HISTORY of TI12 South2st
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/VGt /vmi TEIPORTANCE OF RED RIVER IN TiE HISTORY OF TI12 SOUTh2ST TILESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State Teachers College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE By Cleo Rains Charlie, Texas August, 1940 88V , , ., , , 4, -, - - i:- , , - -, -, ,, .4 - 4.AmW--;- - -- :- 8839i C 3/N JTE17GT Page Chapter I . 01E TRrP-NY1AiD PHYSICAL CAATERIS TICS I. PA I .. D FRE 1 ERA . .................. .. 14 III. EARLY AMERICAN EXPLRATIO1 ALoNG1 RED R VER . 49 IV. SETTLEMENTS A:D EARLY. TRADE ON RED RIVER . 68 V. RED RIVER A KS A B)UDARY . 98 VI. E.OEiT IPROVEMEST PROJECTS Oi RED aRIVE R . 126 VII. RED ITVER ATER Foul CENTURIES: TUJAY . ..... ....... 137 BI BLIGRAPHY . * . .143 iii __ PREFA ( It has been te& years or more since I first stood on a bluf: over-looking Red River and followed its course into the West so far that its many meanders were lost to my sight, and only a wide red scar remained to penetrate the valley. Since that time I have observed the river many time, and with each observation have been keenly interested in its geographic chang s. I welcomed an opportunity to make a study of Red kivtr, The Indians first made their homes in the fertile valley lads aIong the river. They fished, rowed their canoes upon its waters, aid cut willows from its banks to build their wig- wars .. he French dCSpanish were engaged in continuous ri- valry over t>: ossessio of the fertile valley lands aloeg the river, and thLy bUilt forts awd postin oruer to check each other's advance. Exploring parties bean their e-cur- si c< nrto the Red River country even before the American purchase of Louisiana, and the river was fated historically to become involved in a series of boundary disputes extend- ng from the time of the earliest settlement until the pres- ent day. The rugged pioneer took advantage of the opportu- nt.es offered hipm, n early forts and posts were replaced by thriving foins and cities. Instead of rafts and ferries, steel bridges span the river, and huge das and reservoirs retain its waters. iv ; y interest has deepened with the knowledge derived from this study, and I believe that Red Aiter ie destineC to play an even more Iimportant part in the history of the Southwest . V CHAPTER I GEOGRAPHY AND P1RYICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RED RIVER Red River has demanded more attention and has needed more exploration, possibly, than any other river in Texas. Not only has it been explored in order to determine its gen- eral location, but it has also been the basis for numerous boundary disputes. Sometimes the river, when drained by drought and by irri- gation, is hardly a river at all, but only a wide strip of white sand baking and glaring in the sun. It is an impres- sive stream only in times of flood, and then it becomes a red torrent, often a mile in width, lifting an angry crest of sand-waves, devouring its own low banks, earth, trees, and all, as though in a furious effort to carry away the whole country and dump it into the sea. Red River is the southernmost of the large tributaries of the Mississippi. It takes its origin in the high plains of West Texas in the extreme western part of Deaf Smith County with some of its tributaries originating in northeast- ern New Mexico in Curry and Quay Counties. The river flows southeast across the high pla nsf or a distance of 539 miles, serves as a boundary line between Texas and Oklahoma. After 1crant Foreman, "River Navigation in the Early Southwest," isiissippi 4Vall Historical Review, XV (1928-1929), 49. I passing the northeast corner of Texas, Red River flows south- east to Fulton, in southwestern Arkansas, there it turns south to Shreveport, Louisiana and thence makes its way in a south- easterly direction through Louisiana to the bank of the Miss- issippi. Here it discharges partly into the Mississippi and partly into the Atchafalaya Bayou which in turn empties into the Gulf of Mexico.2 The elevation at its source is 4,500 feet, and the en- tire length from the source to the Mississippi is 1,360 miles.3 The river's drainage basin has an area of at least 90,000 square miles, and its discharge reaches from 3,500 cubic feet to 13,000 cubic feet per second. 4 The principal tributaries are the Salt and North Forks of the Red River and the Wichita, Sulphur, and Pease. The South Fork was considered the main channel by the Supreme 5 Court in 1896, when it awarded Greer County to Oklahoma. The Comanche Indians called this fork of the river the "Ke-che-a- qui-ho-no" or Prairie Dog Town River because of the immense 6 number of prairie dogs inhabiting the plains along the streams. 