Gray
County
Creeks, Lakes, and RiversSource: The Handbook of
Texas Online
CANTONMENT CREEK
GRAPEVINE CREEK
LAKE MCCLELLAN
MCCLELLAN CREEK
MCCLELLAN CREEK NATIONAL GRASSLAND
PARKS CREEK
RED DEER CREEK
RED RIVER - NORTH FORK
SWEETWATER CREEK
WHITEFISH CREEK
CANTONMENT CREEK
Cantonment Creek rises southwest of Laketon in
northeastern Gray County (at 35°32' N, 100°41' W) and
runs southeast for ten miles to its mouth on the North
Fork of the Red River, near Farm Road 1321 (at 35°24' N,
100°37' W).
It begins in flat to rolling terrain surfaced by deep,
fine sandy loams that support hardwood forest, brush, and
grasses, and crosses into flat terrain with local shallow
depressions, surfaced by clay and sandy loams that
support water-tolerant hardwoods, conifers, and grasses.
GRAPEVINE CREEK
Grapevine Creek rises at the edge of the Llano Estacado
in west central Gray County (at 35°25' N, 100°52' W)
and runs northeast for seven miles to its mouth on the
North Fork of the Red River, south of Lefors (at 35°25'
N, 100°48' W).
The stream, which was once part of the vast Diamond F
Ranch, crosses flat to rolling terrain with local
escarpments, surfaced by deep, fine, sandy loam that
supports brush and grasses.
LAKE MCCLELLAN
Lake McClellan (McClellan Creek Lake), with a capacity of
5,005 acre-feet, was constructed on McClellan Creek
twenty-five miles south of Pampa in southern Gray County
(at 35°12' N, 100°51' W). It was built in the late
1940s by the Panhandle Water Conservation Authority,
primarily for soil conservation, flood control,
recreation, and promotion of wildlife.
The lake is named for Capt. George B. McClellan, who
accompanied Randolph B. Marcy on his exploration of the
Red River. Surrounding the reservoir is McClellan Creek
National Grassland, one of several scattered tracts of
land across the Panhandle and in Oklahoma and New Mexico
bought by the federal government after the dust bowl of
the 1930s.
This area has been allowed to go back to native grasses
and brush to anchor the soil and help prevent destructive
dust storms. It is generally characterized by a flat to
rolling terrain with deep sandy loams. Facilities are
provided for picnicking, camping, fishing, and boating.
Near the lake is the site where Lt. Francis (Frank) D.
Baldwin, commanding two companies of United States
Cavalry, attacked Chief Grey Beard's band of Cheyenne
Indians on November 8, 1874, and rescued Julia and Addie
German.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grace E. Meredith, ed., Girl Captives of
the Cheyennes (Los Angeles: Gem, 1927).
MCCLELLAN CREEK
McClellan Creek rises at the conjunction of two branches
(at 35°15' N, 101°28' W), at the edge of the Llano
Estacado in southwestern Gray County, and runs northeast
for about thirty miles to join the North Fork of the Red
River near the eastern county line (at 35°22' N,
100°34' W).
The stream was named by Randolph B. Marcy in 1852 for his
second in command, George B. McClellan. The north branch
was the scene of Lt. Francis (Frank) Leonard Dwight
Baldwin's wagon charge on Grey Beard's Cheyenne village
on November 8, 1874, during which Julia and Adelaide
German were rescued.
The Francklyn Land and Cattle Company's Diamond F cattle
grazed along the creek during the last two decades of the
1800s, and in the 1920s several natural gas deposits were
found near its banks. The main or southern branch of the
stream is dammed to form Lake McClellan (also known as
McClellan Creek Lake).
The stream crosses flat to rolling terrain with local
escarpments, surfaced with fine sandy loam that supports
brush and grasses.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pauline D. and R. L. Robertson, Cowman's
Country: Fifty Frontier Ranches in the Texas Panhandle,
1876-1887 (Amarillo: Paramount, 1981). Pauline D. and R.
L. Robertson, Panhandle Pilgrimage: Illustrated Tales
Tracing History in the Texas Panhandle (Canyon, Texas:
Staked Plains, 1976; 2d ed., Amarillo: Paramount, 1978).
MCCLELLAN CREEK NATIONAL GRASSLAND
McClellan Creek National Grassland is on Farm Road 2477
five miles north of State Highway 70 in Gray County. The
1,449-acre preserve was purchased by the Department of
the Interior during the 1930s under the Bankhead-Jones
Farm Tenant Act in an effort to return some the badly
eroded land of the Dust Bowl to its natural state.
The park, which includes Lake McClellan, is administered
by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest
Service regional office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, under
a policy of multiple use for range, watershed,
recreation, and wildlife.
