Chandra Prakash Bhongir, Civil Engr, May04 - TTU DSpace Home

HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH INTO

THE SINGER STORE, A FRONTIER LUBBOCK

COMMERCIAL VENTURE

by

KAREN KAYE BILBREY HICKS, B.A.

A THESIS

IN

INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in

Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Approved

Eileen Johnson Chairperson of the Committee

Gary Elbow

John White

Accepted

John Borrelli Dean of the Graduate School

December, 2005

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My efforts to expand understanding of the history of the Singer Store were

greatly facilitated by assistance from many parties. I am deeply grateful for the

support and guidance afforded me by Dr. Eileen Johnson. Not only did she

provide the opportunity, direction, and encouragement necessary for completion

of the research, but it is largely through her efforts that the Lubbock Lake

Landmark has become the world renowned research center that it is today. I am

also indebted to committee members John White and Dr. Gary Elbow for their

patience and interest in the project.

The archaeological aspect of the Singer research was entirely dependent

on the dedicated and cheerful work of the 1996-1998 field crews. I benefited not

only from their efforts in the field but from their camaraderie and shared

experience as well. Other technical support was provided by Lubbock Lake

Landmark and Museum of Texas Tech University staff members. Field

photography and artifact photographs were provided by Rebecca Hinrichs Lewis,

Dr. Mary Lee Bartlett, and Tara Johnson. Assistance with artifact analysis is

credited to Susan Baxevanis, Terri Carnes, and Jennifer Torres. Finishing detail

for some of the maps and figures was provided by draftsmen Scott Malone and

Marcus Hamilton. James Johnson of the Blackwell Museum, Felix Barbosa-

Retana, and Max Winn, provided insight that aided artifact identification.

ii

The field research was conducted under Texas Historical Commission

Permit for Archeological Investigations #1515 and supported by funding from the

Museum of Texas Tech University, Museum of Texas Tech University

Association, Office of the President of Texas Tech University, Southwestern Bell,

Summerlee Foundation, Plum Foundation, and Center for Field Research

(EARTHWATCH). Recovered artifacts were accessioned and cataloged and are

held with their associated documentation (field notes, photodocuments,

drawings) in the Anthropology Division of the Museum of Texas Tech University.

Among those assisting with the historical research, I am in debt to Dessie

Redwine and George Hawkins who shared with me their personal histories. The

archival research into the Singer history was facilitated by the staff of the

Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas; the Research

Center at Panhandle Plains Museum, Canyon, Texas; the Haley Memorial

Library and History Center, Midland, Texas; General Land Office of the State of

Texas, Austin; and the Reference Staff of the Chicago Public Library.

Finally, I am most deeply grateful for the enduring support and patience of

my family and their continuous encouragement.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................................ii

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................vi

LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................vii

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1

II. THEORY............................................................................................ 7

III. BACKGROUND ............................................................................... 11

Environmental Context ............................................................ 12

Societal Context....................................................................... 21

Concluding Statement ............................................................. 31

IV. HISTORIC CONTEXT ..................................................................... 33


V. ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH................................................... 48

1996 Archaeological Survey .................................................... 50

Excavation ............................................................................... 57


VI. ARTIFACT ANALYSIS..................................................................... 87

Glass ....................................................................................... 87

Ceramic ................................................................................... 94

Metal........................................................................................ 98

iv

Miscellaneous Artifacts .......................................................... 138

Faunal Remains..................................................................... 145

Concluding Statement ........................................................... 148

VII. DISCUSSION ................................................................................ 149

Archaeological Findings......................................................... 150

Historic Association ............................................................... 160

Findings Summary................................................................. 162

Regional Comparisons .......................................................... 165

Concluding Statement ........................................................... 181

VIII. CONCLUSION............................................................................... 182

REFERENCES................................................................................................. 187

v

LIST OF TABLES

3.1 Species represented in material recovered from stratum 5, Lubbock Lake Landmark.......................................................................... 21 5.1 Artifacts recovered from the 1996 survey in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark................................................. 56 5.2 Artifacts recovered from the 1997 test excavation at 41LU31 in the

southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark .......................... 61 5.3 Artifacts recovered from Unit 53S8E during 1997 test excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake

Landmark................................................................................................. 69 5.4 Artifacts recovered from Unit 41S10E during 1997 test excavation at

41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark................................................................................................. 69

5.5 Artifacts recovered from Unit 37S0E during 1997 test excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake

Landmark................................................................................................. 70 5.6 Artifacts recovered from Unit 35S10E during 1997 test excavation at

41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark................................................................................................. 70

5.7 Artifacts recovered from Unit 27N1E during 1997 test excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake

Landmark................................................................................................. 71 5.8 Artifacts recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark .................... 78 6.1 Bone recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............... 147

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

1.1 The marker commemorating the Singer Store is located in the southwest portion of the Lubbock Lake Landmark..................................... 3 3.1 Location of Southern High Plains in relation to Texas and the Great Plains ............................................................................................. 13 4.1 Map showing location of Estacado and Lubbock Lake Landmark in

Lubbock County....................................................................................... 35 4.2 The Plains Museum Society installed an historical marker at the site Of the Singer Store in 1932. Photograph courtesy of the Southwest

Collection/Special Collections Libraries, Texas Tech University, SWCPC 57(K)-E11 .................................................................................. 38 4.3 Roughly shaped caliche used as house foundation for early Lubbock

home. Photograph courtesy of the Southwest Collection/Special Collection Libraries, Texas Tech University, Dorothy Rylander

Photograph Collection, SWCPC 332-E1 #2............................................. 39 4.4 Receipt from Singer Store for goods purchased by XIT cowboys. XIT Ranch Collection, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum Research Center, Canyon, Texas............................................................ 41 4.5 Image of Dequasie’s application for first Lubbock Post Office. Records of the Post Office Department, National Archives, Washington, D.C...................................................................................... 42 4.6. George Singer wrote this letter to Hank Smith asking for payment on his account. Hank Smith Papers, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum Research Center, Canyon, Texas ............................................. 43 4.7 Map showing location of Lubbock Lake Landmark relative to first post office (Historic Marker) and to land claimed by George W. and Rachel Singer .......................................................................................... 44 4.8 The Singer Store in the original town of Lubbock was located at the corner of Singer Street and North First Street (now Buddy Holly Avenue and Main Street) ......................................................................... 46

vii

5.1 Areas of Lubbock Lake Landmark addressed in the Singer Store Research ................................................................................................. 51 5.2 Portion of Lubbock Lake Landmark covered in 1996 pedestrian Survey...................................................................................................... 52 5.3 Distribution of artifacts and remote sensing targets piece-point plotted during the 1996 field season Singer Store research survey at the Lubbock Lake Landmark................................................................ 53 5.4 Distribution of diagnostic historic artifacts located during the 1996 field season Singer Store research survey at the Lubbock Lake Landmark................................................................................................. 55 5.5 Plan view of excavation units opened during the test excavation at

41LU31 .................................................................................................... 60 5.6 Location of test units opened during the 1997 field season test excavation at 41LU1 Area 70................................................................... 63 5.7 Location of test excavation units opened during the 1997 field season at 41LU1 Area 8 .......................................................................... 66 5.8 Close-up of plan view of test excavation units opened during the 1997 field season at 41LU1 Area 8.......................................................... 68 5.9 Location of excavation units opened during the 1997 and 1998 field

seasons at 41LU1 Area 8 ........................................................................ 73 5.10 Profile of the north wall of units 2S4E to 2S10E during the 1998 field

season block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8............................................... 74 5.11 Horizontal distribution of artifacts from feature FA8-16 recovered during the 1997-1998 field season excavation at 41LU1 Area 8.............. 75 5.12 Detailed location of excavation units opened during the 1997 and 1998 field seasons at 41LU1 Area 8........................................................ 76 5.13 Close up view of artifact distribution in group A showing artifact

concentration in the area of anomalous sediment in units 4S0E, 5S0E, and 4S1E ...................................................................................... 80 5.14 Close-up of charcoal concentration in the northwest quadrant of unit 2N3E........................................................................................................ 82

viii

5.15 Vertical distribution of artifacts recovered from FA8-16 (historic debris scatter) during the 1998 field season block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8. Scale is not proportional ................................................. 84 6.1 Segments of a panel bottle (TTU-A93111, TTU-A93112, TTU-A93113, TTU-A93114, TTU-A93115) further broken in situ recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the

southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark ........................ 88 6.2 Distribution of melted glass shards recovered from 1997 and 1998

excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.......................................................................... 92 6.3 Distribution of unmelted glass shards recovered from 1997 and 1998

excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.......................................................................... 93 6.4 Distribution of ceramic sherds recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.......................................................................... 94 6.5 Two segments of a porcelain doorknob (TTU-93716, TTU-A 94161)

recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of Lubbock Lake Landmark ................................ 95

6.6 Very faint maker’s mark visible on right half of ceramic sherd TTU-A73384 recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of Lubbock Lake Landmark.................... 96 6.7 A “pie-crust” prosser button (TTU-A96340) recovered from 1998 block

excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.......................................................................... 97 6.8 Cartridge casings (TTU-A90646, TTU-A95911, TTU-A95941, TTU-

A73495, TTU-A94799) recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake

Landmark................................................................................................. 99 6.9 Distribution of cartridges recovered from central units of 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.................................................................. 100

ix

6.10 Distribution by caliber of cartridge casings recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.................................................................. 103

6.11 Remains of burned ammunition recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the

Lubbock Lake Landmark........................................................................ 102 6.12 Hole-in-cap can (TTU-A85755) recovered during the 1996 survey of the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark .............. 104 6.13 Diagram showing horizontal distribution of all whole and fragmentary square nails recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at

41LU1 Area 8 in the Southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............................................................................................... 107 6.14 Type and size of whole nails recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.................................................................. 109 6.15 Distribution of shoe nails recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the

Lubbock Lake Landmark........................................................................ 111 6.16 Screws (TTU-A94216, TTU-A94963, TTU-A73425, TTU-A93811, TTU-A94483) recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake

Landmark............................................................................................... 113 6.17 Examples of Frentress’ Diamond barbs (TTU-A94880, TTU-A94881, TTU-A96104) recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at

41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............................................................................................... 115

6.18 Distribution of barbs recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at


6.19 Distribution of fence staples recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark........................................................................ 118

x

6.20 Brass straight pins (TTU-A94336, TTU-A93845) recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............................................... 119 6.21 Horizontal distribution of brass straight pins recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............................................... 119 6.22 Pen nibs (TTU-A90799, TTU-A94187, TTU-A95720) recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark ........................ 120 6.23 Horizontal distribution of rivets and rivet burrs recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............................................... 121 6.24 Horizontal distribution of metal buttons recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.............................................................. 123 6.25 Shield Nickel (TTU-A94855) recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake

Landmark............................................................................................... 124 6.26. Selection of cast iron objects (TTU-A93788, TTU-A93006, TTU- A96288, TTU-A94853) recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake

Landmark............................................................................................... 125 6.27 Diagram depicting artifact TTU-A94311 and an example of a platform scale showing the support element.......................................... 126 6.28 Both sides of an unidentified cast iron artifact (TTU-A94186) recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the

southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark ........................ 127 6.29 Adjacent cast iron corner fragments TTU-A90567 and TTU-A92907

recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark, as seen

from the underside................................................................................. 127

xi

6.30 Bolt (TTU-A90577), cast iron (TTU-A90567), and square nail (TTU-A90582) recovered from unit 2S4E during 1997 test excavation at


6.31 Both sides of a knife (TTU-A85756) recovered during the 1996 survey of 41LU1 Area 8 at the Lubbock Lake Landmark ....................... 129 6.32 Flattened bell portion of brass funnel TTU-A94966 recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............................................... 130 6.33 Wire (TTU-A94932) resembling a hairpin recovered from 1998 block

excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark........................................................................ 131 6.34 Spoon bowl (TTU-A73390) recovered from 1998 block excavation at


6.35 Metal ring (TTU-A92039) recovered from unit 37S0E during 1997 test excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark........................................................................ 132 6.36 A T-shaped brass brad (TTU-A93823) recovered during 1998 block

excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark........................................................................ 133 6.37 Horseshoe remnant (TTU-A93719) recovered from unit 2S9E during 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............................................... 133 6.38 Buckles and a D-ring recovered during excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............... 135 6.39 Chain fragment TTU-A94176 recovered during 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark........................................................................ 136 6.40 Probable handles recovered during 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............................................................................................... 136

xii

6.41 Artifacts with “corkscrew” components recovered from 4S2E during 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............................................... 137 6.42 Unidentified iron artifact (TTU-A94533) recovered during 1998 block

excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark........................................................................ 138 6.43 Distribution of slate pencil fragments recovered from 1997 and 1998

excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark........................................................................ 139 6.44 Distribution of rubber artifacts recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark........................................................................ 141 6.45 Distribution of caliche recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at


6.46 Unknown artifact TTU-A94623 that appears to be a fragment broken off of the original Singer Store Historical Marker........................ 146 7.1 Horizontal distribution of structure related artifacts recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark............................................... 152 7.2 Horizontal distribution of ammunition related artifacts recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark ........................ 156 7.3 Distribution of melted and unmelted glass recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.................................................................. 159 7.4 Topographic map of portion of the Lubbock Lake Landmark prepared by Green and depicting location of a small drainage below

railroad trestle along the southern edge (Kazcor, 1978) ........................ 163 7.5 Photograph of early Lubbock. The second building from the right is

reportedly the Singer Store (Bronwell, 1980). Photograph courtesy of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech

University, Lubbock, Texas, Museum Photograph Collection, Box 1, Accession number 1948-7-9 .................................................................. 176

xiii

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The United States frontier reached the Southern High Plains of Texas only

in the latter part of the 19th century (Holden, 1936; 1962a). Since this time, the

area has undergone widespread agricultural development and local urbanization.

County histories, memoirs, and anecdotal accounts have preserved general

information and some details of settlement across this region. However,

cultivation and building activities have destroyed much of the physical fabric of

history (Sasser, 1993). Features such as dugouts, houses and other structures,

and the once ubiquitous windmill, largely have disappeared from the landscape

along with many artifacts. The Singer Store is one such element.

The Singer Store was an important component of the United States early

history on the Southern High Plains of Texas. Some considered the store, as an

early commercial venture, to be the beginning of the community of Lubbock

(Conner, 1962a; Johnson and Holliday, 1987). The young Singer family

represented the first American settlers to make the local area their home. They

arrived in the central portion of Lubbock County in the early 1880s and remained

at this location until 1886 when their store building burned. The Singers rebuilt

the store in a different location, and eventually moved to the new town of

Lubbock.

1

The story of the Singers and the Singer Store represents one phase of the

United States frontier as it developed on the Southern High Plains of Texas.

Information regarding the Singer occupation relates to the progression of the

frontier from the open-range ranching era to settlement. However, the historic

record of the Singers and the store is limited. Details such as the exact location

and the date when the Singers first arrived are in question. One reported

location of the store is on the southwest side of a small lake (Burns, 1923)

nestled in a meander of Yellowhouse Draw. A historic marker erected in 1932

commemorates the store at this reported location (Fig. 1.1). However, other

historic accounts (Truett, 1982) described another location for the store.

The historic marker location is now within the boundaries of Lubbock Lake

National Historic and State Archeological Landmark (Lubbock Lake Landmark),

an archaeological and natural history preserve (Johnson, 1987; Johnson and

Holliday, 1989). This circumstance affords a unique opportunity to apply

archaeological and historical investigation to reports of the Singer Store. The

primary research hypothesis of the study is that a 19th century Singer Store

located at the present-day Lubbock Lake Landmark would be represented in the

preserved archaeological record and that recoverable data would correlate to

historic accounts of the Singer Store. Previous archaeological investigations at

the Lubbock Lake Landmark have recovered limited 19th century material (Green,

1962; Kelley, 1974; Sierchula, 1974; Denton, 1977; Kazcor, 1978) in an area

(41LU1 Area 8) that would have been on the southwest side of the lake.

2

Figure 1.1. The marker commemorating the Singer Store is located in the

southwest portion of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

3

The main research objective is the establishment of a definite location of

the store, chronology of the store’s history, and details regarding the specific

nature (i.e., stocked merchandise) of the store. The information will contribute to

the goal of understanding the Singer Store in relation to the progression of the

frontier. That understanding will in turn contribute to the formation of a database

for further study of the United States frontier on the Southern High Plains of

Texas. Information about the development of the frontier in this unique physical

and temporal environment constitutes a case study in comparative frontier

investigations that seek to understand the behavioral aspects of such processes

as modernization, globalization, industrialism, and the expansion of western

nations and their institutions. Information from this unique frontier can help

illustrate how the character of the core society is reflected in the frontier. In

combination with data from other sites on a regional scale, investigation of the

Singer Store can help examine frontier processes and document how the frontier

differs from the societal core (or cores) as well as how material culture within the

frontier changes as settlement, economies, and transportation systems develop.

The archaeological record is an important resource in examining change,

continuity, and interactions between social groups within a frontier setting (Orser

and Fagan, 1995). The archaeological focus area for the study is the

southwestern portion of the Lubbock Lake Landmark, encompassing both valley

margin and upland topography around a meander in Yellowhouse Draw where a

lake was located. Research has concentrated on this part of the Landmark due

4

to historic accounts describing the store’s location and the presence of 19th

century material in 41LU1 Area 8.

Archaeological work conducted during the Lubbock Lake Landmark

summer field seasons from 1996 through 1998 progressed through three phases

of investigation: pedestrian survey, subsurface testing, and block excavation.

Evidence recovered included artifacts and spatial information from the field that

underwent further analysis in the lab. Also uncovered were features that merit

future investigation in the field.

Research of text resources, including historic records, accounts, and oral

histories, assisted and expanded on information recovered from archaeological

work. An examination of Lubbock County deed records sought information that

would constrict further the area of archaeological investigation and a search was

made to find a map showing the location of the store. Accounts and oral

histories, while inherently limited by their subjective nature, contained

descriptions of the store and its contents that were significant in interpreting

recovered archaeological data.

