Minutes, we will learn about kansas cities inputs on the development of amarillo. And about 20 minutes, step inside a specially made rail cart used to securely move Nuclear Material around the United States. Later, a trip to the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum and nearby canyon as we tore their native and the plains exhibit. We begin our special feature at hallowed euro canyon state park. The experience of driving to paluro duro state part today is like it has been for thousands of years. All of a sudden you come across this huge drop into the earth, and even today, it is quite a shocking experience, maybe more so because youre traveling so fast. The fact that i get to come see this every day, i have to once in a while to stop and take it in and just make sure that im really appreciating how lucky am i get to be here every day. The canyon has been forming for about 1 million years or so. The bulk of the formation has happened in the last 100,000 years. It runs from here down close to the town of silver tone. You can make a really good case that the canyons at least 80 miles in length at itself. The river is probably went 120 miles that flows through it. It is the largest Second Canyon after the grand. There are many canyons that branch off to the site. We are standing in an area now where we can actually see three canyons from where we are at right now. It is a much bigger system that people realize even for a brief visit to the state park. I actually grew up here in amarillo. As a young kid, i remember coming out elementary school, after that, as soon as i got my drivers license i was driving out here every time i could, bringing friends. We go explore some of the caves, some of the caves we would explore just right down there. It is much bigger than what you think it is from just looking from it up here. When you get down into the canyon, you get your hiking stick and your boots on and you better make sure you have a lot of water because it is much farther than you think. Theres all kinds of treasures out there that we have been searching out for. One of the draws is just being around extreme nature. You could say this is extreme nature. Theres so many places i hear that you can go up to and see the beautiful cliffs, beautiful rock outcroppings. Of course back when i was growing up, you could see an aerial view from helicopter shots from local television stations. Of course when the drones got popular, several years ago, of course that had to be right there. I am a gadget guy. When my shortcomings is i have to have the latest gadgets. I had my drone out here and it was just amazing. It helped so much having all that experience and knowledge of where to go to look at these things from spending my life looking from the ground up. I knew where to go. I knew all the places i wanted to go and get the view from the air down. I already had all the shots set up in my mind and executed as many as i could. There are so many places out here. You cant stay on the trail and be suitably amazed with everything that you see, and there is plenty to look at. You can take photos and experience. There are so many other places that are just off the trail. Powder canyon is sort of the story of edges, we are kind of on the edge of different ranges from both plants and animals here. We are literally on the edge of the canyon right now. It is also a place that has been on the edge of these battles, these conflicts between different cultures, on the edge of these cultures. For the vast majority of the history of this area and of the canyon, the people that came here were nomadic. They did not build permanent structures. They had they lived in temporary structure so they can move with them as they traveled. They were mostly following large game. In the earliest days that was some very large now extinct species of bison, things like mammoths, giant ground sloths. They no longer exist. Even later than that, late prehistoric period, when they were more like sort of your typical image of what you think of when you think of native americans. This was the Southern Plains region, so the native american tribes that were here included the coyote west other in cheyenne, the patchy. Towards the end of the Southern Plains where we had life here in the 18 sixties and seventies. This became a stronghold for people who are trying to escape from the soldiers, the settlers, the bison hunters and people coming and taking their land. This was right at the center of command tree a territory. It was very hard to get to. Of course the native americans had thousands of years of knowledge of this area and people coming into the area so they use this is a stronghold trying to escape. There was a series of battles in the 1874 that became known as the red river war. Most decisive battle of the red river war was the one week called the battle of paluro duro which happened in september of 1874. The command shes the cheyennes had set up a winter camp ground like they had been four years on the floor of the canyon. They were under the mistaken impression that they would be safe. But they would be left alone in the canyon that winter. They did not realize that the government had set five separate columns of troops into the area to look for them and to root them out and try to force them back onto the reservation in oklahoma. The fourth cavalry, the United States army discovered their encampment late and september. Early Early Morning on september 28th of that year, that month in 1874, they dismounted their horses, these are calorie men, they let them down in the canyon floor and remounted and charged into this massive village of mixed native americans. It is not a battle that had high casualty count, it was more of a route. Imagine waking up, and you are laying there with your wife, your husband, your aunt, your grandmother, your children, all these people are with you. You wake up two armed soldiers attacking your town. What would you do . They did the only thing they could do which was to flee. They ran, setting up a Little Pockets of resistance to try to hold off the soldiers long enough to escape. Most of the native americans were very successful in getting away but the problem was in their flight, they were not able to take that much with them. That gave the fourth cavalry the opportunity to come back and destroy their winter encampment and supplies and they also destroyed the bulk of their horse heard. For them it was leyla a way of life. That is how you traveled, that was how you fought, that was how you hunted. It was a big blow to their way of life to lose not only their winter encampment but their horse hurt as well. Over the next few weeks and months, the bands slowly trickle back into the reservation and into the southern way of life. And just a couple years a new group came in. They saw the opportunity of this empty place, and those were ranchers. The first one here to set up a permanent candle wretch was a man named charles goodnight. He arrived here in 1876 and started a ranch that would later become the jay a ranch group all the way through most of the 18 eighties. It was 1. 