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The panhandle plains by Arthur Rothstein,
1936.
This image available for
photographic prints and downloads
HERE!
Llano Estacado, Spanish for "palisaded
plains" refers to the arid plains of the Texas Panhandle south to the
Midland-Odessa area and into eastern New Mexico. One of the largest mesas
or tablelands in North America, the elevation rises some 2000 feet as it
slopes about 10 feet per mile from its lowest point to its highest point.
However, due to the gradual slope, the landscape appears almost completely
flat.
The region got its name when
Coronado and his conquistadors traveled east from Cibola in
1541 and spied the Caprock Escarpment, a sheer cliff rising some 300 feet
that forms a natural transition between the High Plains to the west and
the North Central Plains to the east. Appearing as an impenetrable defense
for the land, he called it the Llano Estacado, which is often
mistranslated as "staked plains."
In the late 1800s, the area was home to the
Kiowa and Comanche tribes, who refused to be secluded on reservations in
Indian Territory (Oklahoma), which led to one of the last Indian battles
in Palo Duro Canyon in December, 1874.
Because of its semi-arid terrain, it was one
of the last areas in Texas to be settled, though this changed dramatically
when oil was discovered in the early 20th century.
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