Open grasslands, marshes, and woodlands provide habitats
for a variety of animal life, ranging from deer and
coyotes to quail and turkeys. Facilities include camping
and picnicking areas and a boat dock.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: George Oxford Miller, Texas Parks and
Campgrounds: Central, South, and West Texas (Austin:
Texas Monthly Press, 1984).
Christopher Long
PARKS CREEK
Parks Creek rises in extreme southeastern Gray County (at
35°12' N, 100°41' W) and flows south nine miles to join
Whitefish Creek in northeastern Donley County (at 35°05'
N, 100°40' W).
The stream crosses flat to rolling terrain with local
escarpments and mostly deep, fine sandy loams covered
with brush and grasses. Parks Creek was formerly on the
RO Ranch properties.
RED DEER CREEK
Red Deer Creek rises at the breaks of the Llano Estacado
northeast of Pampa in northern Gray County (at 35°33' N,
100°60' W) and flows northeast for thirty-five miles,
across southeastern Roberts County through Miami, to its
mouth on the Canadian River, near Canadian in western
Hemphill County (at 35°56' N, 100°23' W).
Robert Moody established his PO Ranch headquarters on Red
Deer Creek, and the stream's upper waters were part of
the Diamond F ranges. The area is flat with local shallow
depressions; water-tolerant hardwoods, conifers, and
grasses grow in clay and sandy loam soils.
RED RIVER - NORTH FORK
The North Fork of the Red River rises in central western
Gray County (at 35°24' N, 101°05' W) and flows east for
seventy miles across Gray and Wheeler counties. It is
joined by McClellan Creek, its chief tributary, just west
of the Wheeler county line.
The stream crosses the 100th meridian into Oklahoma and
flows east across Beckham County and then southeast to
form the county lines between Greer and Kiowa, Kiowa and
Jackson, and Jackson and Tillman counties. It joins the
Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River to form the Red
River proper on the Oklahoma-Texas boundary northeast of
Vernon, in Wilbarger County (at 34°19' N, 99°12' W).
The basin is characterized by mostly flat terrain with
local shallow depressions and clay loam and sandy loam
soils. Vegetation consists primarily of water-tolerant
hardwoods and grasses.
The upper North Fork was the scene of much activity
during the Indian wars of the 1870s. On September 29,
1872, Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie mounted his successful
attack against Mow-way's Comanche village on the North
Fork east of the site of present Lefors.
Col. John W. Davidson campaigned successfully against the
Cheyennes along the stream during the Red River War in
the fall of 1874. For years, beginning with the
Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, the North Fork was
erroneously believed to be the Red River's main
tributary; for that reason Texas claimed Greer County
until 1896, when it was allotted to Oklahoma.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ernest Wallace, Ranald S. Mackenzie on the
Texas Frontier (Lubbock: West Texas Museum Association,
1964).
H. Allen Anderson
SWEETWATER CREEK
Sweetwater Creek rises in northeastern Gray County (at
35°37' N, 100°36' W) and flows southeast thirty-five
miles across northern Wheeler County and southwestern
Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, to unite with the North
Fork of the Red River in Beckham County, Oklahoma (at
35°18' N, 99°57' W).
The creek runs through flat to rolling hills surfaced
with sand and sandy loams that support hardwoods, brush,
and grasses. Fort Elliott and Hidetown (later Sweetwater,
then Mobeetie) were established in the 1870s near the
creek, a favorite haunt of hide hunters during the height
of the buffalo slaughter.
WHITEFISH CREEK
Whitefish Creek rises near Alanreed in southern Gray
County (at 39°12' N, 100°47' W) and flows southeast for
twenty-two miles to its mouth on the Salt Fork of the Red
River, in eastern Donley County (at 34°60' N, 100°36'
W).
In 1879 Whitefish Creek and its tributaries were occupied
by the Quarter Circle Heart Ranch, but in 1880 Alfred
Rowe added them to his RO Ranch. The area is flat to
rolling with local escarpments. The soils are deep, fine,
sandy loams that support hardwood forests, brush, and
grasses at the head.
The creek later reaches a flat area with local shallow
depressions, where clay and sandy loam soils support
water-tolerant hardwoods, conifers, and grasses.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pauline D. and R. L. Robertson, Cowman's
Country: Fifty Frontier Ranches in the Texas Panhandle,
1876-1887 (Amarillo: Paramount, 1981). Pauline D. and R.
L. Robertson, Panhandle Pilgrimage: Illustrated Tales
Tracing History in the Texas Panhandle (Canyon, Texas:
Staked Plains, 1976; 2d ed., Amarillo: Paramount, 1978).
(information from The Handbook of
Texas Online --
a multidisciplinary encyclopedia of Texas history,
geography, and culture.)
Back
|