3 million acres and its largest size. It was one of the bigger ranches in texas, not the biggest but a big one. This was great grazing land for bison and it worked great for the cattle that were on it also. The wrenching period and the spot where we are standing lasted from 1876 to 1933, this is where the working cattle ranch was. And 1933, through a bond, the state of texas purchased 50,000 acres. The people of this area had a really strong desire to have a park here, prior to this being a part, if you did not know someone who owned some of the land you had to basically trespass to go out and see it. It was all privately owned. The land owner here had moments where he allowed people to come out and to the property and visit the canyon. Sometimes tens of thousands of people which show up in the 19 twenties and thirties just to see it. Just a huge drive for not only the people of the town of cannon which is of course amarillo which is of course pretty close, but other surrounding cities want to depart here because they knew how important this place was and how big of a boom to the area to have people from everywhere coming to see it. The wrenching continues all around us. But we are this Little Pocket of public land that people can visit. That is part of what makes it so special. We would not have a particular, if it wasnt for the conservation corps. They were a new deal relief effort, one of the many groups started by roosevelt in response to the great depression. They arrived here very shortly after the creation of the ccc and one of the oldest parks in tennessee, they got here in the summer of 73, they worked into the road of the canyon. Obviously you cant build the rest of the facilities until you have access to it. Its a reminder i give myself all the time when i come through the canyon, and im driving down to work every day, they created this road by he and for 30 dollars a month. It changed their lives, they were able to feed themselves, it served them, and it provides a lot for us because we have a lot of amazing historic structures, and without their work we wouldnt have everything we used today. You know, being in the texas panhandle, theres not a lot of written history that you can go back to, and actually look at, this is one of those places that you can go back and look at some of the history. There are mortar stones, indian art from probably 2000 years ago, but you can still go to. Says its not as vivid as it was back in the day, but still pretty vivid. I like that connection of being able to look at history as more than just her grandfathers history. Stick parks across the nation, national parks, these are your public plans. You want people to visit them and join our says mission, were here for other. People im always asked says who owns the canyon . They always say i do. It would be cool, but this belongs to texas, the people of the nation, the people of the world. We want people to understand how critical they are to the mission of stewardship to this place. Just south of amarillo is the is storage will museum in texas, we take you inside as we hear the story of canyon cities the influence on amarillo. I think people around here know about the history in this area, texas tends to be about itself. This particular history is a bit medical american regional story that has not been told. Its almost like the isolation of the history is texas, texas, texas. But one of the that we talked about on the show is looking without rather than with. Then we are a Historical Museum, and the museum is the largest Historical Museum in the state of texas if you count it by the number of artifacts. Kansas city and amarillo in the west. Both of us are native to kansas city. We were always interested in why this place felt so familiar to us. Michael started looking at the number of objects in the Permanent Collection related to kansas city, and it turns out there were over 1000 objects and a database he pulled up. We started looking at the types of objects there were, and we found such a good array, a variety of objects, and we thought we need to do a show. Kansas city in amarillo. Some people might think that amarillo was looking to dallas, houston, but the closeness is around the train system and cattle industry that drew the two cities together so we tell the story of that in the show. In the 1870s cattle was being driven, meaning walked across the plains, like from tennessee where theyre not the best beef cattle. But 1887 the railroad had cut through this area that founded amarillo. Amarillo as a city did not exist until the railroad came through. By that time, there was more shipping of the cattle by the reels rather than the drives. Those tattle would be part of the hurt and the beef cattle we think of. By the time that kansas city was linked, kansas citys kennel markets started booming based on the kettle being raised in the boom. Handle there was a train connecting the two. The other aspect is the culture and fashion and objects in the museum that tell the story of someone going to kansas city and finding goods and services that bring sophistication back here. Even the cowboys would buy boots in kansas city. We dont have local Business Owners that could sell those items to the cowboys. I think that people can understand beyond this area, its a local and regional and national history. It works on a number of levels. We have a newspaper from