Caprock Chronicles: Area trails wander through Caprock's rich history

Caprock Chronicles is edited weekly by Jack Becker a Librarian at Texas Tech University Libraries. This week's article by Dolores Mosser explores the Trail of Living Water and how the region's roads have been connected to the environment over the years.

Let’s take a drive! My passion for Texas’ backroads, and dirt roads, began with Sunday afternoon drives around southern Bailey County with my parents. We would climb in the pickup to tour local farms, our family’s ranchland, near Enochs or nearby Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge. Consequently, driving around and learning every detail of my “backyard” became a favorite pastime and the focus of my graduate studies at Texas Tech.

Many of my friends and colleagues, share my love for the “Road Less Taken.” For example, a recent installment of Caprock Chronicles (December 2, 2018) announced the forthcoming book on the Santa Fe Trail by Dr. Clint Chambers and Dr. Paul Carlson. Their research focused on extension routes of the Santa Fe Trail that crossed the northern Llano Estacado. Many trail enthusiasts are members of the West Texas Trail Association, an important regional organization, devoted to the promotion/research of lessor known routes across our region. Two local historic commissions-museums created a highly regarded “Historic Driving Tours.”

Trails in the arid Southwestern United States were based on the presence of water. These trails, initiated by animals, and early humans, were chains linking life-sustaining water sources. The history of a region, therefore, begins by taking a closer look at the surroundings with an enhanced set of field glasses. What do you see?

Researching my home county lead to my first discovery, an intriguing map compiled by Bailey County seventh graders in 1976. The students took great care to show the hydrology of the county. Area lakes, small creeks and the courses of the ancient Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River, Blackwater Draw and Yellow House Draw, were outlined.

The students pinpointed abandoned communities, isolated one-room schools, and historic ranches, known by their cattle brand; the VVN, Muleshoe, XIT, Janes, Figure 4, and the Door Key Ranch. The Door Key Ranch was located near the old school of Bula about five miles southeast of the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge, the first national game reserve in Texas (1935).

While driving Bailey County roads, many are surprised with its abrupt landscape changes, with six salt lakes, fresh water springs, towering buttes, and sand dune belt across the entire county. At a scenic overlook on State Highway 214, one sees the deep winding canyon of Yellow House Draw- the ancient Brazos River.

Situated along the Ft. Sumner Wagon Road and Cattle Trail, another name for the Trail of Living Water lies the long-lost town called “Virginia City.” The “Living Water” Trail got its name from the fact that travelers could find water sources at a distance of a day’s travel by foot or horseback.

The Ft. Sumner Road/Trail of Living Water originated in Lubbock and followed the path of the Brazos River, Yellow House Draw/Blackwater Draw across Lubbock, Hale, Hockley, Lamb, and Cochran counties before entering and crossing Bailey County. The trail passed sixteen water stations in Texas and New Mexico, before arriving at the Pecos River.

In order to find more information about the environment of the old Ft. Sumner Road, a regional tourism brochure provided the first clue. In 1968, the State of Texas launched 10 regional scenic driving trails. Informative brochures explained the geography of each regions. The Plains Trail brochure provided an explanation of the landscape in southern Bailey County. It stated:

“A few miles north of the community of Enochs is an unusual feature of the plains. The highway crosses a depression stretching from southwest to northeast. The depression is a “sink” of indefinite origin, in which are three natural rainwater lakes.” The lakes are the Muleshoe Refuge lakes, which welcome huge numbers of migratory waterfowl each winter including the nation’s largest concentration of sand-hill crane.

In 2005, our region’s first “Texas Last Frontier Ranch Tour” was created by the Historical Commissions of Hockley/Cochran Counties. This event gave hundreds of eager visitors the opportunity to board buses and spend the day ranch-hopping and see heritage sites on the Trail of Living Water.

The Quanah Parker Trail (QPT) is a recent award-winning program sponsored by the Texas Plains Trail Region of the Texas Historical Commission. The QPT website shows many important Comanche camps and watering places on the Trail of Living Water, designated by commemorative Quanah Parker arrows.

As dedicated trail enthusiasts, we want visitors to imagine the perils of crossing immense grasslands, and enduring harsh realities of the vast environment. We take great pride in locating places of human activity. By sharing our knowledge, we hope to preserve the placement of ancient roads and promote new roads that lead us to the past.