Thomas Cree Homesite - Carson County, TX
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 35° 18.636 W 101° 27.691
14S E 276211 N 3910267
Famous for planting the first tree in the Texas High Plains
Waymark Code: WMMT9K
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/02/2014
Views: 9
County of site: Carson County
Location of site: US-60, roadside turnout, 4½ miles SW of Panhandle
Pay close attention, if you are coming from the east you cannot see this site. It is on the south side of the east bound lanes in a depressed area. There is ample parking, and a good roadside turnout, so driving right up to it is fine. East bound traffic can see the site just fine.
Recorded Texas Historical Landmark
There are three markers here, and, of course the tree. I will include all three text because they all have something to do with the homesite.
Marker One:
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
Date erected: 1980
Marker text:
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. They acquired this land and, with no trees for lumber, they built a dugout home. Cree traveled 35 miles at his wife's request to find a sapling and planted it here. He watered 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. Gov. John Connally dedicated an historical marker in 1963 to the first tree in the Panhandle.
Marker Two:
Erected by: State Historical Survey Committee
Date marker erected: 1963
Marker text:
FIRST TREE
TEXAS HIGH PLAINS
First tree on the Texas High Plains, set in front of dugout home by Thomas Cree, 1888. Good luck symbols of settlers throughout drought, blizzard and heat.
Supplemental Plate:
Cree's Bois d'Arc tree died in the 1970s. County residents planted a new tree here in 1990 as a memorial to the area's early pioneers.
Marker Three:
Marker erected by: State Historical Survey Committee & Men's Garden Clubs of America
Date marker erected: 1967
Marker text: The 33rd Anniversary National Convention, Men's Garden Clubs of America, meeting at Amarillo, June 14-17, 1965, formally recognized and paid tribute to the significance of Thomas Cree's little tree and to the memory of this heroic early gardener of these High Plains.