kansas city thats dated to the era of the border whom of oil. This is a town west of amarillo, in 1876 there was Oil Discovered in the town. There was a huge influx of investment money into the urban space. What we have in this image is kansas city newspaper featuring amarillo as the wonder city of the texas panhandle. And, so this idea that the little amarillo city was the city of the texas panhandle, that something that today sounds a little fashionable. Well have this blueprint thats by an architect who i think deserves his own study, his name is guy. We have an image of the United States, with the city of amarillo thats larger than any other city, and its showing the networking of amarillo as a crossroads for the United States. It also says idea location for capital industries. You can see that the Santa Fe Real between santa fe and kansas city is a straight line, houston isnt even on this map. The idea that this network is what this show is about, and how close the cities were for a number of reasons based on the kettle trade at the. Time these objects tell that story. So were standing in front of another object. This is a reproduction of the original project. Its a blueprint for the original design, he was born in the kansas city area. He studied for a few years in kansas for college. Then he got a job at the Santa Fe Real road. When he didnt get the race that he wanted, he wanted to start out in amarillo and start his own. Firm he started his life being a amarillo citizen, and he built so much of the landscape. Here is a designed by him, he was his signature. Its also of the skyline of amarillo. I think one of the facts that people would want to know is that after oil was discovered in the region in 1926, there was a building boom that happened in the urban space of amarillo. There were more skyscrapers that were erected around the time than any other area of the United States. One of the things that we did during the show was think back to the musical of oklahoma, when theyre think singing about everythings up to date in kansas city, seven storeys is as high as the builder has to go. Scrubbing the sky is typical for the period. You can see that he is proud of the skyline. He designed a number of things including the First Baptist church, and he also designed the this building. Kansas city architects who leader designed the heron tinged house, they designed the rural building. Its one of the first buildings with a car crash attached to. It this was also the era when amarillo went from the horse and buggy to streetcars to actual automobiles. Amarillo because it has the route 66 connection becomes a automobile city very quickly. You can see evidence of that, even in the structures. I think the importance is to give the sense that this area, amarillo as a city, the panhandle plains, its interesting because its a urban center for a large rural area. It for interesting in the development of cities and how theyre development occurred. First in the development of the panhandle. We were tying the two together so people can understand the and this area, its a local and regional history, also national. It works on a number of levels. First amaryllis in the center of the texas panhandle. We kind of affectionately color selves the capital city of the panhandle. Were approaching 200,000 people. That as a mile marker for us. Its one of the most unique things about amarillo. As i talked to other mayors, i think that our superpower here in the city of amarillo is that we think regionally. What we have geographic boundaries that define how many people live inside our city, we truly dont think that way. We think regionally. We think of all these small rural communities, we belong to them, they are our. City that were sitting in the santa fe depot. When you think about creating the entire city, the buildings for greening the city came from the steep, oh they arrive by rail from here. Our city has grown, we started as a for and agricultural town but never a center for the texas panhandle of hundred thousand people. None of that could have happened with this location not being here by the rail, and so much of our industry and material to live our everyday life came from here. Of course the depot is vacant. Were not using it today for a train station. We dont have Passenger Service in our city anymore. But were still isnt the vacant hub. And its important in the coast to coast travel of marketing goods by rail, were still an important part of that. The reason that amarillo was so important, yes cattle industry, but also our agricultural commodities. Wheat, cotton, coren. We ship those all over the nation. Its such a rural area. It was so difficult to get, to it really expanded the food supply for the nation, and it really was a huge economic boost to our local Rural Economy to have a railroad here. But there was the 19 eighties or 19 fifties, the railroad has been a very important part of the panhandle and amarillo economy. I think that one of our largest problems is that we are isolated, from a geographic point of view, we are at the spot that everyone comes to, but where the spot. Its hard for us to change sometimes, because we get set in our ways, and we dont have a lot of driving forces that forced us to change because were isolated. So continuing to have a mindset that adapts and looks for innovation and change, sometimes we struggle with that. But the flip side of that, taking a weakness and turning into what could be a strength is we are pioneers, we dont typically look to the government or someone else to help us do. That if we have a challenge we put our hence the plow and work harder until weve figure out the situation on our own. I love that spirit and our community. In amarillo were very interested in statewide and national politics. Everyone is interested in the election coming up in november 2020. I think that amarillo does not have a lot of variance in its voting record. It will be interesting to see whether or not we draw any candidates here to come and talk to us. Our voting record is traditionally very conservative, the and were known actually, one of our districts here, according greszler district is the most conservative in district 13. You go back and look at our voting records we vote republican