Home County of Famous Frontiersman J. Wright Mooar
Snyder, Scurry County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Aug. 10, 1851-May 1, 1940) Champion hunter of buffalo--largest game animal in North America. Born in Vermont; came west at 19. Began hunting in 1870 to supply hides for market. In partnership with his brother, John W. Mooar, in 1873 established first buffalo hunting camp in the Texas Panhandle. On Oct. 7, 1876, at his first hunting camp in Scurry County, killed a rare albino buffalo--one of two known to have been killed in Texas. The hide of that albino, afterward shown in 1904 St. Louis Fair and many other occasions, is now preserved here in Scurry County by Mooar's descendants. Hunted regularly until 1879; in 1881 helped furnish game and hay to feed construction men and animals building Texas & Pacific Railroad in West Texas. During his career, he shot about 22,000 buffalo--a record probably unsurpassed. His ability to hit a vital spot at a distance of 1,000 feet or farther won the respect of such Indians as Comanche Chief Quanah Parker, who became his friend in later life. Began ranching with his brother in 1877. Also had a business in Colorado City, 1881-1905. Highly esteemed. Site of killing of white buffalo (10 mi. NW of here) is near the Old Mooar Ranch headquarters, where his hand-hug water well is now surrounded by oil wells. (1967)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
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.
Why it matters
Mooar personifies the commercial buffalo hunt that transformed the Southern Plains, hastening the end of the great herds and the way of life of the Native nations who depended on them.
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Related people
- · J. Wright Mooar
- · John W. Mooar
- · Quanah Parker
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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.
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.
Home County of Famous Frontiersman J. Wright Mooar
Snyder, TX
In 1873 J. Wright Mooar and his brother John established the first buffalo-hunting camp in the Texas Panhandle, part of the hide trade that swept the southern plains. Wright's marksmanship became legendary—he downed a rare albino buffalo in Scurry County in 1876 and claimed some 22,000 kills, a skill that even earned the respect of Comanche chief Quanah Parker, later a friend. The brothers turned to ranching here in 1877, and Wright became a pillar of Scurry County life.
Home County of Famous Frontiersman J. Wright Mooar
Snyder, TX
A Vermont native who came west at nineteen, J. Wright Mooar became one of the most prolific buffalo hunters of the American plains, establishing with his brother the first hunting camp in the Texas Panhandle in 1873. In 1876 he killed a rare albino buffalo in Scurry County, a hide later displayed at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Over his career he shot some 22,000 buffalo and earned the respect of Comanche chief Quanah Parker, who became his friend in later years.