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The first actual written history of early Panhandle inhabitants was produced when Francisco Vasquez de Coronado traversed the region in the late 16th century. Coronado encountered pedestrian buffalo hunting nomads. These nomads were called Querechos and have been identified by experts as Athabaskan predecessors to the Apache Indians. The Panhandle region was controlled by the Apacheans until the Comanche drove them out in the early 18th century. Their advantage in removing the Apaches was with the use of horses acquired from the Spaniard legacy. The Comanche and their allies, the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache tribes, controlled the South Plains for about a century and a half. The Texas Panhandle's southwest orientation continued with the exploration of Juan de Onate when he traveled the Canadian River area. The pueblo Indians and Spaniards considered the Texas Panhandle to be part of New Mexico and the strongest bond between the two regions was trade. However the centrality of trade by the Comancheros eventually shifted to Palo Duro and Tule Canyons, Tecovas Springs and Quitaque Creek. At times this commerce involved stolen livestock and even humans commodities. Source: The New Handbook of Texas, 1996. |
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