more than any other district in the country. So to me us an interesting blip on the conversation point, but there are some assumptions that go along with that, and it does not always draw political candidates to come here and campaign. Its a Great American city, and i think were poised right now over the renaissance because we are experiencing a lot of positive momentum. I think that there will be a curiosity about the city. There will be a curiosity about amarillo as people watch us move up through the renaissance, culture, solving problems, working together. I think its going to be a very exciting 20 years for amarillo. The panics planned in amarillo texas is the nations primary facility for the final assembly, dismantlement and maintenance of Nuclear Weapons. Approximately 30 years, the safest method for the transportation of this material rise by rail. We begin our look at the history of pantex where several cars are now on display. Were trying to prove reserve the rich railroad and texas panhandle. Most of this town will not be here if it was not for the coming of the railroad. The thing was, we realized real quick, the railroads were evolving and changing. We were seeing newer locomotives coming on. We were seeing so many changes, so we said, we need to preserve some of that before it disappears. We incorporated, hence the Amarillo Railroad Museum with that goal to preserve it. It was after we incorporated that we bought this property here in the northeast part of amarillo. It already had the Railroad Track on it. Weve been keeping our eyes open for opportunities to acquire certain pieces of Rolling Stock and we were fortunate to get the parts from the formerly called white train which was used for transporting Nuclear Weapons. At least here, we can display them so people can see these things that they would not be able to see anywhere else. Right here, this row of cars, i have set up kind of in a way that the white train used to operate. On the end is the escort coach with the raids bar facing the cargo. Next to it is what is called the buffer car. The deal for the buffer car is by law, people cannot ride in a car adjacent to explosives. The red car, the third one from the end, that is the sole surviving of the armor plated cargo cars. Around 1980, they modified the train, they armor plated the cargo cars for protecting the Nuclear Nuclear weapons. That is the sole survivor. Now we are up in the escort coach. It is an elevated area. You can see weve got resistant class all around it. Glass. This is kind of the security perch of where the careers would be. There would be at least to appear at all times watching to ensure that there isnt any intruders trying to get on the train while they are calling the Nuclear Weapons or components throughout the complex. Just in case, there would be any difficulties with anybody trying to get on the train, there are these gun portals here. They are blocked off right now, but the careers could use those if they needed to. So pantex today is the primary new assembly and disassembly facility for Nuclear Weapons in the United States. The story of pantex really begins in 1941 when the japanese attacked pearl harbor. That really launched the United States into world war ii. Prior to that we have many programs with our future allies. But pantex comes to be a packed plant to build hundred 5 million leader 255 pounds, 500 pound bones bombs. We built conventional weapons during world war ii. Amarillo makes a great location to build one of these pacts facilities. Where pantex exists is no accident. It exists there because of the railroad. The railroad is hugely important for transporting goods during world war ii. It is the most reliable means of transportation. Remember in 1942, we do not have a national highway system. There is no easy way to move goods to the United States reliably like that. The railroad becomes a means of transportation. One of the first things that they do when they select the land is they lay spurs off of the Main Railroad line and so they can direct those to the load lines and they are able to bill pantex quickly because they bring those materials and the railroad to where they are building. They lay down spurs and it goes right to where they are putting the load lines. They would bring in the middle shelves and any of the explosives materials, with the railroad as well. Amarillo, because we are a railroad center, it is a great place to build pantex as well as the amarillo airfield. That was set in 1941. Constructed in 1941. It existed where the amarillo airport is today. Because amarillo is an Army Ordinance plant and we had an army airfield, they were able to share a guard force and cross train, so it is pretty efficient. Amarillo also had a decent sized population. You are going to need workers. Pantex, i at the height of the employment in 1943 we had about 5000 employees. All of these people needed a place to live. Amarillo being so close provided that. A lot of Housing Options for people to live, so that pantex could have the size of the force that it needed to complete world war ii missions. Pantex, throughout the cold war has a remarkably consistent mission. The mission was to build and dismantle Nuclear Weapons. Weve become since 1975, the primary Weapons Assembly and disassembly sight in the United States. An ex mission shift is in 1991 when the first president bush gives his speech on unilateral dismantlement. The United States would take it upon itself to start dismantling some of its Nuclear Weapons stockpile. We now have an unpopular loud opportunity to change the Nuclear Posture of both the United States and the soviet union. If we end the soviet leaders take the right steps, some on our own, some on their own, some together, we can dramatically shrink the arsenal of the worlds Nuclear Weapons. We can more effectively discourage the spread of Nuclear Weapons. We can rely more on defensive measures and our strategic relationship. We can enhance stability and actually reduce the risk of nuclear war. Now is the time to seize this opportunity. The soviet union was sort of coming to an end when president bush gives this speech. The soviet union still exists but it is just a few months later, and then the soviet union false. So we remain