DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Big Springs, out in Gray County. Now, if you've been drivin' through the Texas Panhandle long enough, you start to appreciate water the way a man in a desert appreciates shade. And there was a place out here — Big Springs — that folks had been findin' their way to for a long, long time.
Native Americans knew it. Military men knew it. In a stretch of land that could cook the spirit right out of you, those springs were an oasis, plain and simple.
In the summer of 1852, U.S. Captain Randolph B. Marcy came through leading an expedition in search of the headwaters of the Red River.
On June 16th, his party made camp right here at these springs. You can imagine what that water meant after days of cutting across open country — not just comfort, but survival. Marcy noted it.
His records said so. And Marcy wasn't the last. The springs kept drawing men with orders and boots and long marches ahead of them.
Colonel Ranald S. MacKenzie passed through. General Nelson Miles and others did too.
Their records noted the springs as well, because out here, you noted the water. You always noted the water. Then there's 1874.
Archeological investigations have confirmed that a battle took place in the general vicinity — U.S. troops under Lieutenant Frank Baldwin on one side, and the forces of Cheyenne chief Grey Beard on the other. The land holds that history quietly now, but it holds it. Here's the part that lands with a kind of slow weight though.
After all that — centuries of camps, expeditions, battles, and the quiet prayers of people who found relief in those springs — nearby development has dramatically decreased the flow of the historic Big Springs over the years. The oasis that called out to so many, across so much time, runs thinner now than it once did. That's the part the marker leaves you with, and it's worth sittin' with a spell.
What the marker says
Native Americans and military forces have long camped at nearby springs that served as an oasis in the surrounding area. In 1852, U.S. Capt. Randolph B. Marcy led an expedition in search of the Red River headwaters, and his party camped here on June 16. Records of later military engagements and expeditions involving Col. Ranald S. MacKenzie, Gen. Nelson Miles and others also noted the springs. Archeological investigations have confirmed an 1874 battle between U.S. troops under Lt. Frank Baldwin and the forces of Cheyenne chief Grey Beard occurred in the general vicinity. Nearby development has dramatically decreased the flow of the historic Big Springs over the years. (2006)