DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the man who put the first store in Snyder, Texas. Now, William Henry Snyder — Pete, to folks who knew him — was not a man who sat still for long. Adventurer, Civil War veteran, miner, railroad builder, freighter.
By the time he showed up in what would become Scurry County, he'd already pulled gold out of Colorado, helped lay track across Kansas, and hauled freight and buffalo hides across Texas. The man had a résumé that read like a dime novel. So naturally, in 1878, he opened a trading post.
Snyder's first. And if you're going to open a store on the frontier, you're going to need lumber, and lumber doesn't just walk itself out to the Texas plains. Pete had it hauled all the way from Fort Worth — in ox-wagons, no less — by the Webb Brothers: Jim, Jeff, and Ben.
Three brothers, one long dusty haul, and a store rose up out of the prairie. Now, who was Pete selling to out there? Buffalo hunters, mostly.
Men who had infiltrated the area and were living in dugouts along Deep Creek. Those hunters needed supplies, and Pete had them. For three years he kept that trading post going.
Then, quiet as you please, he quit the trading business. Just like that. But Pete Snyder wasn't done with the place that bore his name — he laid out part of the original townsite and sold lots from his own property.
He helped build a town, then handed it off to the future. After that, he moved on to Colorado City. And there, in 1916, at the age of seventy-nine, the old adventurer finally stopped moving.
Some men settle a place. Pete Snyder started one — and then left it to grow without him.
What the marker says
Adventurer, Civil War veteran, whose career included mining Colorado gold, building railroads in Kansas, hauling freight and buffalo hides in Texas; opened Snyder's first trading post, 1878. Built of lumber hauled from Ft. Worth in ox-wagons by Webb Brothers, Jim, Jeff and Ben. Store furnished supplies to buffalo hunters who infiltrated area, lived in dugouts on Deep Creek. After 3 years, Snyder quit the trading business, laid out part of original townsite and sold lots from his property. Moved to Colorado City, where he died in 1916 at age of 79. (1968)