pretty constant throughout the cold war, and once the cold war is ultimately over, we start to shift to dismantlement. So pantex still has vital functions as dismantling our Nuclear Weapons stockpile. And figuring out how to dispose of a certain material within Nuclear Weapons. And furthermore, today, we are focused on programs to ensure that we have a safe, reliable stockpile for the future for the United States to be a credible nuclear deterrent. When we started building Nuclear Weapons back in the fifties, we did not have a highway system. There was not a highway system on this country, so most everything and everyone traveled more by train then by rail then by highway. In the meantime, the good to move the goods, these rail cars were specially designed by National Laboratories for carrying Nuclear Nuclear weapons safely. The cspan cities tore is exploring the american story. Taking book tv and American History tv on the road every third weekend of the month. To watch videos from any of the places weve been, go to cspan. Org slash cities store and follow us on twitter at cspan cities. Established in 1926, u. S. Route 66 was one of the original highways in the u. S. Highway system. Carrying motorists over 2400 miles from chicago, illinois, to santa monica, california. In their book, a matter of time, route 66 through the lens of change, photographer ellen crinkle, and nick garlic capture scenes along the route that speak to its past. While in amarillo, we rode along with following the path of the old highway. Why do you think this highway is still popular today even after decades after it was decommissioned . It has a lot to do with nostalgia today. People want to revisit places that maybe they experienced as a child. That is a huge part of the nostalgia. There is another kind of nostalgia as well. It is called an ammonia. It is a desire to visit a place in the past that you never experienced. For younger americans and for International Tourists of all ages for whom route 66 was only something they may have heard about, coming to do route 66 by car or motorcycle or bicycle today is getting to visit a distant past that they have only seen in books. When route 60 seats when route 66 came through town in 1926, our airport, at least a modern airport was not here. Today, you can drive on northeast eighth and you run into a fence that is now protecting the modern airport. But the road kept going. In fact, amarillo is one of three cities along route 66 in which the road is now buried by the modern airport. Amarillo, santa rosa new mexico and st. Louis, missouri. Right up ahead as where the fence and the gate are and if you get up high enough on top of the vehicle, you can see a bit of concrete from the 1920s that was still left here. It exists just beyond the outer airport runs up to one of the current runways. I just saw a plane take off here. It literally crossed route 66. Hardly Everybody Knows about this little fragment of the mother lode that is hiding in plain sight. Right beyond that gate is where the old road was and still is. Where did the idea for this book start . Allen and i met on facebook. It may sound cliche, but we did. And several facebook groups for route 66. She and her husband and germany have been wanting to pursue a book project as they had been over to america a couple of times prior and had done a lot of photography on the road. They wanted to partner with someone from america who knew the route and was prepared to write about it. We had a blind date in may of 2015. They asked me via facebook if i would like to meet them for dinner in downtown amarillo. I said of course, i would love to do that. We met, had dinner. They pitched the idea. We all fell in love with each other. From that point forward, ellen and i started working on the structure of the book where we wanted it to go, what kind of shots, what kind of aerations we wanted. Her husband who was all ready in an accomplished author had decided he was going to be our manager. He kept us on task through all of that. We began our joint efforts in september of 2015. One of their subsequent trips and we traveled extensively for the next three years. We visited many sites all along route 66. So that i could experience what ellen was experiencing and more specifically, which she was seeing through the lens of her camera. And that had a big part in the meaning of our book, a matter of time, route 66 through the lane the lens of change. It wasnt just clever wordplay. Its what we were truly doing. We wanted to chronicle change. Thats a recurring theme in the classes that i teach as well. I think its important to know your history. How it all began, and then its important to take note of where you are today. The only way to plan for the future is to know your past and present. That is what we wanted to do with the book. In those photos, we were able to chronicle the decay of many things that were once prospering along 66. But also, the emergence of new businesses across 66 as well as the evolution of old businesses. 66 is not dead yet. I dont think it will ever be dead. Parts of it are, but other parts are very much alive. We wanted to focus on how things have changed. Some things didnt change for the best, but other things dqij days, much less a 13 story building. A huge feat for 66. It had a soft opening in 1926, which was only a month and four days after the birth of 66. Then they had a big gallon a new years eve of 66. They were in business for good. Its an amazing hotel. Its been a banded for many years. It needs a lot of money and tlc but it could be something again today. It had 600 rooms and people that lived there. In other words it had condos before contests were thing. People had full sized living quarters. This is where the movers and shakers stayed. The basement had a club, were oil men and cattle bearers could hang out and do business in the old days. On the second floor there was a coffee shop, there was also a big ballroom of the second floor. This was the premier establishment in amarillo. So were on southwest sixth, this is roots exceed six going into town. We have a courthouse, library on the right, juxtaposed with nice modern structures, with reflective surfaces. Across the street, the first bank southwest building, a