2 University of Texas Bulletin, No. 2627, July 15, p. 27. 3 Texas Almanac, 1936, p. 135. 4 D. C. Mc urtrie, "First Texas Newspaper," Southwestern Historical Association uaSerl, XXXVI (1932-19T, 42. 5 Texas Almanac, 1936, p. 183. 6 Grant Foreman, Adventures onRed River p. 00. The country bordering both sides of the South Fork near its headwaters in Deaf Smith County has been cut up by numer- ous deep gorges. These deep cuts or canyons extend from the chain of mural escarpments that terminate in the high plains to the river, and in many of them are small streams of water which issue from the springs in the rocky sides of the gorge,. Finally the gorge narrows down to a channel of only about twenty feet, shut in by high sandstone cliffs rising to the height of approximately eiyht hundred feet upon each side, and gradually closed in until they are only a few yards apart leaving but a narrow channel at the base from which emerges the pr inc ipal branch of Red River. This spring bursts out from its cavernous reservoir, and leaping down over the huge masses of rocks below, forms the Palo Duro Canyon. The sum- mit of the escarpment over the head of the spring spreads out in one uninterrupted desert to the base of the mountains east 8 of the Rio Grande. The river runs for a distance of about sixty-five miles through this defile, and then emerges from the canyon and spreads out over a broad sandy bed and flows for about five hundred miles thr ough a semi-arid plain. Foren.an, Adventures on Red River, p. 85. 8 bid., pp. 89-92. R. G. Thwaites, Earl Aestern Travels, XVI, 138. 4 In general, timber is very sparse all along the upper forks of Red River. Aridity of soil and of the atmosphere, combined with the comparatively htgh and constant winds, con- stitute the main factors in the extreme conditions which pre- clude the growth of timber. Exceptions to the general rule are to be found in moist draws, alo: creek channels, and along most of the rivers course in locations where soil and moisture are abundant. Even in such localities, however, 10 trees are stunted and thingly scattered. From the head.of-. the river to just below the 100th meridian the trees are noth- ing more than dwarfed shrubs. Down the river from that point the timber is less and less confined to the broken and hilly sections of the country, and the shrubs increase in size until they reach the stature of full grown trees in the vicinity of 11 Denison. From there on down the stream the trees get larger and denser until they form a heavy forest in the lower courses of the river. The two most important tributaries flowing into the main channel are Salt Fork and vMulberry Creek, both of which, when flowing, carry water which has a peculiar taste com- municated by ingredients that they receive in flowing over a gypsum formation which extends across the country for some 1 0 University of Texas Bulletin, No 2327, p. 28. 1 R . B. Marcy, Exploration of tbQ Red River of Louisiana, p. 83 four or five hundred miles in the region of the Staked 12 Plains . The source ol the North Fork of Red River is about thirt-five Jmilesfrom the Canadian in Carson County near the town of hite Deer. The Comanche Indians called this fork of Red River Mobetia :ono, meaning "Walnut River ." The North Fork has many tributaries running into it from the northern part of :klahoma and western Texas . The water, although not entirely free from salts, can be used in case of great extremity.13 About two miles above Devilts Canyon in Wilbarger County, the North and South Forks of the River meet. The river bed increases in width to a mile or more, and is bor- dered on either side by rolling sand hills. In this part of the river there are two or more channels even in rela- 14 tively low water stages . The channel increases in depth and width and in quantity and permanency of rater from the headwaters to the outh of the river; however in time of drought, it may be forded at any place, so that a person may pass along the bed. 1 5 During high water, the quicksands 12Foreman, adventures on Red River p. 149. 13Ibid., p. 3 . 14 University of Texas Bulletin, No. 2327, p. 28. 15 R. 0. Thiaites, Lvrly Western Travels, VIII, 328, in the bed of the stream become loose and unstable, and make 16 it hazardous to attempt a crossing with animals.