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.
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Related people
- · Thomas B. Cree
- · John Connally
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Tree Texas High Plains
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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.
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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.
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