couple of blocks down the road a couple of streets its the biggest building between this these few blocks, it will reopen in 2020 as the autograph hotel. Thats a big part of the experience here in amarillo. Being able to see the old amid the new, and how it all kind of comes together. Allen is a very good photographer. Shes been influenced by a lot of good street photographers through the years. She could see the juxtaposition of the old and the new, the skyscraper, and the old street. We are in the far western regions of the texan panhandle. Im driving on the interstate but only because route 66 was obliterated here in the seventies. Were going to get off an exit zero and visit one of the coolest coast towns. We are going to get off the freeway and get on to the last strand of the 66 going west, and the first strand if youre going east. With that in mind, were actually going to stop at the first class first or last motel, and as the name applies it was the first or last thing you saw on the highway depending on which direction you are going. We are in this cafe that was built around 1951. This is where everybody had their first meal in texas. It was exceptionally busy and successful cafe, it was conveniently located in the middle of nowhere. People could fill up their cars and get a room in the motel if they were tired. This was in the book, we had a lot of fun photographing. This had a lot of fun writing about it as well. It was truly a busy place along route 66. Its hard to imagine that chris would be stacked up at the gas pumps in the middle of nowhere, especially because its so quiet today. All you have to do is look at the freeway. Our cspan city tour of amarillo continues on American History tv with a visit at the Panhandle Museum in the nearby canyon. As we look at the exhibition. Hi my name is bill mercer, im the assistant director of Curatorial Affairs at this museum. What i want to do today is show you a little bit of our needed to american collection, and the culture of the native americans here in the panhandle region of texas. Its very appropriate that we begin by, im standing here next to a original piece by the known artist, he was apache, he was born in oklahoma, he moved to oklahoma after they were captured. He later became a terrific artist. As you can see here one of the main foe side of this piece is a native american on horseback. That is truly the story of native americans in the Southern Plains region, and in the panhandle especially. Once horses became available to them, in the 16 hundreds, particularly the conventions were able to obtain horses from traders and santa fe, stealing some of them as well. They were then able to utilize the environment much more efficiently, because they could cover much longer distances. The bison hunting culture really became the strong suit, the highlight of the area. And it became a culture of mobility. What i will do today is share with you some of the objects that were associated with that kind of mobility. Objects such as clothing that were met with class beams gained through trade. What i would like to do is begin by starting out looking at some moccasins. Moccasins are a very diagnostic feature of cleans indian people. Everyone understands have to wear something on your feet. Each tribe throughout the plains in historic period, by that i mean the 18 into the early 1900s, every tribe had their own distinctive style of moccasins, beat the color or shape, also the weights decorated. Some folks would beat them completely. Others would also incorporate porcupine quill work sound onto them. The Southern Plains, like what you see on this particular pair, they were partially beaded, but also decorated with green pinned in this particular instance. And then, the wonderful tin cones that make a very pleasing sound as one would be walking. At the heel, there was often a weathered fringe put on their. People used to say this is to obscure the tracks as youre walking, but thats not necessarily the case because these people didnt spend much time walking. They were on horseback. So really what it was is the french was a decorative to hang off the back off the mark sit as the person was on horseback, were just flutter off as they were galloping on horseback. It was purely an aesthetic thing. What i would like to do is move from here and then show you some specific kinds of things that were characteristic of Southern Plains folks. The mock since that we were looking at just a moment ago were all made from men, but for women it was generally boots, so you have these moccasins with these leggings on them. Sometimes they were all made in one piece. In this particular instance its two pieces. You can see the wonderful geometric designs, and then the reddish purple, the maroon color. Those were beans used for decorative purposes as well. These glass beads at the Southern Plains, with other tribes, they took beadwork to a enormously fine art. It often showed up in objects associated with a native american church. Here are some of those kinds of things, the figure in the center of it. Very tiny beads, each one painstakingly put on. The fans that people carried into the teepees during the ceremonies. And the rattles that were used to keep time for the psalms. And each one of the handles is wonderfully beaded, although in some instances, as we see here it was wrapped with threat instead of beadwork. So the adapted all the different types of materials they had with them. On the plains, in this area of the plains, what we have is a great deal of veneration for children. And so, not only do you see wonderful toys such as this dull and the small cradles there, they were seen as toys, but instructional toys because they were teaching young girls have to care for their young when the time came. Then of course this magnificent cradle that we see here. A full sized cradle, fully beaded, and its very interesting to note that with these cradles there would always be a different design from one set of the cradle to the other. Even the complete shifting color, as well as designs, this was very typical of the late 18 hundreds, early 19 hundreds. The cradles had this wonderful wouldnt frame, sometimes painted. This also has elaborate decoration in terms of the tax it added