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| How to Get There Palo Duro Canyon is a state park that can only be reached from the west . Take FM 217 east from Canyon. Canyon lies south of Amarillo on Interstate 27. You can also check out this map for Canyon's location. Canyon is the home to West Texas A&M and the Panhandle Plains Museum, the largest historical museum in Texas. |
| The United States' second largest canyon is breath taking in its beauty and tragic in its history. Lying just south of Amarillo, Palo Duro Canyon's colorful rock is cut by forks of the Red River. The Canyon was once home to the Comanche and the Kiowa, One can really visualize the camps they made along the bases of the mountains, carrying water from the reddish stream that meandered along the clay soil. If you listen closely, you may even hear the distant thunder of long forgotten buffalo herds. But the Plains Indians way of life was under constant attack by powerful railroads, persuasive missionaries, land hungry farmers and ranchers, tricky politicians, and greedy bankers. Palo Duro Canyon proved the last battleground in the Red River War. In 1874, Ranald S. MacKenzie, a Union general based out of Fort Richardson, surrounded the Plains Indian camps on all sides. Though a shootout ensued, casualties on both sides were slight, and the Plains Indians knew they were outnumbered and outgunned. Surrender was not enough for the U.S. Calvary, however. In this war of attrition, MacKenzie and his troops took the Natives' horses, which numbered over 1,000, to a clearing a few miles south of the Canyon. The troops then slaughtered the horses in a hail of bullets that must have lasted hours. The cries of the scared beasts must have been deafening. MacKenzie just did what other commanders did before him - George Custer had killed all of the Cheyenne's horses after the Battle of the Washita, too. Both men knew that to kill the horse was to force the Indian off the land, for horses was the Plains Indians' only source of wealth. The Comanche, Cheyenne, Kiowa and Apache surrendered - among them Quanah Parker, Kicking Bird, White Bear, Satank, and Satanta. They were forced to live their lives on the reservations surrounding Fort Sill in Indian Territory. Within five years after the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, the last buffalo herd of the Southern Plains was killed by hide hunters near Adobe Walls. The frontier ceased to exist. Just remember when you visit Palo Duro Canyon that its stark beauty exposes dark wounds. |
| The marker commemorating the Palo Duro Canyon battle. |
| Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River |
| The recreated Charles Goodnight dugout inside the park. Goodnight ranched here for several years, and 'allowed' Kiowa and Comanche warriors to conduct buffalo hunts on 'his' land, of which a film was shot in 1915. The movie is available at the Palo Duro Canyon State Park Store. |
| Palo Duro Canyon: The Birthplace of the Red River |