Specific research questions addressed include whether appropriate 19th

century material persists in the archaeological record and, if so, whether the

material is in accord with historic accounts of the store’s construction,

dimensions, and contents. Evidence of store merchandise should reflect a

limited and specialized clientele specific to hunting and ranching frontiers.

Similarly, recovered information should be characteristic of a frontier tied to an

5

industrial society with an expanding transportation system, but one in which

conditions such as isolation and scarcity of goods persist as factors to be dealt

with by settlers.

6

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Expansion into new territories and habitats is a fundamental human

behavior, as evidenced by the global human presence. With this movement, the

boundaries (or frontier of a society) expand, often bringing the society into

contact with environments containing previously unknown elements, including

other societies. American expansion on the Southern High Plains represents a

frontier developing in a unique environment characterized by distinct social,

technological, and economic conditions. Frontier is a term applied to a specific

period within the continuum of development that moves through colonization,

settlement, and, sometimes, depopulation.

Frontier studies seek to understand the processes and patterns of human

behavior inherent in both the causes and consequences of such expansion

(Green and Perlman, 1985). Research on the Singer Store should make

available information about frontier conditions and responses on the Southern

High Plains. This information can contribute to comparisons with frontiers that

have developed in similar physical or sociological environments and serve to

assess the role of such factors in shaping frontier societies. In addition, data

specific to the Southern High Plains frontier can be compared to frontiers of

dissimilar environments in seeking developments that are independent of

environment.

7

Compared to the core society, the frontier region is less complex socially,

economically, and politically (Harris, 1977). The basic cultural assumption is that

inferences concerning the development from frontier to settled Anglo-American

society can be made from analysis of evidence inherent in artifacts and historic

documents.

Frontiers develop in systems composed of a number of components

(Wells, 1973) through several processes (Hardesty, 1985) including competition

with native people, animals, or plant communities, colonization, acculturation,

and adaptation. The basic component is a society that is engaged in expansion

into new territories. The expanding society includes elements such as

communication systems, economic systems, ideological systems, and

technology. Another component is the territory into which the society is

expanding. This territory comprises the physical environment and indigenous

societies as well as other expanding societies and factors subsumed within those

societies. These components are inherently complex as separate entities and

their interaction within a frontier also is complex.

The frontier itself is the area of expansion within which constituents of the

expanding society, any indigenous societies, and the environment interact. As

frontiers are open systems (Green and Perlman, 1985), outcomes from these

interactions will affect even the components outside of the actual area of

expansion including the core society. Characteristics of different frontiers derive

in part from specific factors within the societies involved (e.g., economic

8

conditions or technological abilities) and the environment (e.g., environmental

resources or difficult terrain).

Frontiers in different settings vary in character. This quality has led

researchers to designate various categories and types of frontiers, usually based

on economic characteristics (e.g., ranching or mining) (Steffen, 1979; Lewis,

1984; Hardesty, 1985). Steffen (1979, 1980), in examining change and

continuity on the Anglo-American frontier, distinguishes two categories of frontier,

that of insular and cosmopolitan. Insular frontiers are those with limited ties or

links to the core society. This isolation minimizes ameliorating support from the

core society and thus emphasizes the importance of adaptation to the local

environment in achieving success. The necessity to adapt to the local

environment combined with minimal influence from the core society results in

fundamental ideological change.

In contrast to insular frontiers are cosmopolitan frontiers in which change

is superficial, with the underlying ideological bases (e.g., economic, political, and

social views) remaining the same as those of the core society. Steffen (1980)

questions whether settlement on the Great Plains of North America should be

considered a frontier at all as he sees no fundamental change resulting from that

settlement. However, the qualifying conditions of insularity that engender

fundamental, indigenous changes derive from combined environmental and

societal factors (e.g., transportation and/or communication), not from the

processes of expansion and settlement that produce frontiers. Innovations in

9

transportation and communication technologies serve to reduce isolation and

preserve ties between the core society and frontier. Closer ties provide for

participation by the core society in finding solutions to frontier problems as the

core society has an interest in the success of the frontier.

The Singer occupation at Lubbock Lake occurred during the earliest part

of the period of Anglo-American colonization of the Southern High Plains.

Settlement of this region occurred late in the period of United States frontier

development. National territory already extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific

coast and urbanization and industrial development were underway in the East,

Mid-West, and West (Hine, 1984; Paul, 1988). American expansionist activity

preceding settlement on the Llano Estacado included 19th century exploration,

military action to complete the removal of Native Americans from the region, and

the extractive economic practice of buffalo hunting (Holden, 1962a). The battles

and buffalo hunting were also examples of competition with native inhabitants of

the region.

The Singer occupation on the Southern High Plains coincided with that of

the last of the American buffalo hunters, Hispanic sheepherders (pastores), and

finally, American cattle and sheep ranchers. The Singer Store, as a mercantile

venture, represented a specialized activity in its role as a link between the frontier

and the core society. The store served as this link by obtaining and distributing

goods produced in industrial regions and as a Post Office, by providing

communication within the frontier and with the core society.

10

CHAPTER III

BACKGROUND

Human cultures develop, persist, and adapt within a complex network of

components. The components consist of elements of the physical environment

such as landscape and climate as well as elements of the social environment

including relations between separate cultural groups, economic systems,

technologies, and belief systems. Understanding change within a specific human

society requires consideration of as many elements as possible (e.g., Steffen,

1979, 1980; Lewis, 1984; Hardesty, 1985). For frontier research, historic

attributes within the expanding society play a major role influencing frontier

development (Wells, 1973). Therefore, the history of an expanding society as

well as environmental factors provides important context for understanding the

frontier.

The history of the Singer Store unfolds in late 19th century Texas on the

Southern High Plains, a unique environment. United States expansion at this

point in the late 19th century resulted in competition and removal of competing

cultures and fauna from the region, preparing the way for settlement.

11

Environmental Context

The Southern High Plains, also known as the Llano Estacado or Staked

Plains and Caprock, is the southern part of the High Plains (Fig. 3.1; Johnson

and Holliday, 1993). The High Plains, in turn, are the central portion of the vast

Great Plains region of North America (Webb, 1931). Webb (1931:3) identifies

three fundamental features associated with a plains environment: absence of

trees, a sub-humid climate, and a relatively flat or plane surface. Each of these

factors can influence the nature of human/environmental interaction. Although

attributing "the cultural character of the Plains" to any region exhibiting two of the

three features, Webb (1931:4) recognizes the High Plains as the only North

American region characterized by all three factors.

Only the channels of dry riverbeds (draws), ephemeral lakes known as

playas or playa lakes, a few larger salinas or saline lakes, and localized fields of

sand dunes provide relief of the flat Southern High Plains' surface (Holliday,

1995). No extant rivers cross the region today; however, historically, a number of

springs were found along the escarpments, draws, and at salinas (Brune, 1981).

Flowing water was in the lower reaches of most of the draws (Holliday, 1995).

12

Figure 3.1. Location of Southern High Plains in relation to Texas and the Great

Plains. Figure drawn by the author.

13

The Southern High Plains is essentially a large tableland bounded on

three sides by sometimes steep and rugged escarpments rising 50 to 200m

above the surrounding land. Although flat, the land is not level and gently slopes

from a maximum of 1,500m above sea level in the northwest to 750m above sea

level in the southeast (Holliday, 1990). Fluvial erosion is a force that contributed

to the present form of the Southern High Plains. The escarpment to the east has

formed from headward erosion of tributaries of the Red, Colorado, and Brazos

rivers. The Canadian River Valley provides a northern border while similarly, to

the west in New Mexico, is the Pecos River Valley (Holliday, 1990). No well-

defined southern limit occurs. Instead, the High Plains to Edwards Plateau

transition is indicated only by the appearance of Edwards Limestone (Hunt,

1974).

Climate is a major factor influencing the nature of human economy in a

given region, imposing limits on both the natural environment and human use of

the environment. Sub-humid or arid climates are deficient in rainfall needed to

support the same agricultural practices of regions that are more humid (Webb,

1931). For the Southern High Plains, the regional continental climate was

established around 4,500 years ago. Its present expression began about 2,000

years ago (Holliday, 1995) and is classified as semi-arid. Average yearly

precipitation amounts vary from just under 20" (50cm) in the northeast to about

13" (33cm) in the southwest (Haragan, 1983; Bomar, 1995).

14

As important a variable as quantity is the distribution and nature of

precipitation events. The greatest portion of precipitation falls from

thunderstorms during the spring and summer months of May, June, July, and

August. Thunderstorms can deliver large amounts of rain in a short period

creating surface run-off. Thus, a significant portion of the moisture is not

absorbed into the ground (NOAA, 1982) but drains into local playa lakes.

Additionally, total precipitation fluctuates from year to year. Historically, periods

of above average precipitation and drought have played a role in shaping

economic success and settlement on the plains (Brooks and Emel, 2000).

Drought is a well-known and recurring event on the Southern High Plains (NOAA,

1982) with potentially severe environmental and economic consequences.

Average high summer temperatures on the Southern High Plains

generally are into the low 30s°C (90s°F). However, under conditions of

persistent high pressure, temperatures can rise to the upper 30s° (above 100°F).

These excessive high temperatures increase evaporation and suppress rainfall

events that, in dry years, can intensify drought conditions. Low temperatures for

January average about 5° below 0°C (low 20s°F)(Bomar, 1995). Blizzards occur

rarely but can have a devastating effect on the region (NOAA, 1982).

West of 96° longitude, average annual evapotranspiration exceeds annual

average rainfall (NOAA, 1982). Precipitation combined with the variables of

temperature, wind, and humidity yield net soil moisture. On the Southern High

Plains, hot summer temperatures with frequent wind and low humidity serve to

15

increase evaporation. The effect is a deficit of available soil moisture, an

important environmental factor influencing plant and animal communities as well

as viable agricultural technique.

Climate has played a significant role in determining the general soil types

found on the Southern High Plains. Soils primarily have formed within wind-

blown deposits that accumulated over the region during dry periods, blown-in by

high velocity northeast winds. Heavier particles have precipitated out of the

wind-blown material sooner than lighter particles, resulting in sandier soils in the

southern and western parts of the region and soils with higher clay content

occurring in the northern and eastern portions of the Southern High Plains

(Holliday, 1988). This difference in soils contributes to intra-regional variations of

native vegetation and influences human use of resources and settlement

patterns.

In general, the Southern High Plains climate favors native vegetation

dominated by grasses but shrubs and forbs also are part of the regional

vegetation. However, due to the effects of cultivation, urbanization and

development, and overgrazing that occurred since the late 1870s, no pre-

Columbian plant associations and communities remain unaffected and in their

original state. In general, present-day uncultivated land can include stands of

grass varieties including three-awns (Aristida spp.), sweet bluestem

(Bothriochola saccharoides) (Tharp, 1952), sideoats grama (Bouteloua

curtipendula), black grama (B. eriopoda), blue grama (B. gracilis), hairy grama

16

(B. hirsute), buffalograss (Buchlöe dactyloides), and sand or covered-spike

dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) (Choate, 1991). Grass is less dense in the

sandy southern and western parts of the Plains where it can be accompanied by

shin oak (Quercus havardii), mesquite (Prosopsis glandulosa), and sand sage

(Artemisia filifolia) (Choate, 1991).

Historic accounts of 19th century vegetation of the Southern High Plains

were few and limited to local conditions. Charles Goodnight, an early cattle

rancher at the northern edge of the Southern High Plains, described tall western

wheat grass (Agroppyron smithii) growing around and in the playas (Tharp,

1952). Surveyors of the state’s Capitol Reservation land on the Southern High

Plains found much of the land occupied by mesquite, grama, sedge (Carex spp.

and Cyperus spp.), bunch, (little bluestem, three awn, and sand dropseed are

examples of bunch grass – this term describes growth habit), and bluestem

grasses (Spaight, 1882). Similarly, Holden (1962b), an historian acquainted with

some early settlers, described a turf of buffalograss and blue grama growing on

the level uplands with side oats grama, bluestem, and tall switch grass (Panicum

virgatum) growing in moist locations. Mesquite and cat’s claw acacia (Acacia

greggii) were among shrubby plants settlers encountered (Holden, 1962b).

Draws and the escarpment provided the only native timber with hackberry (Celtis

sp.) and cottonwood (Populus spp.) found in the draws (Tharp, 1939; Holden,

1962a; Thompson, 1987). Various junipers (Juniperus spp.) and cedars (Cedrus

spp.) were found along the escarpment (Tharp, 1939; Rathjen, 1973). Moist,

17

shaded areas within the canyons sheltered a number of vines including grapes

(Vitis spp.) and clematis (Clematis spp.) (Tharp, 1939), a flowering vine. Wild

plum (Prunus americana) was also found in the canyons (Tharp, 1939).

These historic accounts are supplemented by results of recent scientific

inquiry. Thompson (1987:33-34), reporting on plant macrofossils recovered from

archaeological investigation at Lubbock Lake Landmark in Yellowhouse Draw,

notes remains of bullrush (Scirpus spp.), devil’s claw (Proboscidea spp.), netleaf

hackberry (Celtus reticulata), prickly poppy (Argemone spp.), nightshade

(Solanum spp.), and mesquite (Prosopis spp.) in the most recent sediments

(stratum 5).

The dominant historic natural vegetation of the Southern High Plains is

grass (Choate, 1991) that supports many large and small herbivores and

associated predators. The grassland of the plains was part of a complex

ecosystem. Prior to 19th century American settlement of the Southern High

Plains when large expanses of grassland remained intact, these extensive

grasslands supported a diverse animal community. Bison (Bison bison) and

pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana) were the largest herbivores and

ranged across the Southern High Plains. White-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus)

and black-tailed or mule deer (O. hemionus) were reported from the extreme

northern portions of the Llano Estacado (Romero, 1946). Cottontails (Sylvilagus

spp.), jackrabbits (Lepus californicus), ground squirrels (Spermophilus spp.), and

prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) were among small animals noted by settlers

18

and hunted by coyotes (Canis latrans), lobo (gray) wolves (C. lupus), and the

swift fox (Vulpes velox). Holden (1962b) recorded two late 19th century

encounters with black bears (Ursus americanus) reported by cowboys working

on the Llano Estacado. Bailey (1905) also recounted a few reports of black

bears near the northeast escarpment or in Palo Duro Canyon. An 1884 letter

from R. J. Michel to Hank Smith in Blanco Canyon refers to a conversation

between Michel and Smith regarding antelope, deer, and bears (Michel, 1884).

Bird varieties included blue quail (Callipepia squamata), bobwhite quail

(Colinus virginianus), prairie chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), wild turkey

(Meleagris gallopavo), and, at canyon rims and the escarpment, an occasional

eagle (golden eagle - Aquila chysaetos, bald eagle - Haliaetus leucocephalus) or

buzzard (Cathartes aurateter). Ducks (Anatidae) and geese (Branta canadensis)

migrated through the area and some would stay the whole winter. Early settlers

also encountered a number of snakes including the beneficial bull snake

(Pituophis melanoleucus), coach whip (Masticophis flagellum), grass snakes

(possibly Thamnophis spp.), and rattlesnakes (Crotalus spp.) (Holden, 1962b).

The first exotic animals to colonize the Southern High Plains were the

mustangs, or wild horse. The horse herds of the Apache on the Southern High

Plains came from the Santa Fe area through trade and raid. The Comanche in

particular, had sizeable horse herds. The feral horses on the Southern High

Plains most likely descended from this stock as well as being joined by those

19

animals that escaped from the Spanish herds in New Mexico (Worcester, 1944;

Rathjen, 1973; Holden, 1962b; Choate, 1991; Davis and Schmidly, 1994).

Skeletal remains recovered from recent sediments (stratum 5; Table 3.1)

through archaeological investigation at Lubbock Lake supplement historic

accounts of the local Yellowhouse Draw faunal assemblage (Johnson, 1987:50-

63). The box turtle, cottontails, prairie dog, coyote, modern horse, pronghorn

antelope, and modern bison were recovered from lacustrine and valley margin

substrata, with other listed species (Table 3.1) recovered only from lacustrine

substrata.

The region’s lack of natural waterways to facilitate transportation and arid

climate served as limits to the mobility and commerce of potential settlers. To

American explorers unfamiliar with the region, ignorance of water sources lead to

the perception that lack of permanent reliable surface water also constituted a

barrier to 19th century American travel and settlement. Nineteenth century

American explorers who ventured onto the Southern High Plains reported game

to be scarce (Rathjen, 1973), another reason to avoid the region. Later,

however, others who had seen the great buffalo herds understood the region to

hold potential as grazing land for cattle.

20

Table 3.1. Species represented in material recovered from stratum 5, Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Common Name Speciesleopard frog Rana pipiensyellow mud turtle Kinosternon flavescens pond slider Chrysemys scriptabox turtle Terrapene ornataTexas horned lizard Phrynosoma cornutum ground snake Sonora semiannulata checkered garter snake Thamnophis cf. marcianus ribbon snake T. proximuspintail duck Anas acutagadwall duck A. streperaruddy duck Oxyura jamaicensis hawk Buteo spp.American coot Fulica AmericanaSays phoebe cf. Sayornis sayanorthern mocking bird Mimus polyglottisMexican freetail bat Tadarida brasiliensis Audobon cottontail Sylvilagus cf. audobonii cottontail Sylvilagus spp.blacktail jackrabbit Lepus californicusblacktail prairie dog Cynomys ludovicianus hispid pocket mouse Perognathus cf. hispidus pocket mouse Perognathus spp.coyote Canis latransgray wolf C. lupiscommon striped skunk Mephitis mephitismodern horse Equus caballuspronghorn antelope Antilocapra americana modern bison Bison bison

Societal Context

For thousands of years, humans also inhabited the Southern High Plains

(Holden, 1962a; Johnson and Holliday, 1995). These hunter-gatherers left traces

of their activities in the archaeological record. Researchers know little of the

earliest human societies in the region except what they infer from the

21

archaeological record. Much of the material recovered from the record relates to

subsistence, such as products or bi-products of stone tool manufacture or plant

processing technologies. The archaeological record also discloses cultural

constancy or change over time. Interpretations of change in the record include

innovation within a culture, diffusion of new ideas from outside the culture via

travel or trade networks, or displacement.

