| |
|
|
Red River Expedition of 1852 |
|
 |
|
Pampa,
TX,
USA
|
| |
| |
|
Texas State
Historical Marker |
In 1852, U.S. Army Captain and explorer of the Southwest Randolph B. Marcy and George B. McClellan, later Democratic candidate for President against Abraham Lincoln, led Company D, 5th Infantry into the Texas Panhandle to locate the headwaters of the Red River. Their findings had great impact on the determination of Texas' border with the State of Oklahoma. Until the 1852 journey, it was not known that there are two large branches of the Red River that intersect the 100th meridian, which forms the eastern boundary of the Texas Panhandle. On June 16th, the company discovered the headwaters of the North Fork (approx. 1 mi. SE). On July 1st, they found the source of the southern, or Prairie Dog Town, fork in Palo Duro Canyon. Marcy's report to Congress is one of the earliest known written records of Gray County. Since several early treaties had used the Red River as a boundary and since there was an extensive area of land between the two branches, the question arose as to which fork was in the minds of the contracting parties when the boundary was first defined. Marcy testified before a Congressional Committee that the South Fork should be the boundary, and an 1896 Supreme Court decision confirmed his findings. (1984)
This page last updated: 7/15/2008 |
|
|
|
|
