DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm drawing this one straight from the official Texas Historical Commission marker — let me tell you what it says about a man Scurry County has never quite let go of. J. Wright Mooar.
Born in Vermont on August 10, 1851, and before you get too comfortable with that picture — a New England boy, maple trees, cold winters — understand that he came west at nineteen. And the West had a way of keeping a man. He started hunting in 1870, supplying hides for market.
That was the business of it. No romance yet, just hides and the math of survival. But then comes 1873, and here's where the story shifts register.
J. Wright and his brother John W. Mooar ride south and establish the first buffalo hunting camp in the Texas Panhandle.
A partnership, a beachhead, a line drawn on the map of the frontier. Now, Mooar would go on to shoot about twenty-two thousand buffalo over the course of his career — a record the marker calls probably unsurpassed. Twenty-two thousand.
You can say that number fast or you can sit with it, but either way it is a staggering accounting. And his method? The marker is specific: he could hit a vital spot at a distance of one thousand feet or farther.
A thousand feet. That kind of precision earned him something rarer than trophies. It earned him the respect of Comanche Chief Quanah Parker, who became his friend in later life.
But here's the shot that history remembered above all the others. October 7, 1876. Scurry County.
Mooar's first hunting camp in this very county. He kills an albino buffalo — a white buffalo — one of only two known to have been killed in Texas. The largest game animal in North America, in the rarest coat it ever wore.
The hide of that animal traveled far. It was shown at the 1904 St. Louis Fair.
It appeared on many other occasions after that. And then, eventually, it came home. That hide is now preserved right here in Scurry County, kept by Mooar's own descendants.
He didn't just hunt, either. He started ranching with his brother in 1877. He hunted regularly until 1879.
In 1881, he helped furnish game and hay to feed the construction men and animals building the Texas and Pacific Railroad through West Texas. A business in Colorado City ran from 1881 all the way to 1905. The man had range — in every sense of the word.
And he lived long enough to see all of it change. J. Wright Mooar died on May 1, 1940.
Eighty-eight years from Vermont to the Texas plains. The site where he killed that white buffalo sits about ten miles northwest of this marker, out near the Old Mooar Ranch headquarters. There's a hand-dug water well out there that Mooar put in himself.
Today, that well is surrounded by oil wells. The frontier became a ranch, the ranch became a relic, and the land underneath it turned out to be worth a different kind of fortune entirely. Some places hold more history than they look like they should.
Scurry County is one of them.
What the marker says
(Aug. 10, 1851-May 1, 1940) Champion hunter of buffalo--largest game animal in North America. Born in Vermont; came west at 19. Began hunting in 1870 to supply hides for market. In partnership with his brother, John W. Mooar, in 1873 established first buffalo hunting camp in the Texas Panhandle. On Oct. 7, 1876, at his first hunting camp in Scurry County, killed a rare albino buffalo--one of two known to have been killed in Texas. The hide of that albino, afterward shown in 1904 St. Louis Fair and many other occasions, is now preserved here in Scurry County by Mooar's descendants. Hunted regularly until 1879; in 1881 helped furnish game and hay to feed construction men and animals building Texas & Pacific Railroad in West Texas. During his career, he shot about 22,000 buffalo--a record probably unsurpassed. His ability to hit a vital spot at a distance of 1,000 feet or farther won the respect of such Indians as Comanche Chief Quanah Parker, who became his friend in later life. Began ranching with his brother in 1877. Also had a business in Colorado City, 1881-1905. Highly esteemed. Site of killing of white buffalo (10 mi. NW of here) is near the Old Mooar Ranch headquarters, where his hand-hug water well is now surrounded by oil wells. (1967)