William E. Schott

The barrier Schott crossed is the Caprock, the hard, rock-like layer a few feet under the Llano Estacado that resists erosion and holds up the edge of the High Plains. Its east-facing escarpment, formed by erosion one to two million years ago, divides the High Plains from the rolling plains below. The Handbook of Texas notes that it shows most prominently in Briscoe, Floyd, Motley, Dickens, Crosby, Garza and Borden counties, where it rises abruptly as much as 1,000 feet, and that rivers cutting the wall have carved canyons such as Palo Duro.

What the plaque says

William E. Schott Briscoe County pioneer William E. Schott (1870-1941) was born in Ohio and moved to North Texas in 1885. Still legally a minor, he came to this area in 1890 and filed a claim for the first of his later extensive landholdings. In 1891 he overcame the Caprock barrier by building the first wagon road to Silverton, where in 1892 he helped organize Briscoe County. A major factor in the settlement of this region, Schott Cap Road (1.5 mi. N) was improved when auto travel began. Schott supported local education and encouraged improvement of cattle herds. He married (1907) Tina Kitchen; they had four children. (1975)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caprock Canyons State Park & Trailway — 5.4 mi
  Red canyons below the Caprock escarpment where the Texas State Bison Herd, descended from calves Mary Ann Goodnight saved in 1878, has right of way on the park roads.
• Bob Wills Museum — 14 mi
  The old Turkey school, now holding Bob Wills's boots, hats, his father's fiddle and his barbershop tools, in the cotton town that fills each April for Bob Wills Day.

More markers nearby

• Lake Theo Folsom Bison Kill Site — 4.5 mi
• Gasoline Cotton Gin — 10 mi
• Briscoe County — 11 mi
• Miner Crawford — 11 mi