Capt. Randolph Marcy's Exploration Route through Collingsworth County

Marcy's seventy-man party crossed about a thousand miles of country between May 2 and July 28, 1852, under orders to "collect and report everything that may be useful or interesting." It recorded twenty-five new species of mammals and ten of reptiles and a prairie dog town covering 400,000 acres. Among his scouts was Jim Ned, a Delaware. The expedition compiled the first Wichita dictionary, and eastern newspapers wrongly reported that Comanches had killed Marcy. His report, Exploration of the Red River of Louisiana, appeared in 1853 and became a classic of Western Americana.

What the plaque says

Capt. Randolph Marcy's Exploration Route through Collingsworth County In 1852, Capt. R.B. Marcy led a survey expedition along the Red River to document the river's channel and related streams. The team, which included Capt. G.B. McLellan of the Corps of Engineers, entered the Texas panhandle June 10, 1852 and arrived in what is now Collingsworth County on July 7. Traveling eastward through the southern part of the county, the team identified the sources and route of the Red River. The team left Texas north of Dodson and returned to Fort Arbuckle in present Oklahoma. Their survey later proved important in settling a boundary dispute between Texas and Oklahoma. (2006)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Collingsworth County Hospital — 2.7 mi
• O'Neil Building — 3.2 mi
• First Methodist Church of Wellington — 3.2 mi
• Methodism in Collingsworth — 3.2 mi