During the cool, moist late Pleistocene, Paleoindian peoples moved on to

the Southern High Plains, hunting the large mammals of the grassland. Finely

crafted stone implements, especially spear points, characterized Paleoindian

material culture. Environmental change to a warmer, drier climate that began at

the end of the Pleistocene was coincident with cultural change in the

archaeological record. Hunting continued to provide subsistence into the Archaic

period but stone tool technologies were changing and evidence for intense plant

food processing increased. By ca. 4,500 years ago, the climate had ameliorated

and become slightly more humid (Johnson and Holliday, 1995).

New technologies apparent in the archaeological record signal the

beginning of the Ceramic period ca. 2,000 years ago. Pottery and arrow points

attest to technological innovation and/or contact with other culture groups.

Typological change also occurs throughout the Ceramic period, with trade pottery

appearing later in the period (Johnson and Holliday, 1995).

The first precursor of globalization appeared in North America beginning

with late 15th century Spanish contact. On the Southern High Plains, this time

22

marks the start of the Protohistoric period. The Spanish called the native bison

hunters they first encountered in the region the Querechos and the Teyas. The

Querechos probably were the same people later Spaniards referred to as

Apache, and the Teyas may have been a Caddoan group but, more likely, also

were Apache (Newcomb, 1961). Historic accounts place the Apache on the

Southern High Plains by the 16th century (Wedel, 1961; Perry, 1991).

Archaeological evidence indicates an Apache presence before that time, as early

as the mid-15th century (Runkels, 1964; Johnson, et al., 1977).

Direct contact between European and native cultures is not evident in the

Southern High Plains archaeological record until the mid-16th century, although,

due to European expansion, contact and culture change is taking place in other

North American regions. Material yielded by the archaeological record continues

to be indicative of hunter-gatherer subsistence (Johnson and Holliday, 1995).

In 1540, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado began a journey of exploration

that started in Mexico and continued through portions of present-day Arizona,

New Mexico, and Kansas. Although scholars have proposed various routes for

Coronado’s journey across the High Plains (Morris, 1997), recent archaeological

recovery of 16th century Spanish artifacts from Blanco Canyon supports

conjecture of Coronado’s presence on the Southern High Plains (Holden, 1962a;

Blakeslee et al., 1997). This journey was the beginning of continued Spanish

activity in the region as parties occasionally crossed the plains en route between

23

New Mexico and the Concho Valley during the 16th and 17th centuries (Rathjen,

1973).

The Historic period begins on the Southern High Plains about 300 years

ago. Changes evident in the archaeological record of this time include the

appearance in aboriginal contexts of items originating in Europe, such as glass

trade beads, and the butchered remains of modern horse (Johnson and Holliday,

1995).

One significant consequence of Spanish expansion in North America was

the return of the horse and the introduction of horsemanship to native peoples,

especially to the bison-hunting groups of the Great Plains (Rathjen, 1973;

Newcomb, 1961). Apaches on the Southern High Plains acquired horses by the

middle 17th century particularly after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. By the middle of

the 18th century, bands of Comanche began to migrate to the Southern Plains,

displacing the Apache and continuing to dominate this region until the late 19th

century (Worcherster, 1944; Newcomb, 1961).

Spaniards traveling between settlements in present-day New Mexico and

southern Texas occasionally crossed the Llano Estacado, acquiring some

familiarity with the region. Hispanic activity in the region continued after Mexico

gained its independence from Spain in 1821 (Rathjen, 1973) and included

hispanic buffalo hunters (Ciboleros), traders (Comancheros), and sheepherders

(Pastores) traveling between their homes in present-day New Mexico and the

grasslands of the plains.

24

Comancheros continued the trade between aboriginal peoples of the

Southern Plains and the Rio Grande pueblos (Levine, 1991). The traders,

Spanish settlers from New Mexico, dealt with Southern High Plains people for

buffalo meat and hides. In the mid-19th century, raiding by the Comanche

became an economic venture. The high demand by New Mexican ranchers for

cattle and horses created a lucrative market supplied by livestock stolen by the

Comanche and traded to the Comancheros. The Comanchero trade continued

until the United States removed the Comanche from the Southern High Plains in

the 1870s and placed them on a reservation in Oklahoma (Rathjen, 1973).

Pastores were sheepherders from New Mexico who began utilizing the

grassland of the Canadian River Valley and the Southern High Plains for their

sheep during the late 1870s after the Comanche had been removed from the

region, and the bison herds greatly diminished. Their initial use was seasonal as

they moved their flocks back and forth between Texas and New Mexico. In the

1880s, several pastores groups established settlements known as plazas near

the Canadian River. Pastore-built rock fences and corrals were located in a few

sheltered sites within Southern High Plains drainage systems (Hicks and

Johnson, 2000). The pastores largely abandoned sheep herding along the

Canadian River and drainages of the Southern High Plains during the late 1880s

as they faced increasing pressure and competition from free-range cattle

ranching. Some families returned to New Mexico while others remained in the

plazas and engaged in other business such as freighting (Rathjen, 1973).

25

The 19th century was a period of expansion for the United States. A

series of land acquisitions began early in the century with the purchase from

France of Louisiana. Texas, briefly an independent republic during the mid-19th

century, became a part of the United States in 1845. The addition of present-day

California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada after the Mexican War

extended the United States territory to the Pacific (Hine, 1984). Explorative

expeditions into the new territory ensued.

Several expeditions followed along the Canadian River Valley at the

northern edge of the Southern High Plains but only briefly ventured onto the

upland surface (Rathjen, 1973). Marcy’s 1852 trek seeking the headwaters of

the Red River again only briefly touched onto the Llano Estacado proper as the

party’s travel was restricted to following the water into what is probably Palo Duro

Canyon. All parties considered the interior of the Southern High Plains to be a

dangerous desert, lacking water, with limited forage, no timber, and under

constant threat from aboriginal attack, with little to offer potential settlers

(Rathjen, 1973).

During the Civil War, United States military activity in the west decreased.

Due to increased Comanche raiding during this period, the frontier in Texas

retreated east about 100 miles (Holden, 1930). Not until the late 1870s would

social, technological, and economic factors develop to overcome the perceived

limitations of the Southern High Plains. National developments following the Civil

War contributed to an atmosphere in which settlement of the Southern High

26

Plains appeared a more attractive prospect. With the divisive issue of slavery

settled, a unified nation turned its interest to the new western lands.

The United States military played a crucial role in opening the Southern

High Plains to American and foreign business interests (Morgan, 1971). It was

through military capture of a Comanchero in 1872 that Americans first learned of

well-watered, passable routes across the Llano Estacado, long known to Native

Americans and hispanic hunters and traders.

Hunters, ranchers, and settlers wanting access to the land and resources

of the region saw Native peoples’ presence and resistance to the increasing

insurgence of Americans as an obstruction. The Red River War of 1874-1875

finally ended the Comanche and Kiowa traditional life on the Southern High

Plains (Rathjen, 1973). The military operations increased familiarity with the

resources of the region and helped establish transportation routes. The vast

herds of bison were now the only remaining obstacle to American ranching

interests.

Buffalo hunters exterminated the huge herds that once grazed across the

plains. The commercial buffalo hide market expanded rapidly in the early 1870s.

Hunters in western Kansas sent an initial shipment of 500 hides to a tannery in

England interested in trying the hides for making leather. A few years later,

hunter John W. Mooar convinced a New England tannery to try hides as well.

The success of the tannery ventures led to orders for as many hides as could be

obtained. The tanneries’ successes fueled a fury of commercial killing (Rathjen,

27

1973). By 1873, hunters moved into the Texas Panhandle in spite of the threat

of attack from native groups. Hunters may have been situated near Palo Duro

Canyon in the northern Southern High Plains in 1874 (Rathjen, 1973). The

Causey brothers established a camp in Yellowhouse Draw in Lamb County in

1876 (Holden, 1962a) where they killed over 7,000 buffaloes during the winter

(Crane, 1925). In just a few years, the hunters effectively depleted the buffalo.

By 1878, only a few small groups remained on the Southern High Plains. A few

captured animals kept by ranchers in the early 1880s constituted the remains of

the great bison herds (Holden, 1930).

The cattle industry in Texas was just beginning to develop at the end of

the Texas Revolution. Although conditions during the Civil War imposed a period

of dormancy on the cattle industry in Texas, the end of hostilities brought

circumstances that encouraged rapid expansion of ranching throughout the state.

A number of national and international factors contributed to the growth of the

cattle industry. The country experienced an increased demand for meat. The

Midwest was developing industrially and commercially, creating a larger market

for food (Paul, 1988). The mining industry was growing in the West, drawing an

increasing number of miners. The North experienced shortages of beef (Holden,

1930). New and distant markets were opened by technological developments of

refrigerated shipping (Holden, 1930; Paul, 1988) and better methods of food

processing such as improved canning techniques (Morgan, 1971). High beef

28

prices helped to promote foreign interest in the American ranching industry

beginning in the 1860s (Paul, 1988).

As with the ranching industry, developments associated with the Civil War

and post-war period played a role in shaping settlement on the Southern High

Plains. During the Civil War, a reduced work force contributed to improvement of

mechanical means of production. The resulting increase in mechanization of

farming techniques made possible cultivation of large tracts of land. Due to

limited moisture of the plains environment, each acre of land might be less

productive but farmers were able to farm more acres (Billington and Ridge,

1982), making the prospect of profitable agriculture more feasible. The federal

government provided homestead land grants to encourage settlement and

development of the Great Plains. Land also was given to railroads to encourage

building of rail lines across the country. As both producers and consumers,

settlers provided a market for railroad services.

By the 1870s, ranchers were operating east of the Llano Estacado

escarpment as well as to the west in New Mexico and Colorado. Many ranches

were owned by large cattle companies, some funded by foreign interests.

Charles Goodnight, moving his herds from Colorado, established the JA Ranch

in Palo Duro Canyon in 1876. Others rapidly followed, taking advantage of the

high profits available from free-range fodder (Haley, 1957). Crews of cowboys

and managers, scattered across the region in remote headquarters and line

29

camps, worked the ranches. Supplies came from Fort Griffin about 150 miles to

the east. In 1876, the nearest railroad was at Fort Worth (Hall, 1947).

Also in 1876, the State legislature passed legislation providing for the

exchange of over 3 million acres of Southern High Plains land for a new capitol

building (Haley, 1957). Results of a survey of this land included findings that

sandier portions of the surveyed land were appropriate for grazing while soil with

higher clay content would support grazing or cultivated agriculture. This land

would become the huge XIT Ranch that began moving cattle up Yellowhouse

Canyon in 1886 (Haley, 1957).

One ranch on the Southern High Plains was The Western Land and

Livestock Company’s IOA Ranch, started in 1884 with purchased and leased

land. The IOA was a large ranch with fenced pastures and windmills. It covered

the southern half of Lubbock County for several years, but failed due to high

expenses, drought, and low prices for cattle. The ranch sold off the last of its

cattle in 1896 and all remaining land by 1901 (Holden, 1962a). Stresses that

contributed to the failure of the IOA also were affecting the whole ranching

industry. Another annoyance for ranchers was growing pressure from those

wanting to settle and start farming.

Texas land laws that favored settlers over ranchers were similar to

homestead incentives enacted by the federal government to encourage

settlement and cultivated agriculture in other parts of the Great Plains. All of the

land of the Southern High Plains was public land retained by the state of Texas

30

upon entry into the United States. Part of this public land was given to railroad

companies as an incentive to build rail lines in Texas. The railroads were

required to sell the land within 12 years. The remaining land was sold by the

state according to the current land law. Because the railroad and state lands

were located in alternating sections, the price set by the state for its lands kept

prices low for all the land (Connor, 1962b). By the 1880s, Texas land laws had

changed to assist settlers’ purchases of Texas public land (Gammel, 1890),

making it more difficult for ranches to access large tracts of land through either

purchase or leasing. Low prices for land were one factor contributing to the influx

of settlers onto the Southern High Plains.

Concluding Statement

In the late 19th century, a number of events served to open the Southern

High Plains of Texas to incursion and settlement by Americans. They

encountered elevated, semi-arid grassland inhabited by a plains community of

plants and animals. In this place, for thousands of years, humans subsisted as

hunter-gatherers with relatively low population densities and limited affect on the

natural resources (Johnson and Holliday, 1995). The advance of the United

States frontier in the last half of the 19th century incorporated a new economy

and new perception of the land as commercial commodity. Wildlife that was

once a food source for Native Americans became perceived as competition, a

nuisance, or a predatory threat to settlers’ interests.

31

The Southern High Plains environment, as a component of frontier

development, served to limit the economy and settlement patterns. Settlers

introduced new economies and technologies to the region that, in turn, had a far-

reaching effect on the Southern High Plains environment.

32

CHAPTER IV

REGIONAL HISTORIC CONTEXT

Developments in late 19th century United States lead to conditions in

which perception of the Southern High Plains frontier shifted from that of an

uninhabitable wasteland to a land of potential prosperity. First ranchers and then

settlers seeking to establish small-scale agricultural endeavors began to look

favorably at the region. Most of the vast rangelands gradually came under

cultivation and, by the end of the 19th century, a number of small towns provided

the foundation for further development.

The first settler in the region was Hank Smith who came into possession

of a ranch in Blanco Canyon in 1877 in lieu of payment of a debt owed to him

(Hall, 1947). Smith completed construction of a house at the ranch, known as

the Rock House. He settled there with his family (Hall, 1947) and stocked the

ranch with a small herd of cattle. It was the first small-scale, individually owned

ranch operation in the region (Hall, 1947). Smith also experimented with

agriculture, planting fruit trees and testing different varieties of grain. In 1879, the

government established a post office at the Smith house (Hall, 1947), creating an

official communication link between the Southern High Plains and the rest of the

country. The Smiths ran a small commissary at their home (Spikes and Ellis,

1952). Hank Smith became an important contact for people wanting information

33

about the region. Paris Cox, a Quaker from Indiana, was among those seeking

Smith’s help (Holden, 1962a; Smythe, 1930; Hall, 1947).

Cox had owned a sawmill in Indiana that he traded for a certificate of

unlocated Texas railroad land. After a visit to the state in 1878, Cox had land in

Crosby County surveyed and recorded as his claim. Smith agreed to break out a

small farm plot and plant some crops for Cox who had returned to Indiana. This

field was the first farm established on the Southern High Plains. The farm and a

well Smith and Charles Hawse dug for Cox were a success and Cox, his

immediate family, and three other families settled on the Southern High Plains in

the fall of 1879 (Holden, 1962a) or spring of 1880 (Smythe, 1930).

Cox envisioned an agricultural society formed of his Quaker brethren “who

needed inexpensive homes and farms” where they could practice their faith

without intrusions (Cox, 1972). Cox arranged with the state to promote land

sales among Quakers (Cox, 1972). The resulting community became the little

town of Maryetta, later called Estacado (Fig. 4.1), the first true Anglo settlement

established on the Southern High Plains of Texas (Holden, 1932a, 1962a;

Smythe, 1930; Hall, 1947; Jenkins, 1951, 1986). The earliest families

experienced success and hardship. Some returned to their former homes, but

Cox and his family remained and were soon joined by others. Among those

arriving in 1880 were Harvey Underhill and his family, including his daughter

Rachel Underhill Singer, her husband George, and his young daughter Arena

(Smythe, 1930; Hall, 1947). The Singers traveled by railroad as far as possible,

34

and bought a wagon and horse or mule teams to complete the journey (Debler,

1959). Previously a schoolteacher, Singer became a shopkeeper in Texas,

operating stores in four different locations, all known as Singer’s Store. He

established the first store at Estacado by 1882 (Crosby County Tax Records,

1882; Singer, 1981; Debler, 1959). A letter dated September 30, 1882 from Mr.

W. M. Pearce (1882) to Hank Smith bears the handwritten heading “Singers

Store.”

Figure 4.1. Map showing location of Estacado and Lubbock Lake Landmark in

Lubbock County. Map by author based on General Highway Map of Lubbock County, Texas. State Department of Highways and Public Transportation, 1983.

35

Singer’s satisfaction with the territory seems evident in an 1882 letter to

the Texas Department of Insurance, Statistics, and History (now separated into

the Texas Department of Insurance and the Texas State Library and Archives

Commission) in which he described the land as good for farming or grazing,

supplying adequate feed for stock with some water available on every section

(Spaight, 1882). Soon, however, a competitor, possibly Charles Holmes, arrived

at Estacado and Singer went searching for a new location for his store. Family

members reported he was looking for where the two military trails crossed

(Singer, 1981; Debler, 1959). Two different military trails crossed at a point on

Yellowhouse Draw known as Long Lake. The crossing is an important

component of the history of the Singer Store.

Recorded accounts by contemporary observers are in conflict regarding

aspects such as the appearance and location of the second of Singer’s stores,

and the date when the store was established. One account by cowboy Rollie

Burns, describes the store situated in Yellowhouse Draw, alongside Long Lake

(now the Lubbock Lake Landmark) in 1879 (Holden, 1932a). Burns (1923;

Holden, 1932a) provides a number of different starting dates for the store, but

always described the location as at the headwaters of Yellowhouse, near a lake.

However, land surveyor W. D. Twichell who visited the store in February of 1886

while on his way to survey for the XIT (Gracy, 1945; Truett, 1982) describes the

store location as “…at the fork of the creek” (Truett, 1982:21) where Yellowhouse

Draw and Blackwater Draw converge (now Mackenzie Park) (Gracy, 1945).

36

Singer descendents believe the store was established in 1880 (Connor, 1962a),

but Rachel Singer’s sister, Lina (Perlina) Underhill Sherman, recalled the family

arriving in Estacado in 1880 and the Lubbock store beginning in 1883 (Sherman,

1935). J. B. Mobley (1927) also gives 1883 as the year Singer built the store.

Lubbock County Tax Records show 1883 as the first year the Singers are in

Lubbock County and include assessment on three hundred dollars worth of

goods and merchandise.

In 1932, the Plains Museum Society erected an historic marker within the

boundaries of the Landmark to mark the location of the Singer Store (Holden,

1932b; Fig. 4.2). Rollie Burns, manager of the IOA Ranch in the 1880s provided

the information on the marker and had marked the store location in 1930 (The

Plains Progress, 1930). A replica of that marker now stands in Area 8 of the

Landmark and the original is on exhibit in the Bob Nash Interpretive Center.

