TEXAS PANHANDLE: BUFFALO LAKE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, THE PANHANDLE PLAINS HISTORICAL MUSEUM, PANHANDLE QUIRKS

 March 20, 2021

Our first stop of the day was a trip to Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, 7,664 acres of protected prairies, marshes, and woodlands. 

Roadside sign on our way to the refuge

Once inside the park, we drove on a dirt road (Bob's favorite kind of road) that made a giant loop. The unimpressive scenery mostly looked like this:

We saw all of these signs, but didn't have the opportunity to avoid treading on any of these critters:

After this not-too-exciting foray into what didn't seem to be much of a refuge (at least in my opinion--Bob may feel otherwise), we headed to the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum. Built in 1933, it is part of the West Texas A&M University campus in the town of Canyon.

To be honest, I did not have very high expectations for this museum, and I have to admit that it was better than I expected. Perhaps my favorite things in the whole place were these Art Deco murals on the upper walls of the main lobby.

The wall above shows the progression of the settlement of the Panhandle in three panels:

Three panels on the other side of the hall show earlier history, including the arrival of the Spaniards. (Unfortunately, I only got a picture of one of the panels.) Clearly these are not politically correct artworks, but this is Texas.

The museum has a nice collection of 19th century windmills, a critical piece of machinery for bringing up water. This version from the 1980s is call a "Dandy Windmill."

The "Original Star Windmill" was a very popular version used from 1878 to 1915 and would measure anywhere from 10 to 26 feet across. I love this 10-foot-wide patriotic version, which sold for $90 in 1887, or about $2,500 in today's dollars.

There were also some awesome vintage vehicles, including this 1930 Cadillac V-16 sedan. During the 1930s Cadillacs ranged in price from $5350 to $8750, the equivalent of about $58,000 to $96,000 in today's dollars. They were the Porsches of the era. I always thought cars in the 1930s were pretty slow, but this one had a cruising speed of 70 mph and could reach 90 mph. It did, however, get only 8 mpg and required a quart of oil every 150 miles. This particular car belonged to the Bowers family, the wealthiest folks in the county at the time, and has less than 44,000 miles on its speedometer.

This 1933 Pierce-Arrow V-12 sedan could seat seven passengers. In my day that's a mini-van.

Another room in the museum focuses on the geology of the Panhandle.

Caprock Canyon

And another focuses on ancient history--very ancient. I don't think this allosaurus skeleton was found in the Panhandle--the plaque says "western United States"--but it is a great addition to the museum, nonetheless.

Allosaurus

This slingshot deer skull, however, is from the Panhandle. This deer roamed the area about 5.33 million years ago.

More historical displays show the local native culture through the years.

Suddenly, we walked into the 19th and 20th centuries, where I especially liked this wedding dress display.

I also loved this dress from the 1940s. (Why doesn't men's fashion ever change?)

Another of my favorite parts of the museum is Pioneer Town, a turn-of-the-century mini community inside the museum building. It had been closed during the pandemic and had just reopened when we were there. 

Telegraph office

Bedroom

Kitchen area

I love this advertisement for Cream of Wheat, a standard breakfast staple in my childhood home.

Look at these beautiful canned food labels!

I know there was a large population of Chinese immigrants in California, but I hadn't thought of them being in the Panhandle. Charlie Sing, who was the first-known Chinese immigrant to the area, brought much needed laundry services.

The Panhandle Plains Historical Museum also includes, surprisingly, a small art gallery. The art subject matter, however, is not so surprising.

The King of the Herd (1927)
by Lloyd Freeman

I liked this work, both for the image and for the story it tells.

There weren't a lot of artworks in the gallery that drew my attention, but I did like this black-and-white painting that was a work started by Frederic Remington but left unfinished at his death. It was eventually finished by W. Herbert Dunton, the artist of the sketch above.

The history continues outside, where a reconstructed log cabin seems a little out of place.  Well, it is out of place. It was built in 1877, 144 years ago, of logs cut from Palo Duro Canyon, and it is the oldest surviving house in the Texas Panhandle.

In front of the cabin are a couple of statues. The guy on the left is Charles Goodnight (1836-1929), "Trailblazer, Cowman, Plainsman." According to Wikipedia, he is the best known rancher in Tex and has the nickname "Father of the Texas Panhandle." Interesting facts: He smoked 30 cigars a day and never learned to read and write. 

The guy on the right is Marshall Cator (1902-2002), "Last of a Rare Breed." He is known in the area for his integrity and generosity, particularly in regards to his support of a local boys ranch. Interesting fact: He never married. He said he didn't have time to get married.

Yeah, there are some fun old coots in the Texas Panhandle. There must be something in the water--or the dust--that makes this such a quirky place.

When we finished at the museum, we drove to Palo Duro State Park. We had been to the canyon the previous day, but not to the state park area. Unfortunately, by the time we got there the park was closed--at least to us.  We needed advance reservations, which Bob had tried unsuccessfully to get from home. We were turned away. Later that day we made reservations for Palo Duro State Park for the next morning, but that left us with an empty afternoon.

We did need lunch, so that's what we did next. We chose Sayakomarn's Thai Restaurant in Canyon. I don't know why it feels weird to eat Thai food in the Texas Panhandle. It's no more foreign to Texas than to Southern California. But still, shouldn't we be eating a big steak, or even rabbit stew?  It's tough to eat in Texas when you are trying to stay true to a vegan diet.

What else to do? It's not like there are lots of tourist attractions in the Panhandle. We decided to go back to the only place we could think of, the Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge we had visited in the morning. On the way, we drove through what I am dubbing "The Panhandle Zoo." Funny, they only had one species, the Texas Longhorn.

But what a beast this is! The Texas Longhorn was almost bred out of existence by 1900, but the U.S. Government began a preservation program in the 1920s and today there are about 100,000 head. What makes them so special? They have incredibly lean meat. A longhorn steak has less fat and cholesterol that a skinless chicken breast, and yet it is somehow still tender and flavorful (or so they say).

And those eponymous l-o-n-g horns, well, they span an average of 6 feet and can spread as much as 9 feet. Don't mess with this feller.

Spring means calving, and yes, we saw some babies.

Back in the wildlife refuge for the second time, it was just about as exciting as the first time. Bob had seen a porcupine in a tree on our first drive through, and this time I got out to to check him out for myself. Yup. there he is.

Well. 

Bob got some bird photos with his super-duper huge telephoto lens, but there wasn't much excitement for me.

However, I did quite enjoy some of the Panhandle décor on our way to our hotel in Canyon. I can't imagine seeing these two ginormous metal roosters in a front yard in my neighborhood.

And I know fer shure that none of the banks in my town have a guy like this one with his cowboy boot firmly planted on their sign. This lanky cowboy even has a name: Tex Randall. He's been standing on this spot since 1959 and was repainted just five years ago.

I have said it before, and I'm sure I will say it again: Texas sure is quirky.