheros. By the 1840s, Anglos traveled along the Santa Fe Trail in wagon trains, trading goods hauled between Fort Smith, Arkansas and Santa Fe. LIPSCOMB COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION BACKGROUND PHOTO: WYMAN MEINZER By the 1870s, tensions climaxed between settlers and Native Americans. Commercial hunters increasingly killed huge numbers of buffalo for h histor the hide market, and U.S. troops arrived to patrol the Santa Fe Trail . W ere y When Native Americans attacked twice in or near an abandoned trading post called Adobe Walls, the U.S. Army launched the Red River War and culture blend of 1874–75, which ended the nomadic life of Southern Plains Indians. — They were forcibly relocated to reservations in present Oklahoma. Discover frontier life, diverse cultures and With Native Americans no longer in the area, Hispanic sheep- the pioneer spirit in dynamic museums, herders called pastores arrived from New Mexico. Trail-hardened cowboys drove millions of cattle unique historic buildings and vibrant festivals. from South Texas to Northern markets, spawning the state’s most iconic figure — the Texas cowboy. THC CENTER FOR AMERICAN HISTORY, UT AT AUSTIN ANCESTRAL.COM 12,000 B.C. 1541–1601 1830–1875 Archeological sites reveal Spanish explorers Francisco The life and culture of 12,000-plus years of human Vásquez de Coronado and Plains Indians depended occupation. Juan de Oñate searched for on vast buffalo herds Lubbock Lake Landmark, wealth in the High Plains. for survival. shown above. 2 TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Cattlemen such as Charles Goodnight established large ranches. Their During the early 1900s, many large ranches were divided into branded longhorn cattle roamed the open range, a practice brought cotton and wheat farms. Gasoline-powered tractors began increasing to an end beginning in the 1870s with the invention of barbed wire. agricultural production in the decades before World War II, and the The region still has working cattle ranches, some paying homage to their economy further benefited by oil discoveries and the development cowboy heritage by offering tours, lodging and dude ranch activities. of all-weather highways, including legendary Route 66. The 1880s brought two other major advances –– the windmill History is not the only attraction to the Texas Plains Trail Region. and the railroad. Windmills pumped water from underground aquifers, From the wide-open spaces and playa lakes to big skies and stunning allowing wider settlement of the otherwise arid region. sunsets, the beauty of this area is one of its many secrets. Most of the The state attracted railroads by donating region sits on a flat plateau called the Caprock — a hard layer public lands for new rail lines, formed millions of years ago atop sedimentary deposits. The eroded offering the region improved eastern edge of this 36,000-square-mile mesa forms ravine-like access to distant markets. breaks and canyons plunging 300 to 800 feet, most notably in Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the United States. Today, this rugged beauty, paired with the numerous historic and cultural sites sprinkled throughout the region, offers an incomparable experience for every traveler. Hike canyon rims to Texas’ only national monument, watch archeologists excavate prehistoric artifacts and view Native American rituals. Discover frontier life, diverse cultures and the pioneer spirit in dynamic museums, unique historic buildings and vibrant festivals. Grab this travel guide, get in the car and catch the spirit of the Texas Plains Trail Region. AMON CARTER MUSEUM, FORT WORTH 1870s Early 1900s Branded longhorn cattle roamed During the early 1900s, many unfenced open range, a tradition large ranches were divided ended by barbed wire fencing in into cotton and wheat farms. the 1880s. The Museum of Agriculture in Lubbock, shown above. 