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Following the Civil War, the Texas frontier pushed westward, giving rise to renewed hostilities as the white man once again invaded Indian lands. Foremost in the campaign to calm the frontier was Col. Ranald S. MacKenzie, who blazed trails from Ft. Griffin to the Plains and from Ft. Concho to Palo Duro Canyon in the Panhandle. Tons of supplies for MacKenzie's forces--varying from 600 to 800 men--were freighted from Ft. Griffin to his main camp on the Brazos River fresh water fork (now White River), there dispersed to his troops. A second major trail was charted when his entire force moved from Ft. Concho to the Fresh Water Camp, passing a major campsite at MacKenzie Mountain (20 mi. N of Snyder). The Fresh Water Camp was one of the first made in the 1871 campaign in which MacKenzie was outmaneuvered by Quanah Parker (son of captive Cynthia Ann Parker and Comanche chief Pete Nocona). In 1874 it was also the last campsite used after MacKenzie totally defeated massed Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Quahadi Comanche forces in Palo Duro Canyon. Abstracts of the original townsite of Snyder, made in 1881, twice use "The MacKenzie Trail" as reference, setting its course across the Snyder Square. (1968) |
