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Photographer's
Note:
Subject: Canadian River
These shots are of the Canadian River valley traveling from Dumas,
Texas to Amarillo. You
can see Amarillo on the far
horizon (to the South). The river has carved its way through the otherwise flat
plains in a million different channels. The road is U.S. 287/87 which is the main
road from Texas through the Panhandle
to Denver and other points North.
The Canadian River today is often
just a small stream thanks to the many dams on the river and its tributaries in
New Mexico, but even a short rainstorm can fill its banks.
The Canadian
River is now an important recreation area for off-roaders, hikers, and hunters.
To the east of these views, the river flows into Lake
Meredith, which is an important source of drinking water and recreation. -
Tom
Jones, December 24, 2007 |
"A
pretty view showing the Canadian River in the Background."
1920s vintage
photo courtesy Ken
Sharpe |
| | Constructed
in 1916. Restored in 2000 |
More About
The Canadian RiverCanadian
River was watery trap
by Delbert Trew
Almost every early day description, narrative and historical
note written about the Canadian River uses the words "dangerous," "treacherous,"
"quicksand" and "death." Whether man, beast or wagon was involved, the river often
took its toll...
Head-rises
wiped out frontier towns by Delbert Trew
A head-rise is a wall of water,
either small or large, brought on by a heavy downpour of rain upstream. A head-rise
may occur on a down-sloping cow trail, ranch road, arroyo, canyon, creek or river.
A head-rise can even occur down a wide flat draw if enough rain falls quickly...
Our ranch bordering the Canadian River continually suffered from erosion
and damage caused by head-rises and flooding.
Miles of fences were destroyed
and acres of riverbanks lands were washed away down the river.
We prowled
the river banks after each flooding looking for posts, telephone and REA poles
washed down by the water.
Once we found a nice wooden bridge which we
took apart and used to build new corals.
Always, we had to watch for tangles
of barbed wire, mad, wet rattlesnakes and quicksand in the bayous.
Almost
overnight after a head-rise, the wet muddy river bottoms became dry again and
the red sands began sifting with the winds.
It was a never-changing pattern.
more
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