However, an informant has come forward with stories of how the marker was

moved to various locations in the intervening years, negating the usefulness of

the monument as an indicator of the store's location (George Hawkins, personal

communication, 1996). Abstract records (Texas General Land Office, 1942)

show the land where the marker now is located to be under the claim of Robert

Faussett in 1883. Faussett, a sheep rancher, is listed on tax records from 1881

to 1884 (Lubbock County Tax Records, 1881-1884).

37

Figure 4.2. The Plains Museum Society installed an historical marker at the site of the Singer Store in 1932. Photograph courtesy of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Libraries, Texas Tech University, SWCPC 57(K)-E11.

Like details of date and location, the exact appearance of the store is not

known. Accounts agree the building was of box-and-strip construction (Mobley,

1927; Burns, 1923; Holden, 1932a; Singer, 1981; Truett, 1982), but do not agree

on the source of the lumber. Mobley (1923), a cowboy for the IOA Ranch,

recollects the wood was brought from Fort Worth. Singer’s son Charles (Singer,

1981), born in 1888, claims the wood came from the original store in Estacado.

Various dimensions for the store also are given. Singer (1981) estimates the

store to be about 16 feet by 24 feet. Max Coleman (1960), a companion to the

Singer children, relates similar dimensions of 18 feet by 20 feet and adds that the

long axis of the store was oriented from northeast to southwest. Twichell (Truett,

1982) describes the building as being about 20 feet by 30 feet. However, Mobley

38

(1927) recalls a later store the Singers built further down the draw to be 18x30

and it is probably this building referenced by Twichell.

Singer (1981) indicates that rocks from the draw (probably caliche) were

placed under the corners of the store as a foundation. A photograph of a house

being constructed in early Lubbock depicts a similar foundation (Fig. 4.3). Other

aspects of the store reported by Singer (1981) indicate the store had two doors,

one facing west and one facing north, and no windows. Singer’s oldest child

Perry, born in 1883, remembers a porch shading one side of the store (Burton,

1969). Informants do not discuss details of the store’s roof.

Figure 4.3. Roughly shaped caliche used as house foundation for early Lubbock home. Photograph courtesy of the Southwest Collection/Special Collection Libraries, Texas Tech University, Dorothy Rylander Photograph Collection, SWCPC 332-E1 #2.

The Singers also built a two-room house (Burns, 1923; Mobley, 1923;

Debler, 1959; Singer, 1981) about 300 yards west of the store (Irish, 1959;

Coleman, 1960). Coleman (1952) adds the house stood on the southwest side

of a spring-fed lake.

39

While exact details of the store’s origin and appearance are somewhat

ambiguous in the historic record, the store was an important place and even a

landmark on the Southern High Plains. Rollie Burns (Holden, 1932a:73)

described the store being located where trails from Fort Sumner to Fort Griffin

travelers on the former trail and primary customers at the store. In a 1927 letter

to Burns, Mrs. James (Della) McCommis recalls being on a cattle drive that

stopped at Lubbock in the spring of 1885. She reports obtaining supplies and

describes a “… store and PO there and I think a saloon in a dugout” (McCommis,

1927).

The headquarters of the XIT Yellow Houses division were up the draw

from the Singer Store. Many head of cattle on the ranch were brought from

southern Texas to the Yellow Houses division (Haley, 1953) via a route that

would pass near the Singers. Freighters would leave fencing materials from

Colorado City, including a four-point barb type of wire used on the southern

portions of the ranch (McCallum and McCallum, 1965), at Singer’s Store where

XIT fencing contractors would collect it and haul it to the Yellow Houses division

(Haley, 1953).

A receipt dated June 1886 (Fig. 4.4) showed purchases made by XIT

cowboys. Among merchandise in the store, Singer (1981) listed saddles, bridles,

halters, ropes, ammunition, guns, kerosene, flour, meal (cornmeal), and canned

goods (beans and meat). The store served also as the first post office in the

county. In 1884, the federal government accepted an application to establish a

40

post office submitted by E. R. Dequasie (Fig. 4.5; Post Office Department, 1884).

The proposed site was on the N. E. quarter of Section 18, Block A in Lubbock

County (Fig. 4.5). Dequasie was a competitor who had started a store near

Singer’s (Holden, 1930) in 1883 or 1884. Dequasie was listed only on the tax

rolls of 1884. For some reason (perhaps he had already left the area), Dequasie

never became postmaster and George Singer became postmaster of the new

office in 1884.

Figure 4.4. Receipt from Singer Store for goods purchased by XIT cowboys. XIT Ranch Collection, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum Research Center, Canyon, Texas.

41

Figu

re 4

.5.

Im

age

of D

equa

sie’

s ap

plic

atio

n fo

r firs

t Lub

bock

Pos

t Offi

ce. R

ecor

ds o

f the

Pos

t Offi

ce

De p

artm

ent,

Nat

iona

l Arc

hive

s, W

ashi

ngto

nton

, D.C

.

42

Additionally, the Singers provided board for travelers, either in the store

building or in their home. Correspondence between George Singer and Hank

Smith in 1887 pertained to charges for board incurred by Smith (Singer, 1887;

Fig. 4.6), probably during his travels as Crosby County Tax Assessor. Smith

sent Singer a check to apply to his account (Smith, 1887).

Figure 4.6. George Singer wrote this letter to Hank Smith asking for payment on his account. Hank Smith Papers, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum Research Center, Canyon, Texas.

An incident in the Singer Store history may help clarify conflicts of

information. In the fall of 1886, an intruder in the store refused to leave after

Singer confronted him. The two exchanged gunfire and, in the resulting

43

confusion, a fire started in the store. The building and its contents burned to the

ground (Holden, 1932a; Mobley, 1923; Debler, 1959; Singer, 1981).

In April of 1886, George and Rachel Singer each filed a claim on a half

section of survey 12, block A (Fig. 4.7; Texas General Land Office, 1942). After

the original store burned, the Singers constructed a new store on land down draw

with lumber from Colorado City (Connor, 1962a) “…on the west line of survey 12,

block A” (Mobley, 1923). The west line of survey 12, block A crossed

Yellowhouse Draw approximately ¼ mile east of the historic marker (Fig.4.7).

Figure 4.7. Map showing location of Lubbock Lake Landmark relative to first post

office (Historic Marker) and to land claimed by George W. and Rachel Singer. Map prepared by author.

44

Other reports (Mobley, 1923; Holden, 1932a) estimated the second store’s

distance from the original store at ½ mile (Fig. 4.7), near the point where Loop

289 crosses the draw. Either location within the draw would place the site of the

second store within the confines of the National Landmark boundaries. Singer

(1981) described the location of the store on the north side of the draw and both

the house and store as being on level prairie where “… you could take a field

glass and see 30 miles off – if the wind wasn’t blowing any.” Although Singer

(1981) makes no distinction, most likely this statement refers to the second store.

This description would indicate an upland setting for the second store rather than

the draw. The upland area had been modified by the development of the Burl

Huffman Athletic Complex. Modification to the rim in this area included a caliche

quarry and the infilling of the old quarry with debris left by the May 11, 1970

tornado. No accounts addressed whether the house also was moved when the

Singers built the second store. Debler (1959) recalled that after the second store

was moved into Lubbock, it was necessary to cross the draw to get supplies for

home use.

The third store (second in the immediate Lubbock area) remained in its

original location until 1891 when county residents organized the town of Lubbock

and the Singers moved the store to a new location there (fourth store; third in

Lubbock area). The different structures and locations of the store may account

for some of the discrepancies in recollections of it. However, Twitchell’s (Truell,

45

1982) recollection of the store at the confluence of the two draws (in Mackenzie

Park) cannot be reconciled by the historical documents.

Late in 1890, two factions competing to organize a town as the county

seat agreed on a location for the new town of Lubbock (Holden,1932a; Connor

1962b). In January or February of 1891, the Singers moved the store to lot 6,

block 105 of the original town of Lubbock (Mobley, 1923; Fig. 4.8) on Singer

Street. The present address of the location would be 802 Main at the corner of

Main and Buddy Holly Avenue. The Singers remained in Lubbock until 1896

when the family moved to Kansas (Singer, 1981).

Figure 4.8. The Singer Store in the original town of Lubbock was located at the

corner of Singer Street and North First Street (now Buddy Holly Avenue and Main Street). Map by author from copy of original plat of the town of Lubbock.

46


The establishment of the Singer Store was coincident with the beginning

of American settlement on the Southern High Plains of Texas and just a few

years prior to the declaration that the American frontier expansion had ended.

Conditions in established centers in the industrial east, the mid-west, the west,

and even abroad in Europe influenced the progression and character of the

Southern High Plains frontier.

The Singers’ arrival in the central Southern High Plains was just the

beginning of regional settlement. The modest little store was a harbinger of the

many changes coming to the plains. The vast herds of buffalo had virtually

disappeared, leaving only a few isolated individuals. Native Americans were

restricted to an occasional brief trip in the region that had once been their hunting

grounds and refuge. Free range ranching had been established, but within a few

years, the rangelands were enclosed with barbed wire. The railroad arrived in

Colorado City in 1881, reducing the distance to supplies, although still more than

100 miles distant. Cowboys working cattle on the Llano Estacado or travelers

passing through found the store stocked with goods from various manufacturing

centers and the post office providing a welcome link to other, settled regions of

the nation.

47

CHAPTER V

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Archaeological investigation of historic events and processes provides a

means of recovering a singular type of information. Information recovered

through archaeology may be unique from that available in the historic record or

provide confirmation, clarification, or expansion of the historic record. Data

regarding frontier material culture can contribute to understanding limitations of

relative frontier isolation. Artifacts and other information recovered through

archaeology originate in cultural activity, and can provide detailed indications of

that activity (Orser and Fagan, 1995). Additionally, archaeological research and

interpretation can discover populations, activities, or events undocumented in

written history or records.

History regarding the Singer Store and the Southern High Plains frontier in

general is deficient of specific material remains from the period of earliest

American settlement. The special nature of the Lubbock Lake Landmark

presents an exceptional opportunity for archaeological investigation of reports of

the location of the Singer Store. Recovery of 19th century material also

contributes to a richer understanding of early settlement life on the Southern High

Plains.

Since 1936, various research conducted at the Landmark has revealed

over 100 archaeological areas (Johnson, 1983, 1987, 1993, 1995, 2002;

48

Johnson and Holliday, 1989, 2002). These areas comprise a record of cultural

and natural history that covers the last 12,000 years. The remains of 19th and

20th century Anglo-American activity found at the Landmark provide continuity

between the prehistoric archaeological record, historical documentation, and

present day occupation.

Cultural change associated with the late 19th century Anglo-American

frontier is examined in ongoing investigations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

The intrusion of the Anglo-American social system, itself an extension of

European society, into the Southern High Plains is reflected in cultural and

environmental changes revealed in the archaeological record. Trade items such

as glass beads in aboriginal contexts (Ladkin, 1995) are the first indication of

change resulting from intercultural contact. Changes in faunal evidence include

the disappearance of bison, their subsequent replacement by domesticated

cattle, and evidence of change in processing methods. Eventually, the

industrialized Anglo-American socio-politico-economic system entirely replaces

the indigenous hunter-gatherer system.

Previous archaeological research conducted in Area 8 at Lubbock Lake

(41LU1) during the 1959-1961 (Kazcor, 1978), 1974 (Sierchula, 1974), and 1977

field seasons (Denton, 1977) have recovered a number of historic artifacts from

substratum 5B. This designation is the uppermost stratigraphic unit of

archaeological sediments at the Lubbock Lake Landmark. Recovered items

include cut nails, can fragments, and empty cartridge casings. While it is

49

possible to attribute the cans and cartridge cases to travelers, buffalo hunters, or

cowboys, the cut nails indicate the remains of some type of structure, perhaps

the Singer Store.

Archaeological investigation focusing on the Singer Store began in the

1996 summer field season at the Landmark and progressed in three stages,

each successive stage building on previous results (Hicks, 2002). During the

1997 summer field season, the crew tested three areas (Figs. 5.1, 5.2) by

conducting limited excavation. Work in 1998 expanded on one of the test

excavations, focusing on the area in which testing revealed the greatest

concentration of artifacts. The objective of the 1998 excavations was to open a

broad horizontal area between test units that yielded 19th century material to

determine the extent of the artifact distribution and facilitate detection of any

significant patterns or features.

1996 Archaeological Survey

The 1996 survey represented preliminary investigation into the reported

late 19th century occupation of the Landmark, that of the Singer Store.

Objectives of the survey were to determine if any material remains from the time

period of the reported historic occupation were present on the surface at the

Landmark, to piece-point plot possible historic artifacts, and to collect appropriate

diagnostic artifacts from the surface.

50

Figure 5.1. Areas of Lubbock Lake Landmark addressed in the Singer Store

research. Map drawn by author.

51

Figure 5.2. Portion of Lubbock Lake Landmark covered in 1996 pedestrian

survey. Map drawn by author.

52

Survey Methodology

Survey methodology was by intensive pedestrian, piece-point-plotted

survey covering an area of approximately 18 hectares (45 acres). The first step

was a 100% pedestrian survey conducted over the southwest quadrant of the

Landmark (Fig. 5.2), the general location of the store as described in some

historic accounts. In addition, survey in Area 8, the area near the

commemorative marker, employed a metal detector to investigate the possibility

of subsurface metal artifacts. The surveys located three areas for further

research. A total of 1,277 items were located and plotted (Fig. 5.3) and 98

artifacts were collected.

Figure 5.3. Distribution of artifacts and remote sensing targets piece-point

plotted during the 1996 field season Singer Store research survey at the Lubbock Lake Landmark. Map drawn by author.

53

The survey was accomplished by personnel walking transects spaced at a

distance no greater than 3m apart. Visibility of the ground surface was limited

due to a high percentage of vegetative cover over much of the area. Therefore,

the crew surveyed the area twice; the first pass oriented E/W and the second

oriented N/S. Survey flags marked appropriate material. Mapping of the flagged

locations utilized a Pentax Total Station oriented to established datum points.

Due to the Landmark not having a Data Collector at this time, coordinate and

elevation information were recorded in the field on Transit Shot Record forms

and later transferred to a computer database.

One documented use of the Landmark during the early to middle 20th

century was for trash disposal. Three historic or modern dump sites with high

concentrations of artifacts were identified (O'Brien, 1995; O’Brien and Hicks,

2002) and a large quantity of historic and modern material is distributed on the

surface in much less dense scatters, especially in the southern third of the

Landmark. For the purposes of the survey, material identified as being of recent

manufacture or non-diagnostic artifacts in clear association with such material

was not marked or plotted. Material with diagnostic attributes that potentially

could be late 19th century historic were assigned field numbers and collected.

Material that did not exhibit diagnostic detail and, therefore, was not conclusively

historic or recent was plotted and only described on the Transit Shot Record

forms.

54

Survey Results

The survey identified potential late 19th century material in three broad

areas (Fig. 5.4; Table 5.1). The northernmost grouping of cans exhibiting

application of lead solder was within 41LU31 on the southernmost rim and in the

valley below this site. These cans were condensed milk cans with a soldered

vent hole on one end, known as “hole-in-top” cans. Rock (1984) noted the cans

were manufactured after 1900 and that evaporated milk was almost exclusively

contained in this type of can. 41LU31 (Figs.5.1, 5.2, 5.4), another southwestern

rim site, contained diagnostic 19th century artifacts, i.e., tin hole-in-cap cans, one

of which (TTU-A85755) was collected for analysis. Another surveyed area

(41LU1 Area 70; Figs 5.1, 5.2, 5.4) contained an unexplained colony of iris

plants.

Figure 5.4. Distribution of diagnostic historic artifacts located during the 1996 field season Singer Store research survey at the Lubbock Lake Landmark. Map drawn by author.

55

Table 5.1. Artifacts recovered from the 1996 survey in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Artifact Site/Area Quantity Clear glass shard 41LU1 Isolated find 16 Clear glass shard 41LU1 Area 28 35 Clear glass shard 41LU1 Area 56 1 Brown glass shard 41LU1 Area 30 9 Milkglass shard 41LU1 Isolated find 1 Aqua glass shard 41LU1 Area 28 2 Purple glass shard 41LU1 Area 72 1 Purple glass shard 41LU31 1 Glass bottle 41LU1 Isolated find 1 Ceramic sherd 41LU3 1 Stoneware sherd 41LU1 Area 28 7 Leather and metal 41LU1 Isolated find 1 Brush 41LU3 1 Metal lid 41LU1 Area 28 2 .22 Cartridge 41LU1 Isolated finds 2 .22 Cartridge 41LU1 Area 28 1 .22 Cartridge 41LU1 Area 30 6 .22 Cartridge 41LU3 1 .22 Cartridge 41LU32 1 12 Gauge shell end 41LU1 Area 30 1 Cartridge 41LU1 Area 30 1 .41 Cartridge 41LU1 Area 28 1 Hole-in-cap can 41LU31 1 Knife (metal and wood) 41LU1 Area 8 1 Biface segment 41LU1 Isolated find 1 Biface segment 41LU32 1 Biface 41LU1 Area 28 1 Total 98

The area with tin cans and the iris colony additionally were significant in

that they are, like the reported location of the Singer home, about 325 yards (ca.

300m) distant from the historic marker commemorating the Singer Store. One of

the Singer children remembered the house being situated about 300 yards west

of the store (Irish, 1959). The metal detector survey of Area 8, the location of the

historic marker, indicated over 600 possible subsurface artifacts.

56

Excavation

Consequent to the results of the 1996 survey, archaeological inquiry

proceeded to phases of subsurface investigation. The 1997 test excavations

were designed to investigate further surface occurrences of 19th century material

(hole-in-cap cans) associated with a mound of accumulated sediment within

41LU31, a ring of introduced iris plants in 41LU1 Area 70, and the numerous

indications of subsurface metal targets in 41LU1 Area 8. In addition to the

survey results, the test excavation areas were given significance by historic

accounts regarding the location of the Singer Store and Singer family home in

the area on the southwest side of the lake. Objectives were to determine if the

surface indications related to subsurface artifact deposits, and, if so, the extent

and nature of the deposits. As possible examples of early settlement activity, the

test locations also held the potential to contribute information to an understanding

of frontier processes at Lubbock Lake Landmark. Results from the test

excavations further refined the focus of the archaeological investigation.

