Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas
Posted by: 
trailhound1
N 34° 59.080 W 101° 42.110
14S E 253375 N 3874678
Palo Duro Canyon is the second-largest canyon in United States. Located 20 miles south of Amarillo, Texas.
Waymark Code: WMC02R
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/09/2011
Views: 15
It is 120 miles long and a maximum of 20 miles wide. At some points it is almost 800 feet deep. The largest canyon, the Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 6,000 feet deep. The name Palo Duro means "hardwood" and refers to the hardwood shrubs and trees found in the canyon. Palo Duro Canyon is about 90 million years old and carved into the eastern Caprock Escarpment of the High Plains by the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River during the Pleistocene Epoch. The steep sides of Palo Duro Canyon consist of bright, banded layers of orange, red, brown, yellow, grey, maroon, and white rocks that represent four different geologic periods that span 240 million years. These periods include the Pliocene, Miocene, Triassic, and Permian.
Native Americans have inhabited the canyon since Paleoindian period, about 12,000 years ago. The earliest were the Clovis and Folsom peoples that utilized the prehistoric flora and mega fauna (mammoths and giant bison). Later in time, the Apaches, Comanches, and Kiowas utilized the canyon. The first Europeans to the canyon may have been members of the Coronado expedition. They are reported to have been in the area in the late spring to early summer of 1541. The canyon area was occupied at that time by bands of pre-horse-culture Apache Indians. Like there predecessors they utilized the local flora and fauna and who depended heavily on bison. The Plains Indians, in the eighteenth century, acquired horses and the canyon became a major camping and hunting ground of the Comanches and Kiowas.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a nNew Deal program developed under the administration of President Frinklin D. Roosevelt to provide jobs to the unemployed during the Great Deprssion of the 1930s. The program was initially designed to employ young men and later grew to include World War I Veterans, the CCC was just what was needed to improve the 15,000 acres that had been recently acquired by the State of Texas for the establishment of Palo Duro Canyon State Park. The first three companies arrived in Amarillo via train on July 11 and 12, 1033. After setting up their camp, the first task was the construction of the road from the rim of the canyon to its floor. The fourth veterans campany arrived in December of 1933.
The early veterans froups at the canyon were initially intergrated, but the African American troops were reassigned to Sweetwater, Texas in 1934. Two companies of segregated African American enrollees arrived from east Texas in August 1935. The final group of workers to labor in the canyon was one of the few to include workers from each of the three special groups - Veterans, African Americans, adn Juveniles.
The projects completed by the CCC from 1933 until 1937 include public buildings (such as the El Coroado Lodge) and cabins consructed of native sandstone, roads, bridges, culverts and hiking and bridle trails, manu of which are still used today.
Predominate Feature: Canyon
Parking/Access Location: N 34° 58.811 W 101° 41.477
Ownership: State
Terrain Rating: 
Admission Charged: yes
Landmark's Website: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:At least one photograph personally taken by the Waymarker must be posted.
Visitor should describe the experience of their visit.