Various tribes of Plains Indians of historic times also used Palo Duro Canyon as a camping ground. The presence of these Indians is known from many campsites and burials. In addition, flint chips and stone artifacts, potsherds, ornaments of shell and bone, grinding slabs, stone mortars ([fig. 15]), and a few pictographs ([fig. 3]) have provided considerable information about the culture of these people. Among the tribes believed to have frequented the canyon at various times are the Apaches, Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowas, and Comanches. However, it is the Comanches who are most closely associated with the Palo Duro area, for the canyon is located near the center of their last homeland. Indeed it was here that the Comanches were finally defeated and driven from this part of the Plains. The battlefield where Colonel Ranald Mackenzie’s troops fought the Comanches is located near the southeast corner of the park (see [fig. 7]). This skirmish, which took place in 1874, is believed to have been the last major Indian battle in Texas.
Although most of the canyon’s archeological sites have been picked over and many of the artifacts removed, important finds are still occasionally reported. Park visitors who make discoveries of this type are urged to report them to a park ranger in order that they might be called to the attention of the proper authorities.
ADVENT OF THE WHITE MAN
Although the history of Palo Duro Canyon is rich in Indian lore, it was the coming of the white man that heralded the development of the area. Today it is generally believed that Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was the first white man to view the canyon. Coronado and his men are thought to have camped here during the winter of 1541, as they crossed the High Plains in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola.
Fig. 2. Place map of Palo Duro Canyon.
Later, during the 17th and 18th centuries, the canyon was a favorite resting place of the buffalo hunters and Indian traders who frequented the Plains. The canyon was also popular during the first half of the 19th century, for it was then that it was occupied by the Comanches and served as a trade center for the Spaniards and Indians who came from New Mexico. These traders, called comancheros, bartered for loot taken by the Comanches on their raids of early settlements and wagon trains that passed through the Panhandle-Plains region.
This same [era] marked the beginning of American interest in the Palo Duro country. During this [period] the area was visited by several expeditions including those of Long and Pike and the Texas-Santa Fe Expedition of 1841. However, the canyon was not fully explored or mapped until 1852. This important survey was carried out by a party which was under the supervision of Captain R. B. Marcy.
But it was not until 1876 that the first white man established permanent residence in Palo Duro Canyon. In 1876—just two years after McKenzie’s rout of the Comanches—Colonel Charles Goodnight herded more than 1,600 head of cattle into the canyon. Here he laid out his first permanent ranch and lived in a primitive earthen dugout. Not only was Goodnight’s Palo Duro Ranch the first in the canyon, it is also thought to have been the first commercial cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle. In later years Colonel Goodnight formed a partnership with John Adair of Ireland, and together they developed the famous JA Ranch—a vast spread of some 600,000 acres. Today’s visitor to Palo Duro Canyon can visit a partially restored dugout similar to that occupied by the canyon’s early settlers ([fig. 30]).
