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"On October 16, 1874, only four months after the Battle of Adobe Walls, Mackenzie's command camped along Quitaque Creek between present-day Quitaque and Turkey, Texas. The area, with its rugged canyons, running water, and stands of cedar and cottonwood, was a favorite camping spot of the Quahadas . . . " Read more Look inside

Battles of the Red River War unearths a long-buried record of the collision of two cultures.

"The smaller and lesser-known battles include Col. Ranald Mackenzie's engagement on the night of September 26 and the morning of September 27 with Kiowa and Comanche warriors near Tule Canyon in present Briscoe County. This battle was a prelude to the engagement on September 28 in Paladuro Canyon  . . . " Read more Look inside

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lonesome Dove traces the lives and careers of two of the American West's most famous show people and a glimpse into his own childhood.

"When I was eight years old (1944), I was sitting in a hot pickup near Silverton, Texas, bored stiff, waiting for my father and two of my uncles, Charlie and Roy McMurtry, to conclude a cattle deal . . . Read more Look inside

"Jobs were scarce in Briscoe County. It wasn't as if he had a lot of choices. For the second time this year he was interviewing for work. Although he'd gone thirteen years without riding a horse, he knew he'd have no trouble riding. Roping would" . . . Read more Look inside

by Miriam Joy Wood

After Daddy was discharged from the service, they traded their land at Ft. Sumner for a farm near Lockney, Texas. Then in 1926 they traded that land for the farm that I always knew as home. Our home was located 13 miles southwest of Silverton. The pavement from Silverton to Tulia was six miles north of us so our roads were not passable at all with any kind of moisture, however when I first remember we didn't go anywhere anyway... Read more

Loneliness pervaded the lives of pioneers on the American plains, including the empty expanses of West Texas. Most settlers lived in isolation broken only by occasional community gatherings such as funerals and religious.

"Tom Black remembered a one day-long, fifteen-mile trip to Silverton, Texas, in the early 1900s. There was a crowd around the courthouse, the biggest crowd he had ever seen . . ."  Read more, Look inside

This story covers the time tunnel of the Great Depression in an area of Texas that had not changed for several decades and would continue to progress only slowly until the 1960s.

"The weather was not only violent, but it was sudden.  I was particularly vulnerable when the change in weather affected the roads. In 1939, Briscoe County didn't have one inch of paved roads . . . Read more Look inside

"By the time they reached the Caprock and Motley County, they were footsore and hungry, so they put down their stakes at the settlement of Quitaque.  An indispensable part of any frontier town was the blacksmith shop, and young Bass opened his first shop at Quitaque in 1897"  . . . Read more . . . for more like this please see Texas Cowboy History

An interesting story of life on a Texas ranch told by the daughter of Solon Love Owens born in 1894 including remembrances of his father, James W. Owens, born in 1855 . . . Read more

"There has been a recent ghost sighting of a slightly different sort reported by the Hotel Turkey not long ago. A young guest in her 20s woke up in the night to see a figure standing in the doorway between the bedroom and the bathroom..." . . .  Check it out . . . for more stories like this see Mysterious Texas

The Indians, although no doubt apprised of the approach of the troops after the attack at Tule Canyon, were evidently not looking for a pitched battle so soon; otherwise they would have gathered their ponies and packed their tepees, all of which were left behind. colonel Mackenzie ordered the  . . . Read more Look inside

Part travelogue, part natural history, and part documentary, A Walk across Texas is the record of three friends’ journey from the Panhandle to Granbury—a 450-mile walk across West Texas.

"We thanked him and headed for Quitaque where we stopped at Karol's Kountry . . . "  Read more Look inside

by James J. Griffin

In Bullet for a Ranger, Jim Blawcyzk is in jail in the town of Quitaque, Texas, accused of murdering a saloon girl. Someone in the town wants Blawcyzk out of the way at all costs. With his trial fast approaching, and everyone in town convinced of his guilt, Jim must somehow find a way from his jail cell to prove his innocence, and fast. With his only ally the town padre, the task appears impossible even . . . Read more

Crammed with fascinating facts, historical vignettes, and snappy anecdotes, this book gives the lowdown on this sprawling state.

"Hold on — that reminds me of Quitaque — pronounced kit-a-kway — set in a striking landscape just east of the Caprock in Briscoe County. Quitaque was named by the pioneer cattleman of the Panhandle, Charles Goodnight. Let's see" . . . Read more

Author David La Vere offers a complete chronological and cultural history of Texas Indians from 12,000 years ago to the present day.

"Now with a quality projectile point, Folsom people became choosy consumers, as the lake site near Quitaque in the Panhandle shows. At Lake Theo, Folsom peoples erected a base camp. From there, they drove bison into nearby canyons . . . " Read more Look inside

Within the pages of this book these genuine legends who rode through a golden moment in American history live on. Found inside: "Interviewed 26 July 1989 in Silverton. Frank Yeary was born November 3, 1909, in Floyd County, where he cut his cowboy teeth at age twelve or thirteen for the Lewis and Letts operation . . . Read more

Paul Carlson engagingly chronicles the development of the range sheep and goat industry from Spanish times to about 1930, when widespread use of mesh-wire fences brought an end to the open-range management of sheep and goat ranches in Texas.

"Grazing circuits extended into the Red River drainage system as far southeast a Tule and Quitaque canyons and beyond into the Brazos River basin. Jesus Perea herded his flocks of thirty thousand sheep to Tahoka Lake, Yellowhouse Canyon, and Blanco Canyon . . . " Read more Look inside

Found Inside: "John Adair died unexpectedly in 1885, and Cornelia Adair became Goodnight's partner. Most commentators assert that Cornelia would become more engaged in JA affairs than John had ever been. Cornelia's partnership with Goodnight would end in 1887, and she would continue as sole owner of the ranch for the next thirty-three years. By 1887 the ranch had grown to over six hundred thousand acres and covered portions of Armstrong, Randall, Donley, Briscoe, Swisher, Floyd and Hall Counties" . . . Read more Look inside

Autobiography of Radie Britain who was born on a ranch near Silverton, Texas

"Fossils have been known for years along Rock Creek in Briscoe County, Texas, and were derived from several discrete localities during a complicated excavation history" . . . Read more Look inside

by Briscoe County Historical Survey Committee

West Texas History & Memories (Face Book Group)

Texas History in the 19th Century (Amazon)

Vintage Texas Photos (eBay #Ad)

Early Life in Texas County by County

Stories about Texas People - County by County