History along the Way: Stories beyond the Texas Roadside Markers

Chapter 1. A Chance Encounter of the Great Procession

5 A Chance encounter of the Great Procession As the planting season approached in 1933, migrant farm worker Charles Puckett prepared to work the soil on the Charles Ross Cowan ranch nine miles northwest of Miami in Roberts County. It was a time of unprecedented economic downturn in the nation, and the Panhandle of Texas was in the early phases of a drought that would also prove to be unprecedented. In time, the area would come to be known as part of the Dust Bowl, but in 1933 there was still enough hope in the promise of the coming season for farmers to plant wheat, increasingly a dominant crop on the High Plains. That particular season, however, Puckett set the plowshares deep in order to carve out furrows that might somehow manage to resist the destructive, arid winds that had for some time been scouring the farmland, reconfiguring the surrounding landscape with aeolian drifts and deeply incised gullies. Deep plowing, like dust mulching and contouring, were relatively new techniques designed to meet the challenging demands of dryland farming, and it seemed to Puckett to be worth the effort. As the farmer slowly worked his way across the Cowan lands that season, though, all was not as normal. In one particulararea of the vast field, his plow began turning over a series of large, chalky bones. Puckett and Cowan were unsure of what they had encountered , but they knew the bones were something other than the remnants of cows or wild animals. As a result, they shared their findings with County Judge John A. Mead, not out of suspicion of crime, but rather because Mead had earned a reputation in the region as a knowledgeable amateur archeologist. The judge had investigated numerous prehistoric finds in the area around Miami, and it was possible the large bones unearthed on the Cowan ranch 1 6 chaPTer 1 might prove to be similar. Although in some respects they were, in one important aspect they were like nothing else discovered to that point.What emerged from the deep furrows of the Roberts County field would eventually prove to be revolutionary, controversial, and nationally significant. Judge Mead inspected the field and, intrigued by what he found, returned to oversee extensive excavations in 1934. Working with others, he carefully removed the agricultural layer of soil and methodically worked his way down, finding numerous bone fragments along the way. Over time, he came to what appeared to be a bone bed, a sizeable layer of artifacts that lay intact beneath the depth of the plow. Among the artifacts he recovered were the teeth, leg bones, and ribs of an ancient, extinct elephant.On closer inspection , he found amid the massive bones, and on the same plane, a carefully worked spear point. It was then he realized the site held greater scientific potential than any other he had encountered, so he sought outside assistance.1 Among those he contacted early on was Floyd V. Studer. A native of Canadian, twenty-four miles northeast of Miami, he was, like the judge, an amateur archeologist with extensive field experience in the region. He was, by profession, a businessman, with interests in banking, ranching, and insurance. A resident of Amarillo by the 1930s, Studer became one of that city’s most prominent civic leaders. Throughout his life he maintained a strong fascination with archeology and paleontology, particularly along the Canadian River, which cut a wide swath across the Panhandle. Although he lacked formal training in the disciplines, he had field experience , as well as the investigative and analytical skills to make him a recognized authority at a formative time for the professions in Texas. As a result, he eventually transitioned from a successful business career to one as a museum curator. Joining the staff of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, which opened at Canyon in 1933, he directed the development of that institution’s impressive collections of both archeological and paleontological materials.2 StuderworkedcloselywithMeadonfurtherinvestigationsatthe Cowan site, and he published the first treatment of the information in Science Service. Subsequently interviewed for a 1935 issue of Sci- a chance encOUnTer OF The greaT PrOcessiOn 7 ence News Letter, Studer reflected on the matter of the site’s significance , speculating on its relative antiquity: “While I have personally found several true Folsom or Yuma points in this immediate area, this is the first time one has been reported in direct association with...