as well. Then what id like to also do is show you probably our most significant object here in the native american collection. Its a head dress that belong to a head chief. This particular chief was the son of a white captive, who rose through the tribe to ultimately become the leading chief, he was involved with the red river war. Along this area against the United States and government as the native people were being pushed out he was considered to be a great leader. He was also involved with battles of the will be walls in 1864 and again an 1874. Ultimately he became an incredible advocate for the comanche people and other tribes and an early leader of the native american church. This is a photograph of him taken around 1900 or so. You can see his full glory as an adult with his finest clothing. The headrest behind him is really a remarkable example of these kind of objects that were worn by men of high ranking and high status. The golden eagle feathers topped with horsehair on them. The red wool in cap. And the wonderful sort of metallic rick rack along the brow. For many of the people of the comanche nation, a full trailer like this would have signified great importance. Hi, highranking status for anyone who had the opportunity to obtain one, to only one, and earn the right to also wear it. This truly is one of the great pieces that we have in the collection here at the historical music museum. We are grateful to the families of parker who continue to come and visit and to examine the pieces as part of their family heritage as well. What we are trying to do is not only educate the public about historical native american art and culture but we are also reaching out and working with contemporary native people more to help educate us even more about of traditional native american heritage, and particularly here on the panhandle, specifically looking towards our kiowa and comanche friends for that you. Our cspan cities tore lose visit amarillo continues with a downtown stop at the historic Santa Fe Railroad depot. I want to get you started by taking a look at some of the unique features of the santa fe people here in amarillo texas. The key component of the development of amarillo ties into both industry coming into amarillo and agricultural being shifted out of amarillo. Were here at the depot to look at some of the unique features at santa fe did when they built this facility. Right now, we are in the baggage room which is original to amarillo. A lot of the original staff is still here. Original construction. None of that has changed. We have the scales that are original. This wouldve been the passenger and Light Commercial free area. Passenger freight, steam trucks, anything you are traveling with would come across here and be weighed, just like what you have on airplanes today. It was not on the trains years ago. That was here and then your commercial flight would have been done on the scales at the top. One of the cool things that you will notice as we go through the building is the construction of this building. This was built by railroad engineer so it is built to last. Realize that this building right now is over 100 years old. Oh i as we go through the building, keep in mind, like i said, this is historical. This is a room that is unique, but is important to our history. This room wouldve been what wouldve been called the colored zone. This is where segregation to place and amarillo at one time. It has been converted into a room that people use for weddings and stuff like that. It is an important part of our history and we want to make sure we keep it noted. The other thing to note and you will see up above, there was no american shunning and heating and cooling back in the day, so windows are still in place throughout the railroad at the facility through the depot. This was basically the cooling. When you wanted cooling in the summertime, all of these transit windows would open up to move air throughout the facility. When we come down through here, well step back out to where you actually boarded the trains from this location. There has been an mp adaptation. Originally these particles were all open. They were never enclosed. Your ticket master would stay here and your porter would stay here in a small little building right here. This is where you got your ticket punched and you would get on the trains. Youll notice the train tracks are higher now. They were actually three foot lower back in the day when the depot is originally built. A lot yuck of that has changed because of the weight of the trains and what is required for the trains. If this was to turn back into a passenger station, it would easily be converted with an elevated deck. If amtrak was ever to come through amarillo this is where it would be. As we come back in, one of the cool features of our depot is we still have the original ticket counters. When you look at our ticket counters here, this would have been where you come to buy your ticket. We still have the sound system that was originally to the railroad. It is still here. Some of the artifacts that are unique to amarillo, we still have conductors jackets and caps. We still have the telegraphs. All of that equipment, we still have here. We do not story here inside the depot. We store it in a safe place. But a lot of those historical elements of our depot are still in place and still here in amarillo. Id like for you to come in behind and take a look at the ticket counters. These are original to the depot as well. One of the unique things about this is anybody who works in retail can identify what we are looking at. When is the last time you saw change george that you actually had the wood where you can slide your change in and out. All the demand not the nominations of the dollar bills. This is back from the routine hundreds 1900s. We still have all of these. It wouldve been where they kept the logs. If youre taking a train to albuquerque, new mexico, or wherever, this is where they kept the stamps and yuck tickets to get you through. Once again, all original and the fact that you see it moving and operating so easily is the testament to the construction of the time at the period. What we have here is critical to a lot of people that networked the railroad. This was