Excavation efforts in 1998 were directed to expanding test excavations in 41LU1

Area 8 that yielded material appropriate to the late 19th century and potentially

supporting the history of the Singer Store. Results from the 1997 and 1998

excavations in 41LU1 Area 8 were combined for purposes of discussion.

57

Excavation Methodology

All 1997 test excavations and 1998 block excavations were conducted by

general Lubbock Lake Landmark excavation methods in 1x1m2 square units

aligned to a pre-existing, Landmark-wide, coordinate grid. Test excavation took

place in 10cm levels within each defined stratigraphic unit. For the 1998 block

excavation, excavation levels were 5cm within the defined stratigraphic units.

Excavation proceeded in 23 1x1m units (Fig. 5.8). All excavation took place

within the uppermost substrata of stratum 5 (5B2 and 5B1; Fig. 5.9). Crew

members recorded individual artifact piece-point plot coordinate and elevation

information on Lubbock Lake Landmark excavation field forms and maps. Matrix

was collected in bags, tagged with appropriate provenience information, and

water screened through nested ¼” and 1/16” wire mesh. Field records were

archived in the Anthropology Division of the Museum of Texas Tech University.

41LU31

Topographically, this site was located on the uplands west of the meander

where the draw turns to the east (Figs. 5.1, 5.2, 5.4). The earliest investigation

undertaken in 41LU31 consisted of survey and testing operations to clear an

area for the construction of a Department of Public Safety radio antenna (Barkes

and Johnson, 1978). The operation identified and mapped two concentrations of

burned caliche designated as features F31-1 and F31-2. Additional work

focused on pedestrian surveys (1981-1982, 1989-1990, 1992, 1993, 1996) and

58

excavation of feature F31-3 (a hearth) in 1993 (Johnson, 1983, 1993, 1995;

Baxevanis, 2002; Lewis et al., 2002). The 1997 excavation was located

approximately 98m northwest of the 1993 excavation and ca. 60m northwest of

the 1978 work.

Test excavations in 1997 focused on a mound of accumulated aeolian

sediments overlying the Blackwater Draw Formation, designated as stratum K.

The 1996 pedestrian survey had located several 19th century hole-in-cap cans

near the mound. Testing took place in four 1x1m units located on the mound of

sediment (Fig. 5.5). The depth of excavation in each unit varied with the position

of each unit on the mound. Excavation in all units ended at an elevation of

98250.0, just below the level of the original surface underlying the mound

deposits. Thirty-four artifacts were mapped-in and recovered from the

excavations (Table 5.2). Two hole-in-cap cans (TTU-A1-75065 and TTU-A1-

75067) were piece-point plotted and recovered from the surface near, but not

within, the excavation area.

Results

In addition to the artifacts, the test excavations uncovered numerous

lengths of mesquite branches. Several of these showed signs of burning, as did

some areas of sediment within unit 1S363W. Another area of metal and glass

fragments barely exposed from beneath another smaller area of aeolian

sediment was observed near the excavations as work was being completed.

59

Figure 5.5. Plan view of excavation units opened during the test excavation at

41LU31. Map drawn by author.

60

Table 5.2. Artifacts recovered from the 1997 test excavation at 41LU31 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Artifact Quantity Barbed wire 1 Metal can rim fragment 6 Metal can fragment 5 Hole-in-cap can 5 Square can 1 Lead pellet 1 Burned wood 3 Brown glass shard 1 Embossed glass shard 4 Glass shard 1 Wood 1 Unknown wood (possible post) 1 Unknown wood (possible milled lumber) 1 Hearthstone 1 Lithic debris 1 Unknown 1 Total 34

41LU1 Area 70

Topographically, this area is on the outer reaches of the valley margin,

west of the meander where Yellowhouse Draw turns to the east (Figs. 5.1, 5.2,

5.4), just below the rim of the draw. Quarrying of caliche and other destructive

activities have removed much of the original surface and underlying sediments

between Area 70 and the draw axis. Area 70 is the portion of 41LU31 that

extends into the draw and is, therefore, within the boundaries of 41LU1 (Lubbock

Lake) (Johnson, 1995). The area designation is based on the results of several

pedestrian surveys (1981-1982, 1989-1990, 1992, 1993, 1996). Prior to 1997,

61

no excavation or subsurface testing had been conducted in Area 70 (Johnson,

1983; 1995; Lewis et al., 2002).

Test excavations in 1997 were intended to investigate the nature of a ring

of iris plants discovered in the course of the 1996 survey. The iris was not native

to the Landmark and, therefore, was introduced through human activity. An

aerial photograph taken in 1939 showed a residence located across the highway

from this portion of the Landmark (Johnson and Holliday, 1987:5). An alternate

explanation for the appearance of the plants would be that one or more tubers

had been discarded with other trash, possibly from the nearby residence, and

managed to establish a colony of plants. The circular distribution could result

from the outward spread of new shoots and the die-off of older plants in the

central part of the colony (Calkins, 1978). Lawton (1998:175) recommended

dividing iris clumps at least every five years as “the centers of the clumps begin

to be very crowded and the center rhizomes become less and less productive,

with less and less foliage.”

The majority of artifacts observed near the irises were on and just below

the surface and date to the middle 20th century. These artifacts consisted of a

mix of items (e.g., broken window glass, automotive fan belt, brick) that seem to

indicate an isolated dumping incident. Testing was to determine whether the

plants were associated with nearby recent (mid-20th century) material or if any

19th century material could be found.

62

Excavation (Fig. 5.6) was in aeolian sediments overlying the Blackwater

Draw Formation designated as stratum K. One unit (118S251W) dissected the

ring of iris plants; a second unit (120S248W) was set between the ring of iris

plants and a mound of caliche and wood scrap; and the third unit (137S257W)

was set-up over a long mound of sediment that roughly was parallel with the

road.

Figure 5.6. Location of test units opened during the 1997 field season test

excavation at 41LU1 Area 70. Map drawn by Marcus Hamilton from sketch map by author.

63

Test excavations in 41LU1 Area 70 revealed a locally very shallow depth

of sediment without archaeological potential. Excavation in the two southern

units only extended to a depth of 10-15cm before encountering bedrock caliche.

Recent artifacts (such as window glass, a Coke bottle, and an aluminum fork)

were removed from the surface of the units. Charcoal and ash in the root zone

indicated a recent grass fire. The only artifact recovered was a glass fragment

with indeterminate embossing, possibly from a panel bottle, from 118S251W at

an elevation of 98130.5, 0.5cm above closing elevation. Excavation in

137S257W revealed several fragments of modern plastic that indicated the

mound of dirt formed very recently, possibly in conjunction with road or highway

construction. The plastic was not collected for analysis or curation.

Results

No artifacts of early 20th century or 19th century origins were located. It

was concluded from the results of testing that the ring of iris plants was

associated with the scatter of recent trash on the surface and not with any 19th

century occupation or activity.

41LU1 Area 8

Topographically, this area was located in the valley margin near the valley

axis where the draw turns towards the east (Figs. 5.1, 5.2, 5.4). Sediments

64

removed from the valley axis during 1936 dredging activities (Johnson and

Holliday, 1987) were deposited in berms surrounding the area. Previous

excavations resulted in the designation of 15 features, some of which were

associated with Protohistoric period Garza projectile points (Johnson et al.,

1977). The 1959-1961 excavations recovered Historic material such as cut nails,

can fragments, and cartridge cases from the upper-most layers of these

excavations (Kazcor, 1978; Johnson, 1987).

1997 Excavation

Test excavations in 1997 focused on investigating a sample of the

subsurface metal indicated in the 1996 survey. Test units were located

according to the presence and density of subsurface material indicated by the

metal detector. Excavation took place in 10 test units (Fig. 5.7). Five units

(5S1E, 3S3E, 2S4E, 2S10E, 4N3E) were located within 12m of the replica of the

1933 historic marker commemorating the Singer Store; four units (35S10E,

37S0E, 41S1E, 53S8E) were nearer the older excavations (within 35m); and one

unit (27N1E) was 24m north of the historic marker. All excavations were within

5B2 and 5B1, the upper units of stratum 5. Excavation units were closed when

assay with a metal detector indicated no more metal below the surface and no

more glass or coal was being recovered.

65

Figure 5.7. Location of test excavation units opened during the 1997 field

season at 41LU1 Area 8.

66

Three units (5S1E, 3S3E, 4N3E) were not excavated completely in the

1997 season due to time limitations. The last level completed in each of these

units was within a concentration of historic material when closed at the end of the

field season.

The artifact yield of the one extreme northern unit (27N1E) and four

extreme southern units (35S10E, 37S0E, 41S1E, 53S8E) is addressed unit by

unit. The output of the remaining five units is related in conjunction with the

results of the 1998 excavations to preserve continuity of the assemblage in these

units.

For the four southernmost units (Fig. 5.7; Fig. 5.8), a barrel ring (TTU-

A92039) and a fragment from a rectangular, soldered can (TTU-A90520) were

the only undisputedly historic artifacts recovered from undisturbed sediments.

No historic artifacts were recovered from 27N1E. Unit 53S8E was excavated to

a maximum depth of 23cm. No dredge sediments overlaid substratum 5B in this

unit. A total of 31 artifacts were recovered from this unit (Table 5.3).

Unit 41S1E was excavated to a depth of 30cm including 15cm of disturbed

sediment re-deposited from the nearby dredge berms. A total of 24 artifacts

were recovered from this unit (Table 5.4). All glass recovered from this unit was

within re-deposited dredge. The material was not diagnostic but was collected

due to its potential to be historic material (at least 50 years old). No historic

material was encountered in intact substratum 5B deposits in this unit.

67

Figure 5.8. Close-up of plan view of test excavation units opened during the

1997 field season at 41LU1 Area 8. Map drawn by author.

68

Table 5.3. Artifacts recovered from Unit 53S8E during 1997 test excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Artifact Quantity Burned Wood 9 Hearthstone (Burned caliche) 8 Bone Scrap 4 Identified Bone 7 Lead Shot 1 Glass Shard 1 Leather Scrap 1 Total 31 Table 5.4. Artifacts recovered from Unit 41S10E during 1997 test excavation at

41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Artifact Quantity Glass Shard 8 Bone Scrap 5 Identified Bone 9 Heartstone (Burned Caliche) 2 Total 24

Unit 37S0E was excavated to a depth of 27cm, including 10cm of re-

deposited dredge sediments. A total of 22 artifacts were recovered from this unit,

including a cut nail (TTU-A90507) that was recovered within the dredge

sediments (Table 5.5). The barrel ring (TTU-A92039), several small glass

shards, and a piece of charcoal were recovered within a 3.5cm (97343.5-97340)

elevation range within intact substratum 5B deposits. Only bone scrap was

recovered below this elevation.

69


Artifact Quantity Cut Nail 1 Cartridge 1 Metal Scrap 1 Barrel Ring 1 Glass Shard 5 Bone Scrap 12 Unknown 1 Total 22

. Unit 35S10E was excavated to a depth of 19cm. Re-deposited dredge

sediments were encountered in the uppermost 10cm of this unit. A fragment of a

cinder block was uncovered at a depth of 97330.0, 8cm below the surface. A

total of 25 artifacts were recovered from this unit (Table 5.6). The only historic

artifact recovered from this unit was fragments from a soldered, rectangular can

(TTU-A90520) at 97324.0 in intact substratum 5B sediments.


Artifact Quantity Metal Can Fragment 12 Lithic Debris 1 Lithic Flake 2 Hearthstone (Burned Caliche) 1 Identified Bone 2 Bone Scrap 7 Total 25

Unit 27N1E was excavated to a depth of 14.5cm. No re-deposited dredge

sediments were apparent in this unit. The metal indicated in the metal detector

70

survey was revealed to be an aluminum can that was encountered near the

surface in the root zone. A total of 10 artifacts were recovered from this unit

(Table 5.7).

Table 5.7. Artifacts recovered from Unit 27N1E during 1997 test excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Artifact Quantity Lithic Flake 1 Bone Scrap 5 Hearthstone (Burned Caliche) 4 Total 10

Results

Test excavations in 41LU1 Area 8 confirmed that at least some of the

targets indicated in the 1997 subsurface metal detector survey were indeed 19th

century artifacts. Most 19th century historic material was recovered from the five

units located near the historic marker (Figs. 5.7; 5.8). The distribution of the

artifacts was characterized by higher density in the central units near the historic

marker. The concentration of artifacts was defined as Feature FA8-16, a historic

debris scatter.

1998 Excavation

Following results from the 1997 test excavation, Singer Store research

proceeded to focus on 41LU1 Area 8 in conducting more extensive block

71

excavations. Two of the units (3S3E and 5S1E) not excavated completely

through feature FA8-16 during the 1997 field season were re-opened in 1998.

Twenty and one-quarter more units were opened during the 1998 field season

and excavation was incomplete in eight of the units opened in 1998 when the

field season concluded.

Results of testing completed in 1997 determined placement of the

excavation units. The objective of the 1998 excavations was to open a broad

horizontal area between the five units situated near the historic marker to

determine the extent of the historic artifact distribution and facilitate detection of

any significant patterns or features. The five units between 2S4E and 2S10E

(Fig. 5.9) were opened to examine possible changes between artifact densities,

elevations, any changes in sediment characteristics across this distance, and to

delineate the stratigraphic units (Fig. 5.10). Other units were placed adjacent to

units opened in 1997 in an attempt to trace the limits of the artifact concentration.

The five central units opened in 1997 and the 21 additional units opened in 1998

together yielded a total of 4,431 (Table 5.8; Fig. 5.11) artifacts mapped-in and

recovered from the excavations. To simplify discussion of excavation, the units

were grouped and identified by letters A, B, C, and D (Fig. 5.12).

72

Figure 5.9. Location of excavation units opened during the 1997 and 1998 field seasons at 41LU1 Area 8.

73

Figu

re 5

.10.

Pro

file

of th

e no

rth w

all o

f uni

ts 2

S4E

to 2

S10

E d

urin

g th

e 19

98 fi

eld

seas

on b

lock

exc

avat

ion

at

4

1LU

1 A

rea

8. D

raw

n b y

Mar

cus

Ham

ilton

.

74

-800

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 5.11. Horizontal distribution of artifacts from feature FA8-16 recovered during the 1997-1998 field season excavation at 41LU1 Area 8.

75

Figu

re 5

.12.

Det

aile

d lo

catio

n of

exc

avat

ion

units

ope

ned

durin

g th

e 19

97 a

nd19

98 fi

eld

seas

ons

at 4

1LU

1 A

rea

8.

76

Group A was a block of eight units (4S0E, 4S1E, 4S2E, 5S0E, 5S1E,

5S2E, 6S0E, and 6S2E) returning 2,444 artifacts (Table 5.8). Central to the

block was the unit 5S1E that was opened but not completed in 1997. Unit 5S1E

was the unit with the greatest artifact density of those excavated in 1997. Depth

below the surface to the historic debris ranged from 16cm in 4S0E and 5S0E on

the western side of the block to only 3cm in the eastern unit 5S2E. Units 6S0E,

6S2E, 5S1E, 5S2E, and 4S2E were excavated through the feature. In three

units (4S0E, 5S0E, and 4S1E), a very subtle change in sediment texture was

detected in the northwest portion of the units, with the break between textures

forming a straight line running southwest to northeast in 5S0E and 4S1E. In

5S0E and 4S1E, from the point at which this change was detected, only the

anomalous area was excavated. A distinct break between different sediment

textures was not as clearly apparent in 4S0E and the area of the whole unit was

excavated. However, the same line bordering the anomalous sediments in 5S0E

and 4S1E is visible in artifact distribution in 4S0E (Fig. 5.13).

77

Table 5.8. Artifacts recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Artifact Unit

Group AUnit

Group BUnit

Group C Unit

Group D Other Total Cut Nail and Nail fragments 316 125 100 11 1 553 Porcelain Doorknob fragments 3 3 Barb 2 5 7 Staple 15 5 20 Wire 13 5 3 21 Cartridge 64 19 11 1 95 Bullet 2 2 Percussion Cap 3 3 Funnel 1 1 Ball 1 1 1 3 Brass Paper Brad 1 1 Brass Straight Pin 55 9 64 Metal Button 37 30 2 69 Glass Button Brass Shoe Nail 24 3 1 28 Barrel Ring 1 1 Shield Nickel 1 1 Rubber Comb Tooth 1 2 3 Hairpin 1 1 Chain 1 1 Pen Nib 4 1 5 Slate Pencil 9 7 1 17 Cast Iron 1 1 1 3 Bolt with Nut 1 1 Ceramic, Stoneware 36 2 38 Ceramic, Whiteware 1 1 Spoon Bowl 1 1 Handle 2 1 3 Horseshoe 1 1 Horseshoe Nail 2 6 8 Buckle 1 1 2 Ring 1 1 2 Rivet 7 2 5 14 Rivet Burr 3 4 7 Glass Shard 750 149 181 40 12 1132 Can Fragments 102 15 17 29 1 164 Metal Scrap 359 254 76 90 1 780 Petrified Wood 1 1 Rim 1 1

78

Table 5.8. Continued.

Artifact Unit

Group AUnit

Group BUnit

Group C Unit

Group D Other Total Screw 5 5 Spring 2 2 Tack 15 4 2 21 Seed 151 151 Leather Scrap 1 1 Unknown 7 4 2 1 14 Unknown Metal 8 3 11 Unknown Brass 6 1 7 Unknown Cast Iron 6 2 1 9 Unknown Iron 2 1 3 Unknown Tin 3 3 Unknown Rubber 8 1 9 Wire Nail 1 1 Coal 142 45 14 201 Hematite 3 3 Caliche 4 1 2 7 Wood 1 1 2 Burned Wood 1 4 3 5 Hearthstone 188 88 72 3 15 366 Charcoal 27 2 40 69 Fire-Cracked Rock 1 1 Lithic Flake 4 6 3 13 Lithic Debris 3 3 1 7 Identified Bone 65 32 7 8 112 Bone Scrap 127 178 13 1 26 345 Total 2444 1160 577 174 76 4431

79

-700

-600

-500

-400

0 100 200 300

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 5.13. Close up view of artifact distribution in group A showing artifact

concentration in the area of anomalous sediment in units 4S0E, 5S0E, and 4S1E.

