Thomas Cree Homesite

After serving as a teamster in the Civil War (1861-65), Thadium (Thomas) B. Cree worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1888 he and his wife came to the High Plains, acquired this land, and, with no trees for lumber, built a dugout home. At his wife's request, Cree traveled 35 miles to find a sapling and planted it here, watering it from a nearby lake that he dug from a buffalo wallow. The tree never grew but lived many years despite blizzard, heat, and drought. In 1963, Gov. John Connally dedicated an historical marker to the first tree in the Panhandle.

Texas · United States