DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story that starts deep and ends hard. Way out in Lamb County, there's a chain of sand dunes — or what's left of one — that stretches a full 130 miles and runs three to five miles wide. That's not a dune.
That's a dynasty of dunes. A natural landmark by any measure, and by most measures, one of the more remarkable features on the Texas High Plains. Now, archaeologists have found evidence that people were living in these sand hills six thousand years ago.
Six thousand. Let that settle over you like West Texas dust. Long before anyone was writing anything down out here, human beings had already figured out that this place was worth staying.
The Comanches knew it well. They camped in these hills because the land delivered — wild game, vegetation, shelter from the wind, and water when water was no small thing to come by. The dunes gave protection and provision both, and the Comanches were wise enough to take what was offered.
Then came the Spanish explorers, moving through on the old Indian trails that ran along the dunes. Anglo-Americans followed those same trails later — walking paths worn into the earth by people who'd been here long, long before. Early ranching came through too, and here's where the story takes an interesting breath — that early ranching did little damage.
The hills held. For a while, the land absorbed what was asked of it and kept right on standing. But then — and markers don't usually editorialize, so when one does, you listen — in recent years, the sand hills have been destroyed.
That's the word the marker uses. Destroyed. By extensive farming and industrial operations.
A landmark that sheltered the Comanches, guided the Spanish, and held its shape across six thousand years of human presence, worn down not by wind or time but by what came after the ranchers. That's the whole arc right there — six millennia of endurance, and then.
What the marker says
A natural landmark, this chain of sand dunes extends for 130 miles and is three to five miles wide. Archeological findings show that the area was inhabited 6,000 years ago. Comanches camped in the sand hills because of wild game, vegetation, protection from the wind, and the availability of water. Spanish explorers and later Anglo-Americans used the old Indian trails that passed along the dunes. Early ranching did little damage to the area. However, in recent years, the sand hills have been destroyed by extensive farming and industrial operations. (1979)