Units in group B (Fig. 5.12; 3S2E, 3S3E, 3S4E, 2S4E, 2S5E, 2S6E, 2S7E,

2S8E, 2S9E, and 2S10E) provided a view of the material as it extends to the

east. These 10 units yielded a total of 1,160 artifacts in 1997 and 1998 (Table

5.8). The block included three units opened in 1997: 3S3E, 2S4E, and 2S10E.

Excavation in 3S3E was not completed in 1997 and this unit was re-opened in

1998. Unit 3S4E was opened in 1998 because it was adjacent to 2S4E where

one of the artifacts recovered in 1997 was a large cast iron fragment. Units

2S5E, 2S6E, 2S7E, 2S8E, and 2S9E connected two units excavated in 1997,

80

2S4E and 2S10E, resulting in a shallow trench. Of this unit group, only unit

3S2E, opened late in the season, was not excavated through the historic debris

feature. Although containing more excavated units, artifact density in Unit group

B was much lower than in group A units. Historic artifacts were encountered at

10-15cm below the surface. Large caliche cobbles were recovered from 3S3E in

1997. The material also followed a gradual slope downwards to the east in the

direction of the valley axis.

Group C consisted of seven units (Fig. 5.12). Six (4N2E, 3N2E, 3N3E,

2N3E, 1N3E, and 0N2E) units were opened in 1998 adjacent to 4N3E, a unit

opened but not completed in 1997. Units 2N3E, 1N3E, and 0N2E were placed to

begin a link between the southernmost and northernmost units. Unit 4N3E was

not opened for excavation in 1998 and only unit 1N3E was excavated completely

through the feature. A well-defined concentration of large segments of charcoal

was uncovered in the southern portion of 3N3E. Unit 2N3E was opened to follow

the limits of the concentration (Fig. 5.14). Only the northwest quadrant of unit

2N3E was excavated. However, the full extent of the concentration was not

evident by the end of the field season and the unit was closed. Another

concentration of charcoal was uncovered in 0N2E. These concentrations were

exposed near the end of the field season and, due to time constraints, excavation

in these units was halted to avoid exposing more charcoal. The objective was to

expose each concentration as a whole rather than collect the charcoal in a piece-

meal fashion.

81

Figure 5.14. Close-up of charcoal concentration in the northwest quadrant of unit 2N3E.

82

Historic material occurring with the charcoal concentrations included glass

shards and metal scraps in 0N2E and glass, metal, and cut nails in 2N3E.

Assessment of artifact density in this block of units was limited by the fact that

excavation of the historic debris was complete in only one unit. The seven units

produced 577 artifacts in 1997 and 1998 (Table 5.8). The historic artifacts were

encountered below the surface at depths ranging from 2 to 11.5cm.

Only one unit comprised group D (Fig. 5.12). Unit 3S2W was opened to

test the extent of the artifact concentration to the west. Results from the 1997

test excavations led to speculation that artifact density and size might increase to

the west. This unit was located on the berm of dredged sediments. These

sediments were removed by shovel scraping and the matrix was dry screened

through ¼” mesh. The dredge sediments displayed a mix of various strata from

the valley axis. Because some of these sediments had been pressed down into

the 1936 surface, it was difficult to identify a clear contact between the dredge

and the pre-1936 surface. A concentration of glass, metal, and burned caliche

was uncovered near the same level (97304.5) where clearly undisturbed deposits

were encountered. A total of 159 artifacts were removed before the unit was

closed due to time limitations that precluded complete excavation of the unit

through substratum 5B (Table 5.8).

Although not excavated completely in every unit, the historic debris scatter

(FA8-16) generally sloped from west to east following the topography of the

valley margin (Fig.5.15). Top elevations of the excavated feature ranged from

83

97339.0 to 97312.5 and ending elevations (where the feature was excavated

completely) ranged from 97320.0 to 97308.0. The artifact scatter was much

denser and the feature, as revealed to date, was thicker in its (known) western

limits (Fig. 5.10). Beginning elevations of the feature in each unit were based on

the elevation of the first 19th century artifact encountered in that unit, usually a cut

nail. In many units, metal scraps, probably the remains of cans, were

encountered just above the feature. However, these scraps did not have

diagnostic attributes and could not be dated. They were not taken as the

beginning of the 19th century historic debris feature. All the historic material was

included in one feature as no distinct areas of differential behavior or events have

yet been identified. Artifacts were not distributed evenly across the site.

97260

97320

97380

-300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Ele

vatio

n

Figure 5.15. Vertical distribution of artifacts recovered from FA8-16 (historic

debris scatter) during the 1998 field season block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8. Scale is not proportional.

84

Results

The Area 8 1998 excavations succeeded in opening a larger horizontal

area. A difference in artifact density was becoming apparent, but the limits of

artifact concentrations still are unknown. Some identifiable areas of activity may

be indicated by the concentrations of charcoal in unit group C and in the area of

anomalous sediments in unit group A. Based on field observations, it seemed

that the concentrations might have resulted from the material being moved

around when the artifacts still were exposed on the surface. The artifacts in

3S2W, the westernmost unit, indicated that the historic debris feature continues

to the west. However, more extensive excavations will be necessary to define

further the historic feature or features in this part of Area 8 and to gain a more

complete picture of the historic occupation.


The archaeological research program into historic accounts reporting the

location of the Singer Store at the Lubbock Lake Landmark progressed through

three stages, each subsequent stage building on positive results from the

previous year. Each stage succeeded in locating 19th century material confirming

the area as a locus of late 19th century activities. Excavations in Area 8

uncovered extensive concentrations of material relating to specific types of

activities significant to development of the frontier and to Singer Store history.

Beyond discovery of 19th century material, excavations in 41LU1 Area 8 revealed

85

within the broader limits of FA8-16, localized indications of specific events or

behavior represented by the areas of anomalous sediment and extensive

charcoal concentrations.

86

CHAPTER VI

ARTIFACT ANALYSIS

Analysis of artifacts recovered through the archaeological aspect of the

Singer Store research provides information critical to determining whether or not

the store stood somewhere on the southwestern portion of the Lubbock Lake

Landmark. Identification of artifacts assists in identifying behavior occurring at

the site, provides temporal information, and sheds light on the nature of the 19th

century U. S. frontier as it developed on the Southern High Plains of Texas.

The initial 1996 survey resulted in the collection of 98 artifacts (Table 5.1).

Test excavations in 1997 yielded 34 artifacts collected in 41LU31 (Table 5.2) and

only one artifact collected in 41LU1 Area 70. The majority (4,468) of artifacts in

the analysis came from excavations in Area 8 during the 1997 (Tables 5.3, 5.4,

5.5, 5.6, and 5.7) and 1998 field seasons (Table 5.8). The analysis did not

address aboriginal lithic artifacts or hearthstones.

Glass

Glass shards are common among the recovered artifacts with a total of

1218 shards collected during all phases of the archaeological research.

Information potentially obtainable from archaeological glass includes

manufacture date, type of products used, trade, and socio-economic class.

87

Attributes can include type of vessel, maker’s marks, and details relating to

manufacture technology such as mold seams and color.

Vessel Glass

Two jar bases of aqua glass (TTU-A85739 and TTU-A85741) recovered

during survey bore maker’s marks that were used from 1924 to 1954 (Toulouse,

1971). Survey also recovered a bottle (TTU-A85748) manufactured in the period

from 1947 to at least 1971 (Toulouse, 1971). No glass shards with identifiable

maker’s marks were recovered from test or block excavation. Three shards

(TTU-A93111, TTU-A93112, and TTU-A93113; Fig. 6.1.) recovered from unit

4S2E in 41LU1 Area 8 appeared to be the remnants of a portion of a panel bottle

that was further broken in-situ. No embossing or other markings were

discernible.

Figure 6.1. Segments of a panel bottle (TTU-A93111, TTU-A93112, TTU-

A93113, TTU-A93114, TTU-A93115) further broken in situ recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

88

Two shards (TTU-A85751 and TTU-A1-76504) recovered during survey

(Fig. 5.4) were of purple, manganese-decolorized glass. One of the purple or

amethyst shards (TTU-A85751) was a base, probably from a canning jar. The

remaining shard (TTU-A1-76504) was recovered from 41LU31. From about

1880 to 1914, manufacturers added manganese to glass to counter the natural

aqua color resulting from iron oxides in the raw material. Over time, the

manganese in the glass exposed to sunlight reacted with the ultra-violet

frequencies to produce purple or amethyst colored glass (Kendrick, 1971). No

purple glass was recovered through test or block excavation. This situation did

not preclude the presence of manganese de-colorized glass in the excavated

assemblage but more likely is due to lack of ultra-violet exposure to the

subsurface glass shards.

A total of 17 shards with fragments of embossed letters or decorations

were collected during the 1996 survey. No fragments were sufficiently complete

to enable identification of the design or lettering. One glass shard collected from

excavation in 41LU31 was embossed. Two shards collected from excavation in

41LU1 Area 8 show evidence of embossing. The design or letters on TTU-

A94819 could not be identified. The letter “S” was visible on TTU-A94832. Both

shards were recovered from 6S2E in Unit Group A. Use of embossed letters on

glass was most prevalent during the period of 1860 to 1900 when they were

often labels on patent medicine bottles (Sellari and Sellari, 1989).

89

Although embossed lettering is not the dominant form of labeling, bottles

made even today can incorporate embossed elements such as logos, labels, or

other text. Because the practice of embellishing glass bottles with embossments

has been used over a long period of time, the mere presence of embossing on

small glass shards does not constitute a firm criterion for dating.

Window Glass

A quantity of glass shards (104) possessing the characteristics of window

glass come from excavation of FA8-16. Moir and Green (1988) note that window

glass can be distinguished from vessel glass by a number of characteristics.

Window glass exhibits flatness that varies from container shards. A

consequence of blown-glass manufacture of flat panel bottles is a characteristic

thicker glass in the center of the panel with thinner glass at the edges. The inner

surface of the panel, therefore, is curved and this unevenness is apparent in the

way the surface reflects light. Shards from flat panel bottles display this

unevenness and can be identified by the way light slides across the curved

surface. Truly flat glass like window glass produces a sharp reflection.

Additionally, much of container glass is clear while window glass exhibits a blue-

green, green, or gray-green tint.

Historical archaeological studies of window glass indicate glass thickness

increased during the 19th century. Complex statistical analysis has not been

attempted on the glass assemblage from 41LU1 Area 8. However, the predictive

90

model formulated by Moir and Green (1988:271) correlates window glass

thickness of 1.99mm to 1880, 2.11mm to 1890, and 2.22 to 1900. Thickness

measurements of flat glass from FA8-16 ranged from 1.4mm to 2.5mm, with 26

of 100 shards measuring 2.0mm.

Non-Vessel Glass

Four glass shards recovered from excavation in 41LU1 were not bottle or

window glass, but remnants of houseware items. The four were recovered from

the westernmost unit 3S2W (Fig. 5.9). Artifacts TTU-A95160 and TTU-A95176

were fragments of the base of a footed object, possibly a lamp, or bowl. Artifact

TTU-A95149 was a fragment of pressed glass exhibiting a grooved exterior. The

shard weighed 3.9 grams. The fourth shard was a small fragment (TTU-A95173)

comprising one scallop from a decorative scalloped edge.

Feature FA8-16 yielded 1,014 pieces of glass from excavations during the

1998 and 1997 field season. The combined weight of the recovered shards was

1522.81g (18.65oz.). Some of the shards (776) were melted to varying degrees.

The melted and unmelted glass was mixed together (Figs. 6.2; 6.3) but no melted

glass was recovered from units east of 2S5E.

91

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.2. Distribution of melted glass shards recovered from 1997 and 1998

excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

92

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.3. Distribution of unmelted glass shards recovered from 1997 and 1998


93

Ceramic

Like glass, ceramic shards are often the remnants of some type of vessel.

Possible diagnostic attributes include ceramic type (pottery, earthenware, refined

earthenware, stoneware, or porcelain), maker’s mark, and type of decoration.

Two ceramic sherds were recovered from the surface during the survey.

Neither sherd possessed readily datable attributes. No ceramic artifacts were

recovered from test excavation in 41LU1 Area 70 or 41LU31. Thirty-nine

ceramic sherds were recovered from excavations in 41LU1 Area 8 (Fig. 6.4).

Three sherds (TTU-93716, TTU-A 94161, TTU-A95722) represent the remnants

of a white, soft-paste porcelain doorknob (Fig. 6.5).

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.4. Distribution of ceramic sherds recovered from 1997 and 1998


94

Figure 6.5. Two segments of a porcelain doorknob (TTU-93716, TTU-A 94161) recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Twenty-three sherds of stoneware were recovered. One sherd (TTU-

A73384; Fig. 6.6) from the body of a bottle bears the remnants of a maker’s

mark, too fragmentary to allow for identification. Twenty sherds are of a tan-

colored body. Twelve of these have a dark, brownish, exterior glaze. One of

these sherds (TTU-A94044) is a fragment from the area of a bottle where the

neck and shoulder join. Four more sherds are glazed in gray, one of which may

be from the base of a bottle. Two are of a tan body with an indeterminate glaze,

and two others exhibit a clearish glaze with dark speckles. Two of the sherds are

of a gray body and indeterminate glaze. Ceramic bottles have been used to hold

a variety of substances, including beer and wine. Generally, use of stoneware

for beer bottles had declined by the 1900 (Corran, 1975).

95

Figure 6.6. Very faint maker’s mark visible on right half of ceramic sherd TTU-

A73384 recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Three sherds (TTU-A94293, TTU-A94848, and TTU-A95105) that appear

to be earthenware are of a gray body with no discernible glaze. These fragments

are thinner than the stoneware and are curved in a diameter of small radius.

Artifact TTU-A95105 is a portion of a small bowl-shaped object of ca. 3.8cm

(1.5”) diameter. Based on size, these fragments may be the remains of a

ceramic pipe. One earthenware sherd (TTU-A95078) exhibits three glazed

surfaces; two with an orange glaze and one with a clear glaze. Artifact TTU-

A90740 is the only identified white earthenware fragment and evidences no other

identifiable attributes. One sherd of soft-paste porcelain (TTU-A93775)

is not part of a doorknob. Seven ceramic sherds are unidentifiable as to type.

Two ceramic buttons manufactured by the “Prosser” technique developed

in Europe during the mid-19th century were recovered from excavations. One

96

(TTU-A96340) was recovered from unit 3S2E and the other came from 6S2E

(TTU-A94852; Fig. 6.7). The four-hole buttons measure 1.11cm (7/16”) in

diameter and have a decorative “crimped” border around the outside edge. The

buttons are white, giving the appearance of being made of milkglass. Prosser

buttons often are mis-identified as being formed of glass due to their glass-like

appearance. The buttons are formed by finely ground clays being pressed into

button molds under very high pressure. Thus formed, the buttons then are fired,

sometimes after a glazed decoration is applied. Identifying characteristics of

Prosser buttons are a rough “orange-peel” surface on the back and a raised

seam around the perimeter edge. Collectors have formulated a type system for

these “china” buttons based on decoration and form. The buttons from 41LU1

Area 8 are classified as a “pie crust” Prosser or “china” button (Sprague, 2002).

Sprague (2002) notes that current knowledge of Prosser buttons does not

include details providing chronological information for the different types beyond

the patenting of the general technique.

Figure 6.7. A “pie-crust” prosser button (TTU-A96340) recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

97

Metal

Overall, the most common material encountered during archaeological

research was metal. Nineteen items were recovered from survey, 19 from

testing in 41LU31, with the greatest number (1927) recovered from excavations

in 41LU1 Area 8. Feature FA8-16 yielded 1507 metal objects. The category also

comprised the greatest diversity of objects.

Cartridge Cases

Empty cartridge cases were recovered from archaeological Singer Store

research at Lubbock Lake Landmark. Cartridge cases were the empty cases

remaining from ammunition after a firearm is discharged. Some cases bore a

stamped mark on the base identifying the type and/or manufacturer of the

ammunition. Cartridge cases with identifiable endstamps could provide temporal

information in the form of manufacture dates. Fourteen cartridge cases

recovered from the surface during survey were all modern .22 caliber cartridges

related to 20th century activity. No cartridges were recovered from test

excavation in 41LU31 or 41LU1 Area 71.

Excavations in 41LU1 Area 8 yielded 92 cartridges (Figs. 6.8; 6.9). Ten

cartridges were .22 caliber and eight of these had endstamps indicating modern

manufacture. Two had no endstamp. None of the .22 caliber cartridge cases

were recovered from feature FA8-16.

98

Figu

re 6

.8.

Car

tridg

e ca

sing

s (T

TU-A

9064

6, T

TU-A

9591

1, T

TU-A

9594

1, T

TU-A

7349

5, T

TU-A

9479

9) re

cove

red

1998

blo

ck e

xcav

atio

n at

41L

U1

Are

a 8

in th

e so

uthw

este

rn q

uadr

ant o

f the

Lub

bock

Lak

e La

ndm

ark.

.

99

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100Easting

Nor

thin

g

igure 6.9. Distribution of cartridges recovered from central units of 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

F

100

It was difficult to get an accurate measurement of the cartridge caliber

because the casings were crushed and slightly distorted. Caliber referred to the

diameter of the bullet and, therefore, is the inside diameter of the casing. The

majority of the casings seemed to be .44 or .45 caliber with one (TTU-A90646)

identified as a .50 caliber cartridge (1.53cm [0.60 “] in diameter) such as the

ammunition used for buffalo hunting (Max Winn, personal communication, 1998).

The outside diameter of five cartridge cases, as measured just above the base at

the area of least distortion, ranged from 0.95 to 1.11cm (0.37 to .43 “).

Measurement of the majority of the cases (65) ranged from 1.21 to 1.35cm (0.47

to 0.53”). Eleven cartridges were so distorted that not even an approximate

diameter was obtainable. No cartridges from feature FA8-16 bore identifying end

stamps.

Distribution of cartridges (Fig. 6.9) was fairly uniform across the limits of

excavation with a slightly higher density in unit group A. The smaller non-22

cartridges were restricted to unit group A as were the majority of the .22 caliber

cartridges (Fig. 6.10). The smaller caliber cartridges may be associated with

damage to the original historical marker. The large .50 caliber cartridge was

found on the extreme eastern limits of the excavation in unit 2S10E. One casing

(TTU-A95811; Fig. 6.11) recovered from 2N3E had not been fired but appeared

to have exploded.