3 Co ldwat er 207 R Cre 15 io ek THE TEXAS PLAINS TRAIL REGION B Stratford Palo Duro lanc 4 Perryton The following cities are a 385 Reservoir Cr e 2 305 e 15 23 87 k highlighted in this guide and 102 3 Lipscomb the number refers to the 287 Spearman 1 136 5 213 city’s location on the map. Dalhart 83 Lake 207 60 Rita Blanca Canadian Rive 54 r 27 Dumas 6 AMARILLO 49 87 Canadian 152 Stinnett BIG SPRING 16 70 33 BORGER 29 Lake 60 354 Meredith 28 Borger Miami BOYS RANCH 26 29 83 Fritch 7 iver 26 Boys 152 30 BROWNFIELD 20 anadian R Mobeetie C Ranch Pampa 48 136 NEW MEXICO 207 CANADIAN 6 8 152 385 31 North Wheeler F OKLAHOMA CANYON 48 87 60 ork of the Red 287 Panhandle 273 Ri Adrian v e 25 k r CHILDRESS 12 ee 40 Vega an Cr Amarillo lell 9 10 CLARENDON 33 49 McC 40 CLAUDE 32 Claude McLean Shamrock Cr 32 uro eek COLORADO CITY 15 Palo D 48 Greenbelt Lake Red Riv Canyon Salt Fork of the er CROSBYTON 40 P 33 a lo Buffalo Du Clarendon RALLS 39 24 ro C 287 203 11 214 Lake an yo DALHART 1 Hereford n Wellington 60 DIMMITT 23 385 207 DUMAS 27 e D 256 62 23 Prairi og To Dimmitt 47 Lake wn he Re 86 Tulia Fork of t d Ri FLOYDADA 38 Running Mackenzie ver Wate Re r D Silverton 256 d FRITCH 28 ra 87 86 34 R w 194 86 Baylor Lake iv Farwell 35 12 e Childress r HALE CENTER 45 70 36 Lake Childress 84 Turkey 22 h P HEREFORD 24 Quitaque ort ease Muleshoe 46 N River 13 Quanah LAMESA 17 70 Plainview Pe 287 Coyote ve ase Lake 207 Ri r Lake 70 Pauline LIPSCOMB 5 84 B 45 e 62 lac Middl s 83 kw e Pea Rive LUBBOCK 44 ater Hale r 38 37 Matador r Paducah 27 Center e Floydada v D 62 i 62 70 R ich MATADOR 37 r 70 70 W i a t w h Littlefield W e rt a h P ase No Ri Crowell McLEAN 9 ouse it South ve H D e r 21 raw R Roaring ow Yell 62 iv ta MIAMI 7 e Springs hi 6 Morton r ic 39 Middle W MOBEETIE 8 62 Ralls 70 Levelland 44 Lubbock 82 40 outh Wich MORTON 21 114 Guthrie S ita River Whiteface Crosbyton 114 207 Benjamin MULESHOE 22 N 82 43 orth White 214 Fo Spur ver r River i PAMPA 30 Slaton k R 385 Lake 83 s D azo 222 o Br PANHANDLE 31 u b Sa le lt 208 F t PERRYTON 4 41 M or he 20 42 o k un of o Brownfield tai Braz s R Jayton Post n i 380 Tahoka PLAINVIEW 46 82 v Plains Fo e rk of r POST 41 D the B 62 ou raz 385 87 bl ntain Fork os 70 QUANAH 13 Seagraves 137 e Mou R Miles 0 10 20 30 ive 19 r QUITAQUE 36 83 K 0 10 20 30 40 84 SEAGRAVES 19 35 INTERSTATE HIGHWAY 62 17 377 SEMINOLE 18 180 18 Seminole U.S. HIGHWAY N Lamesa 180 14 S 180 Co em l Gail 171 STATE HIGHWAY SHAMROCK 10 in or ol ad Snyder 385 e o River SILVERTON 34 25 NUMBERS ON MAP MATCH Lake J.B. CITIES IN GUIDE SLATON 43 Thomas Colorado TEXAS PLAINS TRAIL SNYDER 14 87 350 City SPEARMAN 3 15 TRAVEL INFORMATION CENTER 20 Champion Creek STRATFORD 2 16 Reservoir 176 B eals Cree 163 TAHOKA 42 Big Spring k 208 TULIA 47 Texas history PLAINS TURKEY 35 down every road — VEGA 25 WELLINGTON 11 4 AMARILLO roles of the old-fashioned drugstore and the pioneer pharmacist. Antique New Mexican sheepherders of the 1880s christened the place Amarillo, pharmacy cases contain vintage beakers, bottles and scales. Spanish for “yellow,” probably for the yellow soil along the creek banks The 24,000-square-foot Amarillo Museum of Art showcases or the yellow wildflowers that are abundant during the spring and permanent and traveling collections — including watercolors by noted summer. Later a cattle-shipping point, this Texas Main Street City now artist Georgia O’Keeffe (who once taught art in Amarillo and Canyon), serves as the Panhandle’s commercial and cultural center. plus Asian art and Middle Eastern textiles. Just west of town, Cadillac The American Quarter Horse Museum uses interactive exhibits, Ranch pays homage to the golden age of driving. Ten Cadillacs (1949– video presentations, artifacts and live demonstrations to honor the quarter 1963), buried nose down in a cornfield, are covered with names and horse, a faithful mount during the Texas open-range era.