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H.C.R. No. 10
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, On October 7, 1876, Josiah Wright Mooar, one of the
most successful of the buffalo hunters and later a renowned Scurry
County pioneer, felled a white buffalo near the present-day site of
Snyder, Texas; and
WHEREAS, At the end of the Civil War, some 13 million buffalo
roamed the Great Plains; the animals provided nearly all the wants
of the Plains Indians and, through their great numbers, posed a
tremendous obstacle to the establishment of ranching and farming in
that region; with the completion of the first transcontinental
railroad in 1869, however, it became possible to transport buffalo
hides to eastern markets, and the profits to be made on the plains
quickly drew legions of hunters and skinners; and
WHEREAS, Born in Vermont in 1851, J. Wright Mooar traveled
west as a young man and worked as a buffalo hunter in western
Kansas, providing meat for railroad crews and hides for the English
market; in 1871, he shipped a load of 57 buffalo hides to his
brother, John, then a jewelry clerk in New York City; the sale of
those hides to a tanning company resulted in an order for 2,000 more
and is credited with launching the American buffalo-hide industry;
and
WHEREAS, In 1873, the Mooars became part of the vanguard of
hunters moving into the Texas Panhandle; the brothers withdrew to
Kansas in 1874, during a series of Indian-army conflicts known as
the Red River War, but they returned to Texas in 1876; in October of
that year, J. Wright Mooar established the first buffalo hunting
camp in Scurry County, on a site along Deep Creek about 10 miles
northwest of present-day Snyder; and
WHEREAS, Returning to camp late in the afternoon on October
7, Mr. Mooar happened upon a white buffalo and dropped the animal
with a single shot; altogether, he later wrote, white hunters were
recorded to have killed only seven such animals; Theodore Roosevelt
reportedly offered Mr. Mooar $5,000 in an unsuccessful bid to
purchase the hide, which was subsequently exhibited at the St.
Louis World's Fair in 1904 and on numerous other occasions; and
WHEREAS, A curiosity to many Americans, the white buffalo was
held in deepest reverence by various tribes of the Plains Indians,
who took it to signify the abundance of the earth; in their
religious traditions, a holy woman had once appeared to the people,
bearing a sacred pipe, and then transformed herself into a white
buffalo; one day, they believed, the woman would return and unite
the nations of the four colors--the black, red, yellow, and white;
and
WHEREAS, J. Wright Mooar continued hunting until 1877, by
which time he is believed to have killed more than 20,000 of the
shaggy beasts; with the great southern buffalo herd nearly
extinguished, he acquired property, including the site where he had
shot the white buffalo, and became one of the earliest cattle
ranchers in Scurry County; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Mooar often regaled visitors with stories of his
exploits, and his recollections about buffalo hunting, published in
Holland's Magazine in 1933, have served as a valuable resource for
plains historians; when this gentleman, regarded as Scurry County's
first citizen, died in 1940, 3,000 people from throughout West
Texas are said to have attended his funeral; and
WHEREAS, J. Wright Mooar and the days of the buffalo hunters
are widely remembered in Snyder, the county seat of Scurry County;
the town itself is named for William Henry (Pete) Snyder, who
accompanied Mr. Mooar and his hunting party in 1876 and hauled their
hides; from 1878 until 1881, Mr. Snyder operated a trading post on
Deep Creek, and the community that developed around the post later
officially took his name; and
WHEREAS, Today a statue of a white buffalo graces the
courthouse square in Snyder, and each October, in tribute to Mr.
Mooar and the county's pioneer heritage, the community stages the
White Buffalo Festival; the local chamber of commerce, moreover,
has promoted the area as the Land of the White Buffalo; and
WHEREAS, J. Wright Mooar's shooting of the white buffalo
stands as a potent symbol of a massive transformation that reshaped
the West in little more than a decade; by the mid-1880s, with the
exception of a few herds that were maintained on government
property or private ranches, the buffalo had been completely
cleared from the Great Plains; with its passing, the Native
Americans there had no hope of supporting themselves off of the
reservation, and the plains were opened to a sea change in people,
culture, and economy; and
WHEREAS, A leading figure among the professional buffalo
hunters, Mr. Mooar contributed to those changes throughout the
plains and played a significant role in shaping the history of
Scurry County; it is indeed fitting that Snyder's roots in this
extraordinary period and its association with this legendary Texan
be appropriately recognized; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 78th Legislature of the State of Texas,
4th Called Session, hereby designate Snyder as the Land of the White
Buffalo.
Campbell
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.C.R. No. 10 was adopted by the House on May
11, 2004, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.C.R. No. 10 was adopted by the Senate on May
17, 2004.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor