DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the geological riches of Moore County — and friend, this one goes back a good long while. Now when we talk about industry in Texas, most folks picture oil derricks and refineries. And we'll get there.
But the marker wants us to start earlier. Much, much earlier. Back when prehistoric man was working the Canadian River, and working it hard.
See, along that river there were flint deposits. And whoever found them first — well, they didn't let them sit. They mined those deposits, right there in what is now Moore County, and what came out of those quarries didn't stay local.
Items made from that flint have been found over a large portion of the western United States. Let that settle in for a second. Material that started right here, scattered across a continent.
The first industry in Texas, the marker calls it. Not a small claim. But the story doesn't stop at flint.
Those same ancient people were buildin' homes — sturdy, warm homes — from slabs of dolomite pulled from the area. And here's the part that tends to raise an eyebrow: the interiors were coated with a mixture of sand, clay, and caliche. The marker calls that an advance uncommon in prehistoric North America.
Uncommon. In all of prehistoric North America. Right here.
All of that, and modern man still found something ancient man never touched. Thirty-one industries, the marker tells us — thirty-one — built on the oil and gas locked in those same geological riches. Untapped, all that time.
Just waiting. Moore County, it turns out, has been generous for a very long time. Some places just have that in 'em.
What the marker says
Have proved beneficial from earliest times when prehistoric man developed first industry in Texas by mining flint deposits along the Canadian River. Items made from these quarries have been found over a large portion of the western United States. Slabs of dolomite from area were used to build sturdy, warm homes; interiors were coated with mixture of sand, clay and caliche -- an advance uncommon in prehistoric North America. Modern man has established 31 industries based on oil and gas, to take advantage of geological riches untapped by ancient man. (1970)