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Home Texas Potter County Amarillo Great Spanish Road; First Ranch in Potter County; First Store in Potter County
     

Great Spanish Road; First Ranch in Potter County; First Store in Potter County

  Texas Historical Markers
US 87, N of Amarillo about 15 mi., Amarillo, TX, USA

Latitude & Longitude: 35° 28' 33.44207999988", -101° 52' 59.8938700008"
 
    Texas State
Historical Marker
     Near course of the Canadian River, early as days of the American Revolution, men from Santa Fe went past this spot on trips to meet traders from San Augustine, Nacogdoches, and other Spanish towns of East Texas. In 1786, Pedro Vial was commissioned by the Spanish Governor at Santa Fe to establish this route, and secure direct connection from Santa Fe to San Antonio, Texas, with access to East Texas towns. The Great Spanish Road served well colonial Texas and foreshadowed 20th Century usage of the route for a segment of a great intercontinental highway. First Ranch in Potter County - established 1877 at point 1 1/2 miles east of this site, by Bates and Beals, northern investors. Ran the LX Brand, and once had a cowboy named Will Rogers--later internationally famous as a humorist. First store in Potter County - opened 1878 a few hundred feet west of this marker, by William Pitcher, whose name was given to nearby creek, and who figured in a desperate robbery from which LX cowhands rescued him. (1964)

This page last updated: 7/15/2008

Great Spanish Road; First Ranch Historical Marker Location Map, Potter County; First Store Historical Marker Location Map, Potter County Historical Marker Location Map, Texas