101

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

.22 Caliber

.38 or .44 Caliber

.44 or .45 Caliber

.50 CaliberUnknow n Caliber

Figure 6.10. Distribution by caliber of cartridge casings recovered from 1997 and

1998 excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

102

Figure 6.11. Remains of burned ammunition recovered from 1998 block

excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark: (a) melted lead bullet (TTU-A95064) recovered from 1N3E; (b) melted and deformed cartridge case (TTU-A95811) with intact primer recovered from 2N3E.

Cans

One hole-in-cap can was recovered from surface survey of 41LU1 Area 8

(Fig. 6.12). Test excavations in 41LU31 recovered 11 metal scraps identified as

segments of hole-in-cap or rectangular, lead-soldered cans. Five hole-in-cap

cans were recovered from excavations or from the surface near excavations.

One rectangular “sardine” can with soldered seams was recovered from

excavations. During excavations in 41LU1 Area 8, 174 metal scraps identifiable

as can fragments were recovered. The fragments represented approximately 22

cans. Of the 22 occurrences of can fragments, 14 were recovered from feature

FA8-16, one (comprised of 29 fragments) was recovered from dredge sediments

in unit 3S2W, and one rectangular can was recovered from test unit 35S10E.

103

Due to its distance from the main concentration of artifacts, this latter can was

not considered to be a part of feature FA8-16, although it may be related to the

activity that formed the feature.

Figure 6.12. Hole-in-cap can (TTU-A85755) recovered during the 1996 survey of

the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Artifact TTU-A73357, recovered from 3N3E, was from the L-shaped edge

of the top or bottom of a hole-in-cap or rectangular can. Artifact TTU-A90774

recovered from 4N3E was a fragment from a rectangular “sardine” can. Artifact

TTU-A90779 from 4N3E was the top and side portion of a can with evidence of

the top having been cut in an “X” in order to access the contents. Artifact TTU-

A93084 was a fragment of the cap part of a hole-in-cap can recovered from unit

3N3E. Artifact TTU-A93970 was a fragment of the top of a hole-in-cap can from

4S1E.

104

Tin containers were first made in England early in the 19th century (Rock,

1984). Hole-in-cap cans with machine soldering recovered on the Lubbock Lake

Landmark were diagnostic of a period from 1880 to ca. 1900. The walls of the

cans were formed when a rectangle of tin was rolled into a cylinder and the seam

secured with lead solder. The ends of the cans began as disks of tin pressed

into a cap-shape by machine. The two caps were placed over the ends of the

cylinder and soldered into place. One end cap was formed with a hole of about

2.5cm (1”) diameter in the center. The hole allowed for the placement of the food

into the can. After being filled, the opening was covered with a small flat disk that

was secured with solder. A vent hole in the center of this disk was left open until

after processing to allow steam to escape. After processing, the vent hole was

sealed with solder and the canning process was complete.

The earliest hole-in-cap cans were soldered by hand leaving rough

irregular seams. Manufacture of cans with machine-applied lead solder on

seams began in 1883. The sanitary can, formed with double-folded seams like

modern cans, gradually replaced hole-in-cap cans by the early 20th century

(Cobb, 1914; Berryman, 1983; Rock, 1984).

The rectangular “sardine” cans demonstrated similar construction in the

formation of the body, top, and bottom with L-shaped edges that overlapped the

sides, and lead solder sealing seams. After 1880, the sides and bottoms of

rectangular cans were formed from one piece of tin with only the top being a

separate addition. Manufacturing innovations were able to improve processing

105

by eliminating the need for venting by producing cans with a depressed top after

1884 (Fontana and Greenleaf, 1962). Designers first attempted to provide for

opening the cans with a strip-type opener in 1865 (Rock, 1984). It was not until

1895 that the familiar key and strip opener finally came into being (Fontana and

Greenleaf, 1962).

Nails

Nails were recovered only from excavations in 41LU1 Area 8. The

majority of nails recovered were cut nails (Fig. 6.13). Other nail types found

included horseshoe nails and brass nails used in shoe construction. Only two

wire nails were recovered.

Cut Nails

Hand-wrought nails were made for centuries, but late in the 18th century,

nail cutting machines were developed to produce cut square nails that

reduced the hand-work required to make nails. Additional technological

innovations continued to refine both the material and method of cut nail

production. Identification of these innovations provided a means for dating nails

produced between the late 18th century and ca. 1880.

106

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.13. Diagram showing horizontal distribution of all whole and

fragmentary cut nails recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the Southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

107

Whole cut nails recovered from 41LU1 Area 8 have sharply squared

points while those that are highly corroded demonstrated splitting and breakage

along a lengthwise grain. Cut nails made of steel date to post-1885 and do not

exhibit a grain (Edwards and Wells, 1993). The recovered nails, then, were

manufactured after 1830 but before the middle 1880s.

One hundred ninety-seven nails were whole and could be classified by

type and size (Fig. 6.14). Different size and type nails had different applications.

According to the Tremont Nail Catalog (1983), common nails were used for

framing. Box nails were described as similar to, but lighter than, a common nail

and also used for framing. Finish nails were used for furniture or cabinet work,

casings, or counter tops. The larger common nails were used for framing

(Fontana and Greenleaf, 1962; Tremont Nail Catalog, 1983) while smaller sizes

held sheathing and siding. While 6d and 8d common nails were used in

construction of crates, 8d probably could be used for framing as well. The

largest common nails (10d and over) held door hinges and gates. Finish nails of

different sizes were used in applying interior finish work such as window and

door facings.

108

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

2d

2d/3

d 3d 4d 5d

>10d 10d 2d 3d

3d/4

d 4d 5d 6d 7d 8d 9d

3d 3d 4d 5d

Box Common Commonor box

Finish

Figure 6.14. Type and size of whole nails recovered from 1997 and 1998


The naming convention of nail-sizes originated in medieval England where

nails were priced and sold by the hundred. This classification by price per

hundred eventually was standardized by size rather than price but the names

remained tied to price (Nelson, 1968). Standardized sizes now begin with 2d

nails that measure 2.54cm (1”) in length and increase 0.64cm (1/4’’) with each

increase in pennyweight, e.g. 3d=3.18cm (11/4 ”), 4d=3.82cm (11/2”) (Tremont

Nail Catalog, 1983).

109

Wire Nails

One complete 4d wire nail (TTU-A94809) was recovered from unit 6S2E

and a wire nail fragment (TTU-A93706) was recovered from unit 4S1E in 41LU1

Area 8. Both were included in feature FA8-16, but TTU-A93706 was only 2cm

(0.79”) below the start of the feature in unit 4S1E. Wire nails were first

developed late in the 19th century and began to be available commonly in 1890

(Edwards and Wells, 1993; Adams, 2002). Applications of wire nail types and

sizes were the same as cut nails. However, while cut nails held better, wire nails

were cheaper (Adams, 2002).

Shoe Nails

Twenty-eight brass shoe nails were recovered from excavations in 41LU1

Area 8 (Fig. 6.15). The majority (24) came from unit group A. Brass shoe nails

were not cut nails but were drawn of wire and were used in constructing shoe

soles. A machine patented in 1862 could form a nail from continuous brass wire,

drive it into the shoe, and finish by cutting off the excess (Anderson, 1968).

Length of shoe nails recovered from 41LU1 Area 8 varied from TTU-A73336 that

measured 1.23cm (0.48”) to TTU-A96051 that measured 1.75cm (0.69”). While

these two shoe nails represented extremes of the range, the majority of shoe

nails measured between 1.31-1.34cm (0.51-0.53”).

110

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.15. Distribution of shoe nails recovered from 1997 and 1998


111

Horse Shoe Nails

Eight horseshoe nails were recovered from excavations in 41LU1 Area 8.

Six of these nails were broken and bent; an indication that they had been used

and discarded and were not from store stock. The two whole horseshoe nails

(TTU-A90580 and TTU-A92565) measured 5.96cm (2.35”) and 5.85cm (2.30”)

respectively. Horseshoe nails, like horseshoes, often were handmade or at least

fitted to individual animals and subject to more variation within type than

machine-made products (Fontana, 1967).

Tacks

Twenty-one tacks were recovered from excavations in 41LU1 Area 8.

These fasteners exhibited square shafts and measured 1.0cm (0.4”) in length.

Nine of the tacks were collected from 5S1E within a 1cm elevation range.

Fontana and Greenleaf (1962) categorized similar tacks as being used to fasten

barrel rings to barrels.

Screws

Five wood screws were recovered from excavations in 41LU1 Area 8 (Fig.

6.16). All of the screws were recovered from unit group A and all had slotted

heads. Three of the screws (TTU-A73425, TTU-A94483, TTU-A94963) came

from unit 4S0E. The first two had countersunk heads; the head of the third was

112

too corroded to indicate type. TTU-A73425 measured 3.3cm (1.30”), TTU-

A94483 measured 4.6cm (1.81”), and TTU-A94963 measured approximately

2.0cm (0.79”) in length. Screw TTU-A94216, a fragment measuring 1.2cm

(0.47”) along the shaft, came from 5S0E in unit group A. Artifact TTU-A93811

measured 1.92cm (3/4”) in length.

Figure 6.16. Screws (TTU-A94216, TTU-A94963, TTU-A73425, TTU-A93811,

TTU-A94483) recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

The earliest screws were hand-made and date back at least to the Roman

period in Europe (Mercer, 1960; Rybczynski, 2000). In holding power, screws

were superior to round nails and did not have to be clinched as do cut nails.

Hand-wrought screws were much more expensive to manufacture than nails,

requiring hand labor to incise the threads. Factories for automatic manufacture

113

of screws first appeared in the late 18th century. The water-powered factory

produced cheaper screws of higher quality. However, unlike hand-made screws,

these screws had blunt ends and their use required a pilot hole to be drilled first

(Mercer, 1960; Rybczynski, 2000). These screws found many uses such as for

holding butt hinges and other attachments of thin pieces of wood including boat

manufacture, cabinetry, and furniture. Countersunk screws appeared early in the

19th century when slotted heads became standard as well. Phillips-head screws

were developed in the 1930s (Rybczynski, 2000).

Barbs or Barbed Wire

A length of barbed wire (TTU-A1-75161) was among the artifacts

uncovered during test excavation in 41LU31. The recovered wire measured over

1m (39.4”) in length and is a double strand with two-point wire barb type with the

barb wrapped around. Only a portion of the wire was collected after it broke

during excavation. More of the wire remains in-situ, extending into unexcavated

portions of the site.

Excavations in 41LU1 Area 8 yielded seven barbs that had fallen off

barbed wire. Five of the barbs were made of diamond-shaped sheet metal. Two

opposing corners of the diamond were split and bent in opposite directions

forming four points (Fig. 6.17). The arrangement of the points suggested a type

of wire known as Frentress’ Diamond patented in 1875 (Clifton, 1970), patent

114

reissued 1877 (Karolevitz, 1970). Two of the recovered barbs were of an

unidentified wire type.

Figure 6.17. Examples of Frentress’ Diamond barbs (TTU-A94880, TTU-A94881, TTU-A96104) recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Excavations recovered three Frentress barbs from 2S9E and one from

2S10E in unit group B (Fig. 6.18); the fifth Frentress barb came from 4S2E in unit

group A. One unidentified barb also came from 2S9E and the remaining barb

was found in unit group A in unit 5S1E. Use of wire with sheet metal barbs

began to decline by 1880 due to damage it and other types, now classified as

“vicious,” inflicted on stock (McCallum and McCallum, 1965). By 1892, the

United States Supreme Court’s favorable ruling for Joseph Glidden’s patent “The

Winner,” a two-prong wire-type barb barbed wire, was a formality underscoring

the market’s support of simple, moderate, barbed-wire as the wire of choice

(McCallum and McCallum, 1965).

115

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.18. Distribution of barbs recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at

41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

116

Staples

Twenty wire staples or staple fragments were recovered from excavations

in 41LU1 Area. These staples were formed from heavy-gauge wire bent into a

“U”-shape with both ends cut at an angle forming sharp points. Fence staples

were hammered into a post over a strand of wire to hold the wire to the post

Lengths of staples recovered from excavation in Area 8 ranged from 2.80 to

3.62cm (1.10-1.43”) with widths ranging from 1.40 to 1.63cm (0.55-0.64”). All

staples were recovered from feature FA8-16. The staples were found in two

general areas of excavation (Fig. 6.19), unit group A and unit group C.

Distribution of staples in unit group A suggested two roughly parallel southwest to

northeast trending linear patterns with one line corresponding to the limits of the

area of anomalous sediment.

Brass Straight Pins

The brass straight pins were recovered from six units in or near unit group A. Of

64 pins recovered, most were bent in the middle (Fig. 6.20) and some were

broken. One relatively straight specimen measured approximately 3cm (11/4”) in

length. Two of the pins came from above the feature FA8-16. The pins were

recovered from a limited area, with 41 found in 4S0E and 4S1E. Fourteen others

were from units in unit group A and the remainder came from unit 3S2E in unit

group B. Many were within the area of anomalous sediments in units 4S0E,

4S1E, and 5S0E (Fig. 6.21).

117

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.19. Distribution of fence staples recovered from 1997 and 1998


118

Figure 6.20. Brass straight pins (TTU-A94336, TTU-A93845) recovered from

1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.21. Horizontal distribution of brass straight pins recovered from 1997

and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

119

Pen Nibs

Four brass pen nibs were recovered from excavations in 41LU1 Area 8

(Fig. 6.22). The nibs were inscribed “C. M. Linington’s, Colorado, No. 2.”

Charles M. Linington was a Chicago businessman providing stationery supplies,

notions, and general merchandise to country merchants, largely through mail

orders. The firm enjoyed great growth and success following its inception in

1866 (Chicago Daily Tribune, 1876), but in 1895 was forced to liquidate its stock

to pay creditors (Chicago Daily Tribune, 1895). One nib was recovered from unit

2S10E while the remainder came from unit group A in units 4S1E, 5S2E, and

6S0E. The nibs measured 3.1cm (1.22”) in length by 0.9cm (.35”) at the widest

point.

Figure 6.22. Pen nibs (TTU-A90799, TTU-A94187, TTU-A95720) recovered

from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

120

Rivets

Excavations in 41LU1 Area 8 recovered whole rivets and rivet

components (Fig. 6.23). Three items were complete rivet and burr combinations

that occurred in units 5S2E and 6S2E. The separation between TTU-A95930

and 95934 in 6S2E was 2cm north to south and 0.5cm east to west. Rivet TTU-

94177 in 5S2E fell into the same east/west alignment with the other two,

separated by a 1.74m distance. The two rivets from 6S2E measured 1.0cm

(0.39”) in diameter at the head and 0.7cm (0.28”) in length. A larger rivet found

in 5S2E measured 1.0cm (0.39”) in diameter at the head and 1.0cm (0.39”) in

length. Rivet burrs fitted over the rivet shaft and were secured to lock the rivet in

place.

-800

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Rivet Burr

Rivet

Rivet w ith Burr Figure 6.23. Horizontal distribution of rivets and rivet burrs recovered from 1997

and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

121

Three burrs came from unit group A, one from unit group B, and four from

unit group C. The rivet burrs comprised two sizes, 0.92mm (0.36”) and 1.34mm

(0.53”). In units 6S2E, 5S0E, and 1N3E, two rivets occurred within less than 3cm

of each other at the same elevation. Fontana and Greenleaf (1962) ascribed

similar rivets recovered from the Johnny Ward’s Ranch site in Arizona to tack.

Buttons

The majority of buttons recovered from excavations in Area 8 were made

of brass in a simple, flat, four-hole design. A cross-hatch pattern was visible

around the outside edge of some of the buttons. Sizes represented include

1.27cm (½”), 1.59cm (5/8”), and 1.95cm (¾”) diameter. One button (TTU-

A93988) was a shank button made of metal and measured 1.59cm (¾”) in

diameter. All the buttons were of simple utilitarian design. Buttons TTU-A96058

and TTU-A96178 and fragment TTU-A96177 were recovered from unit 6S0E in

unit group A and were arranged in a line at an elevation range from 97337.0 to

97338.0. The average distance between buttons in this line was circa 10cm (4”),

appropriate spacing for buttons on a shirt. Buttons were distributed across most

areas of excavation (Fig. 6.24).

122

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.24. Horizontal distribution of metal buttons recovered from 1997 and

1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Coin

A single coin was recovered during the archaeological aspect of Singer

Store research. A Shield Nickel (TTU-A94855; Fig. 6.25) was recovered from

unit 5S1E in unit group A. Shield Nickels were minted from 1866 to 1883. On

one side, the coin was stamped with a shield and wreath design, hence the

name. The reverse design on nickels minted in 1866 and 1867 was a large “5” in

the center and stars on the perimeter. Lines radiated out from the center

between the stars on coins minted in these two years (Davis, 1971). Although a

date is not visible on the recovered nickel, the coin was minted in 1866 or 1867

as the design includes the lines between the stars.

123

Figure 6.25. Shield Nickel (TTU-A94855) recovered from 1998 block excavation

at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Cast Iron

Eighteen remnants of cast iron objects are from excavations in 41LU1

Area 8. Four of the fragments share characteristics appropriate to a flat platform-

like object (Fig. 6.26). The largest fragment (TTU-A93788) measures

20.1x14.3cm (7.9x5.6”). Two of the items are from corners. Artifact TTU-

A94853 measures 5.8x3.6cm (2.3x1.5”) and TTU-A96288 measures 8.0x9.7cm

(3.2x3.8”) with a support member that extends 5.0cm (1.97”) from the bottom.

The remaining flat cast iron remnant, TTU-A93006, measures 16.0x10.0cm

(6.3x3.9”). On both TTU-A93788 and TTU-A93006, one edge is a finished rim

like the two sides of the corner fragments.

124

Figure 6.26. Selection of cast iron objects (TTU-A93788, TTU-A93006, TTU-A96288, TTU-A94853) recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

125

Interpreted in conjunction with TTU-A94311 (Fig. 6.27), the four flat

fragments appear to represent the remains of a platform scale similar to one

listed in a 1902 Sears Catalog (Sears, Roebuck, and Company, 1902: 563; Fig.

