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J. Wright Mooar was a champion hunter of buffalo, largest game animal in North America. A native of Vermont. He came west at age 19 and in 1870 began hunting to supply hides for market. In partnership with his brother, John W. Mooar, he established the first buffalo hunting camp in the Texas Panhandle in 1873. On October 7, 1876, at his first camp in Scurry County (2.8 miles south of this site on county road 253, near the Old Mooar Ranch headquarters) J. Wright Mooar killed a rare albino buffalo, one of two known to have been killed in Texas. The albino hide was shown at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and on many other occasions. Mooar hunted regularly until 1879. In 1881 he helped furnish game and hay to construction crews building the 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 from a distance of 1,000 feet or farther won the respect of Comanche Indian Chief Quanah Parker, who became a friend in later life. The Mooar Brothers began ranching in 1877. Highly esteemed by their fellow citizens, they owned a livery stable in Colorado City from 1881 to 1905. (1967--1995) |
