Thomas Cree Homesite
Panhandle, Carson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
After serving as a teamster in the Civil War (1861-65), Thadium (Thomas) B. Cree worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1888 he and his wife came to the High Plains. They acquired this land and, with no trees for lumber, they built a dugout home. Cree traveled 35 miles at his wife's request to find a sapling and planted it here. He watered it from a nearby lake that he dug from a buffalo wallow. The tree never grew but lived many years despite blizzard, heat, and drought. Gov. John Connally dedicated an historical marker in 1963 to the first tree in the Panhandle. (1980)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After serving as a Civil War teamster and later working for the Union Pacific Railroad, Thomas B. Cree brought his wife to the treeless High Plains in 1888, where they carved a dugout home from the earth. At his wife's longing for a tree, Cree rode 35 miles to find a sapling and watered it from a lake he dug out of a buffalo wallow; though it never grew, it survived blizzards and drought for years. In 1963 Governor John Connally dedicated a marker to what was remembered as the first tree in the Panhandle.
Why it matters
The Crees' lonely struggle to plant a single tree captures the isolation and endurance of homesteading the wind-scoured Texas plains.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When Thomas Cree and his wife reached the Texas High Plains in 1888, they were stepping onto one of the last American frontiers to be settled. For centuries this vast, flat tableland had been buffalo country and home to the Comanche and other Plains peoples. Only in the late 1870s, after the Red River War and the destruction of the great buffalo herds, was the region opened to ranchers and then to settlers.
The land was open grassland running to the horizon under constant wind, with bitter winter blizzards and blazing summers. Above all, it had almost no trees. Timber grew in the region's canyons and along some streams, but on the open plains a homesteader could look in every direction without seeing a single one.
Without wood, settlers built with what they had. Many dug into the earth itself. A dugout, a room carved partly or fully into the ground with a roof of poles, brush and sod, was cheap, warm in winter and cool in summer. For many High Plains families it was the first home they had.
People & events
Before he ever saw the Panhandle, Thadium B. Cree, known as Thomas, had already lived through some hard work. He served as a teamster in the Civil War, driving the wagons and mule teams that supplied armies. Later he worked for the Union Pacific Railroad, part of the transcontinental network that opened the West to settlement. In 1888 he and his wife came to the High Plains, took up this land, and like so many neighbors built a dugout home.
Then comes the part of the story people remember. His wife wanted a tree. On the treeless plains that was a real longing: a tree meant shade, a sign of home, and something green against the endless grass. Cree traveled 35 miles to find a sapling, brought it back and planted it here.
Keeping it alive took more work. Cree dug a small lake out of a buffalo wallow, one of the shallow depressions left by generations of bison rolling in the dust, and used it to water the young tree. The tree never grew much. But it survived year after year through blizzards, heat and drought. In 1963 Governor John Connally dedicated a historical marker to it as the first tree in the Panhandle.
Its place in the American story
Homesteading in the popular imagination is often about land, cattle and crops. The Cree story is a reminder that settling the Great Plains was also about making a place feel livable, even beautiful. Across the plains, settlers planted trees wherever they could, for windbreaks, shade and a sense of home. Some states actively encouraged tree planting on the treeless prairie.
The tree also shows the hard limits of the environment Americans were moving into. Plains settlement was a long encounter with scarcity: of water, wood and shelter from the weather. A tree that stayed alive without ever really growing sums up that struggle well. It was hard to get anything to take root, and people kept trying anyway.
It is fair to note that the phrase first tree in the Panhandle belongs to local memory and the 1963 dedication rather than to botany. Trees grew in the region's canyons and river breaks long before the Crees arrived. What the story honors is a planted tree, set out on the open plains by a settler family, and the effort that took.
If you visit
As you stand at this homesite, look around at the horizon and imagine it with no buildings, fences or trees at all. That emptiness is the key to the whole story. It explains why a family would live in a hole in the ground, and why one small sapling would matter so much.
As you take in the flat land, try to picture the details the marker describes: the dugout set into the earth, the lake dug out of a buffalo wallow, and the tree kept alive by bucket and by patience. This isn't a place of grand ruins. Its power comes from imagination and from the quiet of the plains.
The Panhandle area makes a good stop on a High Plains road trip, whether you're crossing the region on the highway or heading to the canyon country elsewhere in the Panhandle. Stop here, get out of the car, and feel the wind for a minute. It will help you understand what the Crees were up against.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Thomas B. Cree
- · John Connally
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Tree Texas High Plains
Panhandle, TX
On the treeless expanse of the Texas Panhandle, a single bois d'arc planted by settler Thomas Cree at his dugout home in 1888 became a landmark and a good-luck talisman for pioneers enduring drought, blizzards, and blistering heat. Cree's original tree lived until the 1970s, and in 1990 Carson County residents planted a successor on the spot to honor the region's earliest homesteaders.
33rd Anniversary National Convention
Carson County, TX
On the treeless High Plains of the Texas Panhandle, the survival of a single planted tree was no small thing. This marker recalls Thomas Cree, an early settler celebrated for nurturing a young tree in a country where wind, drought, and grass fires killed most seedlings. In 1965 the Men's Garden Clubs of America, meeting in Amarillo, paused their national convention to honor his small green act of faith in the land.
Oldest Bank in the Texas Panhandle
Panhandle, TX
Founded by James Christopher Paul—a pupil of Sam Houston's son, the lawyer Temple Houston—this was the second commercial bank in the Texas Panhandle and the oldest in continuous service. Among its first depositors were the early ranchers and homesteaders of the High Plains. During the great oil boom, Judge Paul opened a second bank in 1927, the First National, and the two merged on the last day of 1942; many accounts still pass down through the heirs of those first settlers.
Texas Panhandle Pioneers - John F. Weatherlys Family
Panhandle, TX
John F. Weatherly and his family were among the first landowners on the wide-open Texas Panhandle, starting a ranch in 1898 and running the country store, post office, and telephone exchange for their neighbors. The 1924 discovery of oil on their land helped spark the founding of Borger, and the family gave freely—donating ground for churches, schools, and a park. His wife, Maggie Marie Deahl Weatherly, later built Weatherly Hall at Texas Christian University.