Details for Site of Historic Drift Fence
Historical Marker — Atlas Number 5341004810
Data
| Marker Number | 4810 |
| Atlas Number | 5341004810 |
| Marker Title | Site of Historic Drift Fence |
| Index Entry | Drift Fence |
| Address | 1901 S. Dumas Ave. |
| City | Dumas |
| County | Moore |
| UTM Zone | 14 |
| UTM Easting | 231521 |
| UTM Northing | 3970472 |
| Subject Codes | ranches/ranching; fences; cattle, cattle industry topics |
| Marker Year | 1969 |
| Recorded Texas Historic Landmark | No |
| Marker Location | Dumas/Moore County Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center |
| Private Property | |
| Marker Condition | |
| Marker Size | 27" x 42" |
| Marker Text | Until the mid-1880's, no range fences existed in the Texas Panhandle. Thus when winter blizzards came, cattle drifted from Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas onto the Texas ranches of T ("Box T"--Dominion Cattle Co. Ltd.), 7K ("Seven K"--York, Parker & Draper), CC ("Bar C's"--Creswell Land & Cattle Co.), ^ ("Turkey Track"--Hansford Land & Cattle Co.), LX (Bates & Beal), LIT (Littlefield), and LE (Lee & Reynolds). The influx caused these ranches in the Canadian River breaks to be overgrazed, for by spring roundup there were as many northern as local cattle in the herds. To prevent the costly and time-consuming job of separating the cattle, each Texas rancher agreed to construct a fence along his north boundary line. The resulting fence was 200 miles long and ran from the northeast corner of the Panhandle southwest to near the site where Dumas was later founded, then west about 35 miles into New Mexico. It was a 4-strand, 4-barb fence with posts 30 feet apart and a gate every 3 miles. The materials amounted to about 65 carloads of wire and posts hauled from Dodge City. In 1890, however, to comply with an 1889 state law prohibiting any fence from crossing or enclosing public property, most of the fence was removed. (1969) |