Fossil Beds
Miami, Roberts County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Three miles southeast) Cited as one of most prolific fossil fields of lower Pliocene age at time of discovery, these beds are about 13,000,000 years old. Geologists of Rio Bravo Oil Company found them in 1928 on C. C. Coffee Ranch, and their reports brought specialists from several major institutions to the area. The fossil bones buried here included (among others) those of a prehistoric camel, a kind of antelope, horse, bone-crushing dog, mastodon, and wild pig. Further studies led scientists in 1941 to adopt "Hemphillian" as the name for the geologic age represented by these fossils. (1970)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1928, geologists from the Rio Bravo Oil Company stumbled onto one of the richest lower Pliocene fossil fields ever found, buried on the C. C. Coffee Ranch in Roberts County. The beds preserved bones of prehistoric camels, antelope, horses, a bone-crushing dog, mastodon, and wild pig, dating back roughly 13 million years. The find drew specialists from major institutions, and by 1941 scientists named an entire geologic age—the "Hemphillian"—for what these fossils revealed.
Why it matters
The Coffee Ranch beds gave North American paleontology a benchmark for dating an era, showing how Texas oil-country geology fed a national scientific enterprise.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Pampa Army Air Force Base
Pampa, TX
In the early 1940s Pampa's mayor and chamber of commerce lobbied Washington to bring a military base to the Panhandle, and the Army—drawn by the flat terrain and clear skies—broke ground in June 1942. The Pampa Army Air Force Base trained thousands of pilots and mechanics for World War II, boasting one of the best safety records in the Training Command. It closed in 1945 after just three years, having trained 6,292 cadets and 3,500 mechanics.
Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area
Canadian, TX
The Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area spreads over some 6,000 acres of sandhills, meadows, and woodland along the north bank of the Canadian River. Acquired by the State of Texas in 1951, it honors Amarillo newspaper publisher Eugene A. Howe, a conservationist who served nearly two decades on the Texas Game and Fish Commission. Created as a research and demonstration ground for game management—white-tailed deer, wild turkey, quail, and waterfowl—it developed and shared better wildlife practices with landowners across the High Plains.
Will Rogers
Higgins, TX
One of America's most beloved humorists first sharpened the rope tricks that made him famous as a young cowboy on the Little Robe Ranch near Higgins. Will Rogers had left school in 1898 after some pranks and drifted into Texas, forming a lifelong friendship with his employer's son before joining a wild west show in 1902 and rising to national fame. His life ended in 1935 in a plane crash alongside aviator Wiley Post during a pioneering flight around the globe.
Lindberghs Land at Spearman
Spearman, TX
At about 10:50 on the morning of September 24, 1934, a small monocoupe touched down in a pasture west of here, and the pilot taxied to a windmill and asked the startled resident if he could park in her back yard. He was Charles Lindbergh, flying from California to New York with his wife Anne and, low on fuel, choosing tiny Spearman precisely to dodge the crowds a big town would bring. Word spread anyway; schoolchildren were let out to glimpse the famous aviator before he took off two hours later.