chicago. When you see the age of the vehicles you understand that when this photo was taken. Chicago was the hub. It was the starting point for a lot of the rail lines. Santa fe had a presence there. They came down through the high plains across the top of texas and across new mexico. Then you see the grand canyon represented and would end up in San Francisco at the napa valley. The mural gives you a depiction of the way that you moved by train across the western part of the United States. When we come into this area, this is what was classified as the grand ballroom. If you think about the period, you are big beef buyers from chicago would have come down here to make deals with the big ranchers in texas. This is where some of those deals would have been made. It is easy to visualize how important this was. This would have been for Big Community civic terrifying functions. It wouldve taken place here because the depot was the biggest and most rid prominent structure in the city of amarillo at the time that it was built. What we have here is an original santa fe door. This door was located on the other side of the building. It was moved over here because of its importance to us and for this specific part appear. That is actually gold leaf, and original santa fe a no railway door. This is the reason you see the paper behind it. Were protecting all of that. In the scramble room, it couldve had the ranchers from exile tee and the four six is where the ellis ranch coming here to meet with brokers to broker deals to sell beef to the rest of the United States out of this room. Our depot is one of the unique depots because the house is a part of the depot itself. To the we will take a trip upstairs and take a look at the historic harvey hotel. As we come up into the harvey house, understand, it was a highend hotel in the day. This would have been the courtroom. Law as you came up you would have been received here. Royal they would take your coat and put it in the courtroom. And you wouldve entered into the hotel itself. This was the dining area for the harvey this was a full service restaurant. There would have been tables and chairs in here and the harvey girls would have service to you in here. The harvey girls were not allowed to mingle with the guests. They had to stay segregated. The harvey girls had a separate entrance into the air there area. They did not have to come through the station to actually work. They had their own dormitories back here. This wouldve been the private entrance for the harvey girls to come into both to work here and live here. A lot of those girls basically signed a contract with harvey. They lived on the promises and state on the premises. Some of them, for many years. There was a high set of standards to be a harvey girl. You absolutely could not fret nice with your customers. They kept them segregated for a lot of reasons. But that being the first one. Here would have been the restroom facility. As you came down the hallway, all of the girls had to come down here to use the restroom. Im going to get behind you. We will show you a quick look at one of the dormitory rooms for the girls. This room could have held between six to eight girls inside. Once again, take a look. You have the transit windows to move the arrow cross through here. They had steam heat in here but no air conditioning. You could imagine the days, the reason you know this is a dormitory is because this is what is considered a large closet in the day. Yes, it is a walk in, but it is much size to a walk in ways it . Law of course the girls would have had a view outside of the dormitories. They could see the railroad crash tracks. They knew when the trains were coming in and the workload would increase. Here now as we walk down here, we actually start looking at some of the hotel rooms. Youre going to notice that the hotel rooms, im going to ask you to envision back in the early 1900s, not many cars around here. Still a lot of horses and wagons. The prominence of this structure in that time period is undeniable. It truly is impressive. This would have been one of the first hotel rooms that you could get from harveys. As you can tell, it is not very big, but it served its purpose. If you are traveling across country and you needed a one night stay, you may be 12 hours coming from kansas city to here, heres where you would have stopped and rest before going to the grand canyon and then off to california. As i said earlier, keep in mind, there were some big deals being made in amarillo at this time. Youre talking about somebody that is buying beef that is going to be feeding tens of thousands of people in the east and upper midwest. So those guys that are doing that, they were wealthy guys. Theyre not going to take a room like this. They are going to take a sweet. Step into the sweet. I this would have been a suite. They connected to human rooms together and this was a huge walking closet. At the time it was built there really was not much of a downtown amarillo but you could see all of amarillo develop in the east so you could have been in this room and seen the entirety of amarillo from these windows. We want to keep our history. Its an important part of who we are. We envision redeveloping this spot back to its original look and feel. Of course there can be multiple uses that dont involve it being a train. We could have a bed and breakfast in the harvey hotel. Not only are we tied to the trains but were tied to route 66. We still get a lot of that traffic coming through amarillo. The depot is one of the key features that people when they drive it, they want to see, it its an important part of the history of not only amarillo but the United States and the development of the west. Friday night on American History tv, from american histories tvs lecture series. The suspense city tour troubled country exploring the American History. Weve been to over 200 cities across the. Nation our stuff is clay staying close to home due to the coronavirus. Here is a look at our recent visit to san antonio texas. Exploring the american story as we take tv and American History tv across the road. We travel to san antonio texas. Coming up in the next hour, will experience the history
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.