Colors of Palo Duro Canyon

                                                                        By Natalie Bright

The Caprock, the surface across the Texas Panhandle, is a flat, treeless expanse resistive to erosion.  Where rivers cross these Great Plains and spill over the edge to the lower elevations, erosion can create chasms.  As is the case of the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River, which created the geological formation of Palo Duro Canyon, located south of Amarillo. Over millions of years the river has eroded down, dropping the floor by 800 feet.

“It is a burning, seething cauldron, filled with dramatic light and color”.

Georgia O’Keefe

I think artists find our Palo Duro Canyon so pleasing to paint because the layers are compliments of each other. Right next to the purple layers, is the complementing yellow shale.  The Yellow shale is oxygen rich swamp deposits as opposed to the anoxic blue shale below. The off-white, or grey sandstone at the top of the Canyon is the Trujillo sandstone, or white sandstone of the Caprock.

The very top, is the white sandstone of the Ogallala, which is our major water aquifer. Here the Ogallala is exposed at the surface.  The purple and grey gravels of the Sierra Grande uplift washed down to mix with the sand giving us our major fresh water aquifer for this area.

The grey or white bed layers are actually volcanic ash from the formation of Yellowstone National park that drifted to settle in our area.  How do geologists know it is Yellowstone ash?  Through testing of the chemical compound, every volcanic eruption has a particular signature and chemical make-up unique to that one particular incident.

Murky, blue shale was deposited in this environment. The inland sea evaporated, transitioning into the Triassic swamp mud.  With rivers flowing through the area and cutting into the bright red Permian, the mixture of the Blue shale with the Permian red beds resulted in the purple shale layers seen just above the Permian-Triassic contact.

There is evidence of the depositional environment of a sea floor. This is not the massive ocean covering the earth at the time, but a small inland sea – hot, stagnate, evaporate left  white gypsum in the sea bed resulting in the gypsum rich layers you can see in the Canyon walls. At the bottom of the Canyon, the dark red is the top of the Permian, and right above that is the Triassic.

Mankind brought their own color as evidenced by rock art, bedrock mortars, points, metal weapons, and other artifacts left behind. The Clovis and Folsom peoples hunted mammoth and giant bison about 12,000 years ago. The deep chasm, abundant wildlife and flowing river provided shelter and resources for the Apache, Comanche and Kiowa.

In 1876 Charles Goodnight drove 1,600 Longhorn cattle to the canyon, and formed the famous JA Ranch along with his English partner, John Adair. The ranch grew to 100,000 head of cattle and most of the canyon belonged to the JA. The state purchased the land in 1933 and opened the park in 1934. Containing 28,000 acres, Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest park in the state parks system.

Today Palo Duro Canyon State Park is a unique place to picnic, hike, and explore.

www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/palo-duro-canyon

Resource:  C.M. Bright, Geologist

Photo Credit: Natalie Bright

Connecting the Past and Present: The age old tradition of Livestock Branding

by Natalie Bright

The alarm clock blasts the silent morning. Time to get cracking, on eggs, that is.  The scene outside my window hides in shades of gray, and I’m thinking about the dugout dating around1895 that established the headquarters of the Sanford Ranch.

The dirt dwelling has endured many transformations through the years as evidenced by crumbling cement, sagging roof, and rusted plumbing. How many countless families and ranch hands have called this crude shelter home? I wonder about the woman who once lived there. Garland Snow Whiteside Sanford would have risen before sunrise, just like me, for spring branding.

She most likely had great dreams of building a life in this place where no one had ever lived before. Arriving as a newlywed in 1901, the original dugout became the back room to a two-story dwelling. Years later the wooden house was destroyed by fire, however the dugout remained and was used for a cowboy bunkhouse.

As I listen to sizzling bacon, I imagine Garland Snow had a cast iron skillet much like mine. I wonder if she was lucky enough to have a wood-fired cook stove, or perhaps she cooked on an open flame.

With spurs jangling, hungry men file past me for breakfast. I realize that time has not changed the fundamental need for the working cowboy. These men really do work from “can see to can’t”. In the pre-dawn light, I watch a frenzy of brushing, saddling and stock trailer loading. Our Ranch Manager wants everyone in their assigned pastures by first light.

The joy of another opportunity to greet the rising sun on horse back shows on the old-timers faces. The younger men are unable to suppress their grins, and the perceptive, skittering horses are anxious as well. In what seems like no time at all, men, horses and cattle will squeeze through a gate into a set of working pens and the peaceful morning will explode with frantic calls of mommas and the answering bawls of their babies.

 The sky dawns bright orange, pink and blue. I figure Mrs. Sanford might have taken a moment to appreciate the stunning site before she washed dishes, stirred beans, and prepared the beef brisket. The menu hasn’t changed much.

As a western writer, it’s important that I strive to help others understand about the rich traditions, the magical land, and the back-breaking labor that  embraces a part of history. Some people might not realize we’re still here. We are. Just over the next rise, at the end of the paved road, this centuries old work continues.

 “Let the wilderness drive us forth as wonderers, scatter our broken bones upon these sands…it shall not kill the purpose that brought us here…the dream still lives, it lives…and shall not die.” PAUL GREEN

Natalie Bright is an author, blogger, and enjoys speaking about history and story craft. Her stories and articles have appeared in numerous publications, most recently this March “A Cowboy’s Life” will appear in Appleseeds. She is represented by Mr. Stephen Fraser, of The Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency, NYC, who is currently shopping her western novels for middle grade readers. She holds a BBA from WTSU, her husband is a geologist and cattle rancher, and they have two teenaged boys. She’s on the web at Facebook/Natalie-Bright-Author, Twitter @natNKB, Amazon Author Pages, Pinterest/natbright, her website is http://www.nataliebright.com, and she blogs every Monday at http://wordsmithsix.wordpress.com