Greene Springs and Site of Archeological Discoveries
Snyder, Scurry County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Located at a place occupied by man for centuries, these springs compose the first, live (running) water that flows into the South Fork of the Clear Fork of the Brazos River. The waters, which collect in large potholes in a sandstone formation, have produced a constant flow since first discovered by settlers. For many centuries before, they were also visited by Indians. Food grinding holes and petroglyphs (rock carvings) on the sandstone creek walls give evidence of this early use. Since 1964, explorations by the Scurry Chapter, South Plains Archeological Society, have produced many artifacts such as stone knives and scrapers, beads, potsherds, and arrow points. In the nineteenth century, military units under Capt. R. B. Marcy (1849) and Gen. Robert E. Lee (1856) camped at Greene Springs. Somewhat later, buffalo hunters, freighters, and emigrants moving west and north stopped for water at this beautiful place. The springs were named about 1881 for J. I. "Jim" Greene, a horse rancher who moved here at that time. Greene and his family lived in two dugouts until their first house was built in 1890. Remains of the dugouts are still visible today in a nearby hill. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Greene Springs has drawn people for centuries as the first live water flowing into the South Fork of the Clear Fork of the Brazos, its potholes fed by a steady sandstone-filtered flow. Native peoples left food-grinding holes and petroglyphs on the creek walls, and archeologists have since recovered stone tools, beads, and arrow points. In the 19th century, military expeditions under Capt. R. B. Marcy in 1849 and Gen. Robert E. Lee in 1856 camped here, followed by buffalo hunters and westbound emigrants; the springs were named about 1881 for rancher "Jim" Greene.
Why it matters
The springs are a layered record of human presence on the Texas plains, from ancient Indigenous life to the soldiers, hunters, and settlers of westward expansion.
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Related people
- · R. B. Marcy
- · Robert E. Lee
- · Jim Greene
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Town of Camp Springs
Snyder, TX
Camp Springs took its name from W. H. Camp, who dug in beside the springs in 1878, but the land's human story ran far deeper, with pictographs and campsites left by Indigenous people who sheltered in nearby caves. The great California emigrant trail blazed by Captain R. B. Marcy in 1849 passed through this country, and in 1856 Robert E. Lee followed part of that same route while patrolling for Comanches. A post office opened in 1891 as the settlement took hold.
Site of The MacKenzie Trail
Snyder, TX
After the Civil War, the U.S. Army pushed to secure the West Texas frontier, and Colonel Ranald S. MacKenzie became the central figure in the campaigns against the Comanche and their allies. From forts like Griffin and Concho he blazed supply routes across the Plains toward Palo Duro Canyon, where in 1874 his troops broke the power of the Southern Plains tribes. The trail crossing near Snyder was so well known that the town's 1881 townsite abstracts referenced 'The MacKenzie Trail' as a landmark.
Home County of Famous Frontiersman J. Wright Mooar
Snyder, TX
Vermont-born J. Wright Mooar came west at nineteen and, with his brother, established the first buffalo-hunting camp in the Texas Panhandle in 1873. Over his career he shot an estimated 22,000 bison — including a rare albino whose hide his descendants still preserve — and later supplied game to railroad crews and turned to ranching. His marksmanship earned the respect of Comanche chief Quanah Parker, who became his friend.
Witness Tree
Snyder, TX
The hackberry stump across the street once served as a "witness tree" in the land surveys that carved up the West Texas frontier. Under Texas custom rooted in Spanish law, boundaries were fixed by natural and man-made witnesses and measured in varas and leagues, with grantees formally taking possession by shouting, throwing stones, and firing guns. When this land was first surveyed in 1873 for a railroad, it was still hostile country; surveyors worked with rifles on their shoulders, and only after buffalo hunters and Gen. Ranald Mackenzie's cavalry had cleared the plains did settlement follow.