The Palo Duro Canyon holds more mystique and charm for me than the Grand Canyon. It’s not as deep or as long, but it’s in Texas! It was not carved out by a mighty river like the Colorado or Rio Grande — it was eroded by the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River.
What a marvelous home it made for the Comanche. Water and forage for their horses. Good hunting with buffalo herds roaming the Llano Estacado. Safe and secure camping spots for their families. Their history here still remains in some of the town names near the canyon — Quitaque and Quanah.
There are other landmarks of the Comanche here that bear silent witness to a sad part of our history. Mackenzie Reservoir, near Silverton, is in Tule Canyon, which was the site of Colonel Ranald Mackenzie’s infamous slaughter of Comanche horse herds. Defeated by the loss of their source of transportation, the Comanche were finally forced out of their canyon home and onto reservations in Oklahoma.
In 1876, Charlie Goodnight came from Pueblo, Colorado with a herd of longhorns. Here in the canyon he established the JA Ranch in partnership with John Adair. Read more of their story in the Handbook of Texas.
Today, the Palo Duro Canyon is a Texas State Park, called The Grand Canyon of Texas.
