Comanchero Trail

As the trade in stolen stock grew, the traders set meeting times and places far from any settlement, and the Panhandle and South Plains became their ground. Known rendezvous included Mulberry Creek, Tecovas Springs, Sweetwater Creek, Atascosa Creek, Las Lenguas Creek near Quitaque and Yellow House Canyon near present Lubbock, which the traders called Cañón del Rescate, the Canyon of Ransom. Bargaining could last three weeks, and a shrewd trader might come home with a good pack horse for ten pounds of coffee or a buffalo robe for almost nothing.

What the plaque says

Comanchero Trail One of several routes used by traders dealing with Indians, primarily Comanches (hence name). Weapons, whiskey and trade goods were swapped for stolen Texas cattle, horses and captives. Pursuit apparently began in the 1760s when Mexican hunters ventured out on "Staked Plains" (Indian domain) to hunt buffalo for New Mexico meat markets. Early explorers Zebulon Pike (1807), Josiah Gregg (1830) and Capt. R.B. Marcy (1848) told of finding Comanchero campsites and wagon trails on the plains. The Comancheros ceased to operate in the mid-1870s. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge — 18 mi
  The oldest national wildlife refuge in Texas, a ring of salt lakes in the sandhills south of Muleshoe where tens of thousands of sandhill cranes winter in a wet year.

More markers nearby

• Town of Amherst — 8.1 mi
• In Memory of George W. Littlefield — 8.5 mi
• Replica of XIT's Giant Windmill — 8.7 mi
• Sod House Spring — 14 mi