6.27) with TTU-A94311 being a support and the flat pieces remnants of the

platform. Unidentified artifact TTU-94186 (Fig. 6.28) was recovered from 2S5E

in unit group B. A corner element (TTU-A92907; Fig. 6.29) recovered from 2S5E

conjoined with TTU-A90567 (Figs. 6.29; 6.30) recovered during 1997

excavations from 2S4E. The two pieces may be parts of a scale or some other

large cast iron object such as a stove. Twelve fragments were recovered from

unit group A, three from unit group B, and three from unit group C. The flat

pieces were from unit group A and TTU-94311 was recovered from the eastern

extremes of unit group B in unit 2S9E.

Figure 6.27. Diagram depicting artifact TTU-A94311 and an example of a

platform scale showing the support element.

126

Figure 6.28. Both sides of an unidentified cast iron artifact (TTU-A94186) recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Figure 6.29. Adjacent cast iron corner fragments TTU-A90567 and TTU-A92907

recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark, as seen from the underside.

127

Figure 6.30. Bolt (TTU-A90577), cast iron (TTU-A90567), and cut nail (TTU-A90582) recovered from unit 2S4E during 1997 test excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Miscellaneous Metal Artifacts

A number of metal items represented limited occurrences of each type of

article. All but TTU-A85756 were recovered from excavations in Area 8. Artifact

TTU- A85756 was a knife (Figure 6.31) found during surface survey of 41LU1

Area 8. The knife measured 20.8x3.2x2.2cm (8.2x1.3x0.9”). Remnants of a

wooden handle extend along 11.0cm (4.3”) of the length. The construction of the

knife featured a metal blade, measuring 0.3cm (0.1”) at the widest point,

sandwiched between two wooden pieces for a handle. The parts were held

together along the handle by three rivets. The head of the rivets measured

1.0cm (0.39”). The tip of the knife blade was rounded and it is likely the length

128

was shorter than the original due to breakage and/or intensive sharpening. It

was similar in appearance and construction to those used for trade with the

Northern Plains tribes in the late 19th century (Hanson, 1975). Examination,

however, revealed no maker's mark on the knife and knifes today are constructed

in the same manner.

Figure 6.31. Both sides of a knife (TTU-A85756) recovered during the 1996 survey of 41LU1 Area 8 at the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

A lead bullet (TTU-A95064; Fig. 6.11a) was recovered from unit 1N3E,

adjacent to unit 2N3E where a casing (TTU-A95811; Fig. 6.11b) appeared to

have exploded. Bullet TTU-A90587 came from 4N3E in the same unit group (C).

Three primer caps (TTU-A93927, TTU-A96124, TTU-A96146) were found

in unit group A in units 5S0E, 4S0E, and 4S1E. An intact primer contained

gunpowder and was the part of a cartridge struck by a firearm’s hammer, setting

off the reaction that fired the bullet. A small brass object that appears to be a

funnel that has been flattened (TTU-A94966; Fig. 6.32) was recovered from

129

4S0E. Both the primers and a funnel could be used in the process of reloading,

or re-using spent cartridge casings.

Figure 6.32. Flattened bell portion of brass funnel TTU-A94966 recovered from

1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

In unit group C, fine-gauge wire (TTU-A94932; Fig. 6.33) bent similar to a

hairpin, with the appearance of crimping along a portion came from unit 0N2E.

The wire or hairpin was 5.5cm (2.2”) long. Another item recovered, from unit

3N3E, was the bowl portion of a spoon (TTU-A73390; Fig. 6.34). The spoon

measured 7.5x4.5cm (3.0x1.8”). The recovered portion bore no identifying

marks.

130

Figure 6.33. Wire (TTU-A94932) resembling a hairpin recovered from 1998

block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Figure 6.34. Spoon bowl (TTU-A73390) recovered from 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

A ring (TTU-A92039; Fig. 6.35.) recovered from unit 37S0E, outside the

main artifact concentration, appeared to be a barrel ring. The ring rested at an

elevation similar to beginning elevations of feature FA8-16 in units along the 0E

line. Construction of the ring consisted of a 3cm (1.2”) wide strip of ferrous metal

curved into a circle with the two ends overlapped and held in place with two

rivets. The rivets measured 0.9cm (0.35”) in diameter and 1.1cm (0.43”) in

length. The ring itself, a distorted circle, measured 36.0x25.0cm (14.2x9.8”). One

131

edge of the metal strip was rolled, forming a smooth, finished rim. The ring

retained remnants of its connection to some container but the fasteners did not

appear to be cut nails or tacks. Although corroded, the heads and shafts of the

four extant fasteners appeared to be round. The fasteners extended 2.6cm (1.0”)

into the interior of the ring, were located 1.8cm (0.7”) from the rolled edge, and

were spaced at a distance of approximately 15cm (5.9”) apart.

Figure 6.35. Metal ring (TTU-A92039) recovered from unit 37S0E during 1997 test excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

A T-shaped brass brad (TTU-A93823; Fig. 6.36) used for holding papers

was collected from unit 4S0E. The brad measured 1.8cm (0.71”) in length. A

132

bolt with a nut (TTU-A90577; Fig. 6.31) was recovered from unit 2S4E. The bolt

measured 5.5cm (2.17”) in length and 1cm (0.39”) in diameter. The head of the

bolt was broken off and the threads extend along approximately 2.5cm (1.0”) of

the length. A single horseshoe (TTU-A93719; Fig. 6.37) was recovered from unit

9S2E in unit group B. The remnant measured 5.5x13.6cm (2.2x5.4”). Thickness

of the artifact ranged from 1.3cm (0.51”) at the back end to 0.3cm (0.12”) at the

beveled front edge of the center portion.

Figure 6.36. A T-shaped brass brad (TTU-A93823) recovered during 1998 block

excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Figure 6.37. Horseshoe remnant (TTU-A93719) recovered from unit 2S9E during 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

133

Excavations uncovered two metal buckles. Buckle TTU-A95190 (Fig.

6.38a), collected from unit 6S0E, consisted of a D-shaped frame formed of 0.2cm

(0.1”) thick wire or metal. The tongue was a straight piece of wire with one end

wrapped around the frame. The buckle measured 2.1cmx1.9cm (0.8x0.7”). A

larger buckle, TTU-A95044 (Fig. 6.38b), came from 1N3E. The rectangular

frame measured 4.5cmx3.0cm (1.8x1.2”) and was 0.5cm (0.2”) thick. A rolling

barrel or tube covered one of the short sides. A D-shaped metal ring (TTU-

A73422; Fig. 6.38c) recovered from 4S0E and measuring 2.54cm x 1.95cm

(1.0x0.8”) potentially was the frame of another buckle. An additional ring

fragment (TTU-A96073) came from unit 3N3E. The buckles and rings were

similar to fasteners found on items of tack or possibly a belt.

A chain (TTU-A94176; Fig 6.39) was recovered from unit 5S2E and

measured approximately 3.3cm (1.3”) in length. The chain remnant consisted of

seven links and measured 0.6cm (0.2”) wide. A short bar, circular in cross-

section, was attached to one end of the chain. Overall, the chain resembled a

watch chain.

134

Figure 6.38. Buckles and a D-ring recovered during excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark: (a) TU-A95190; (b) TTU-A95044; and (c) TTU-A73422.

135

Figure 6.39. Chain fragment TTU-A94176 recovered during 1998 block


Two probable handles were recovered from unit group A in 41LU1 Area 8

excavations. Artifact TTU-A94759 (Fig. 6.40a), an oval-shaped handle

measuring 8.96 x 4.35cm (3.5x1.7”), came from 4S0E and resembles handles

found on galvanized tubs. Unit 6S2E yielded handle-like, cast iron object TTU-

A95938 (Fig. 6.40b). In cross-section, the piece was circular, measured 0.8cm

(0.3”) diameter, and was curved into a semi-circle measuring 12.6cm

(5.0”)across. One end exhibited an apparent device for attaching the piece to

some larger object. The other end of the item was broken.

Figure 6.40. Probable handles recovered during 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark: (a) TTU-A94759 and (b) TTU-A95938.

136

Artifact TTU-A94147 came from unit 5S1E and is a segment of a spring

measuring approximately 1.0cmx0.7cm (0.39x0.28”). The spring, made of a non-

ferrous metal, was crushed as if flattened by some type of pressure. Twenty-one

segments of miscellaneous wire were recovered from excavation in 41LU1 Area

8.

Excavations also recovered 18 unidentified metal objects. Artifact TTU-

A95883 (Fig. 6.41a) looked similar to a corkscrew or perhaps a hoof cleaner. It

was constructed of a 1.5x0.5cm (0.6x0.2”) corkscrew-type appendage folded to

the inside of a 1.9x0.6cm (0.7x0.2”) ring, but designed to unfold. Artifact TTU-

A95887 (Fig. 6.41b) was a similar wire, having sharp point on one end and an

eye-loop on the other. The spiral measured 2.3cm (0.9”) in length and 0.6cm

(0.2”) in diameter. Both items were recovered from unit 4S2E.

Figure 6.41. Artifacts with “corkscrew” components recovered from 4S2E during 1998 block excavation at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark: (a) TTU-A95883, possible hoof cleaner; (b) TTU-A95887, corkscrew-shaped metal.

Another as yet unidentified artifact was TTU-A94533 (Fig. 6.42) from

1N3E, a solid metal cylinder measuring 3.46cm (1.36”) in length and 1.27cm

(0.50”) in diameter. It was cut to a point on one end.

137

Figure 6.42. Unidentified iron artifact (TTU-A94533) recovered during 1998 block


The source metal of seven unidentified items was brass but 11 more items

could not be identified as to specific material type. Additionally, 785 small, rusty

metal scraps, most likely can fragments, were recovered. Distribution of these

scraps was not uniform across all units but seemed to have a higher density in

unit group A. Although identified can fragments were found in all unit groups,

they most frequently were recovered from unit group C in the northern portion of

the site.

Miscellaneous Artifacts

Slate Pencils

Seventeen fragments of slate pencil come from excavations in 41LU1

Area 8 (Fig. 6.43). These fragments are gray cylinders of a layered or laminate

material. Slate pencils are described as gray or black and of a soft material that

can be marked easily by a fingernail (James Johnson, personal communication,

138

1999). The pencils are used with slate boards on which the pencils leave white

markings similar to chalk on a chalkboard. Although reliable historic information

regarding pencils of any sort is elusive, paper was expensive and students in

public school made use of slates and slate pencils throughout the 19th century.

School children in poorer regions still use slates and slate pencils today

(Petroski, 1990) and workers engaging in the production of slate pencils are

susceptible to developing silicosis.

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.43. Distribution of slate pencil fragments recovered from 1997 and 1998


139

Coal and Charcoal

Numerous small pieces of coal (201) and charcoal (69) were recovered

(Table 5.8). Both Green (1962; personal communication, 1998) and Kelley

(1974) observed pieces of coal in historic sediments during the 1959-1960

excavations in Area 8. Presumably, coal would have served as fuel for a stove.

The majority of charcoal (32) came from the charcoal concentration in unit 0N2E,

left basically intact in-situ. Twenty-five pieces of charcoal came from the area of

anomalous sediment in unit 5S0E. No charcoal was collected for the purposes of

dating as the Radiocarbon Lab indicated an age would not be valid on such

recent wood (Herbert Haas, personal communication, 1998). Charcoal was

collected for tree identification purposes but not yet identified.

Seeds

The only floral material collected was 151 seeds, all from unit 2S9E. All of

the seeds but one came as a cluster from TTU-A94926. These were not yet

identified.

Rubber Artifacts

Eleven rubber artifacts, including three tooth segments from a hard rubber

comb (TTU-A94234, TTU-A91239, and TTU-A94883), were recovered from

excavation in 41LU1 Area 8 (Fig. 6.44). Unit group B yielded two of the comb

140

remnants; one from unit 2S9E and one from unit 2S10E. The remaining comb

tooth was found in unit 6S0E in unit group A.

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.44. Distribution of rubber artifacts recovered from 1997 and 1998


Eight other artifacts made of rubber also were recovered from unit group

A; four from 5S1E, two from 5S0E, and one each from units 4S0E and

6S2E.Artifacts TTU-A73301, 92986, 94595, 93000 (all four from 5S1E), and

96115 (4S0E) were all made of hard black rubber with thickness on each piece

varying from 0.2cm (0.08”) to 0.3cm (0.1”). Artifacts TTU-A73301 and TTU-

141

A92986 conjoined to form part of a flat hexagon measuring approximately 2cm

(0.8”) across. A central hole measured 0.2cm (0.08”) in diameter. Wear

striations encircled the hole on one surface of the items. Artifacts TTU-A94594

and TTU-A93000 were similar in appearance to these items, having finished

edges indicative of a hexagon shape. Artifact TTU-A93000 exhibited indications

of a central hole. These items most likely were not buttons based on the nature

of the wear marks.

Caliche

Most of the recovered caliche cobbles came from unit group B (Fig. 6.45).

Three cobbles (TTU-A90744, TTU-A90745, and TTU-A90746) recovered from

3S3E in unit group B were very slightly burned on the side and upper surfaces.

Respective weights of the cobbles were 383.5g (13.5oz.), 393.4g (13.9oz.), and

434.0g (15.3oz.). Cobble TTU-A94310, recovered from the western portion of

5S0E in unit group A, weighed 454.7g (16.0oz.). Additional caliche partially

exposed in unit 5S0E remained in-situ in the unexcavated portion of the unit.

The distance, along a southwest to northeast line, between the cluster of caliche

in unit 3S3E and the 5S0E caliche was approximately 3.6m (11.8’).

142

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Figure 6.45. Distribution of caliche recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations

at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

143

Wood

Two wooden artifacts were recovered from test excavation in 41LU31. An

apparent remnant of a post (TTU-A75070) measured 20cm (7.9”) in length and

7cm (2.8”) in diameter. A small angular fragment of wood (TTU-A75071)

measured 21.0x1.7x1.3cm (08.3x0.7x0.5”). One surface exhibited a smooth,

regular, planed appearance that suggested the remains of milled lumber. The

two other long-axis surfaces were broken.

Additionally, a number of partially burned lengths of some type of

branches were uncovered and mapped in units in 41LU31. Based on plotted

measurements from field maps, the branches ranged from 10cm to 30cm (3.9 to

11.8”) in length with 85% of branches measuring between 15cm and 25cm (5.9

and 9.8”). The wood was not collected because the charring exhibited by the

branches could be attributed to a grass fire and not cultural activity.

Excavations in Area 8 yielded two pieces of unburned and six pieces of

burned wood. Three pieces of burned wood came from unit 53S8E, outside the

main unit blocks and within the uppermost 6cm (2.4”) of excavation. Two pieces

of the burned wood came from 3N3E in unit group C, one of the units containing

a concentration of charcoal. The remaining piece of burned wood (TTU-A94366)

came from 6S0E in unit group A. One fragment of unburned wood (TTU-

A93051) with a single smooth, possibly milled face, was recovered from unit

2S9E above feature FA8-16; the second, TTU-A92584, came from feature FA8-

16 in 5S1E.

144

Other

One artifact recovered from excavation in 41LU31 and 16 artifacts

recovered from units in 41LU1 Area 8 were not objects occurring naturally in the

environment, yet could not be identified conclusively as to type of article or

material. Artifact TTU-A94623 (Fig. 6.46a), recovered from 1N3E, appeared to

be a fragment of some type of stone or concrete (cast stone), similar to that of

the original Singer Store historical marker (Fig. 6.46b). In appearance, the piece

was grey and featured two flat surfaces joining at a corner. The remaining

surfaces were rough and broken. In the past, vandals used the marker as a

target causing damage and leaving numerous scars where bullets removed

marker material.

Faunal Remains

Analysis succeeded in identifying the taxon and morphology of 104 of the

recovered bone (Table 6.1). Wolf (Canis lupus) remains were recovered from

1N3E and 2N3E just at the beginning of FA8-16. Sixty-one recovered bones

were identified as bison. The majority of these were rib segments (Table 6.1).

Many were recovered from two units, 5S2E and 6S2E, near the lower limits of

FA8-16. No saw marks were discovered on the bone. Bone TTU-A94550,

recovered from below FA8-16 in unit 3S3E, possibly was helically fractured but

due to weathering, analysis was inconclusive regarding the modification.

145

Figure 6.46. Unknown artifact TTU-A94623 that appears to be a fragment broken off of the original Singer Store Historical Marker: (a) possible granite fragment recovered from 1997 test excavation in 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark; (b) views of the original historical marker, now in the Bob Nash Interpretive Center at the Lubbock Lake Landmark, showing details of damage.

146

Table 6.1. Bone recovered from 1997 and 1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Taxon Element FA8-16 Non-Feature Total Bison bison Diaphysis 2 2 Bison bison Maxilla segment 1 1 Bison bison Skull segment 2 2 Bison bison Tooth segment 3 1 4 Bison bison Rib segment 48 1 49 Bison bison Caudal vertebrae 1 1 Bison bison Metapodial 1 1 Bison bison Diaphysis segment 1 1 Canis lupus Metatarsal (right) 2 2 Canis lupus Metatarsal segment 3 3 Canis lupus Metacarpal 1 1 Cf. canis Deciduous Molar 1 1 Turtle Carapace segment 1 1 Mammalia Appendicular segment 3 3 Mammalia Diaphysis 3 3 Mammalia Diaphysis segment 3 3 Mammalia Lunar (right) 1 1 Mammalia Phalange 1 1 Mammalia Tibia segment 6 6 Mammalia Tarsal segment 1 1 Mammalia Rib segment 10 2 12 Mammalia Skull segment 1 1 2 Mammalia Tooth segment 2 1 3 Total 83 21 104

147


Analysis results of the historic artifacts recovered during survey, testing,

and excavation phases of the Singer Store research reveal an assemblage

comprised of a variety of objects reflecting association with a variety of activities.

Most significantly, numerous architecturally related artifacts have been recovered

from testing and block excavation in 41LU1 Area 8. Diagnostically, the cut nails

display characteristics that provide a manufacture date appropriate to the

historically reported Singer occupation on Yellowhouse Draw. The range of nail

sizes and types among the recovered artifacts supports the presence of a

wooden structure and possible furnishings. Other artifacts relate to day-to-day

tasks of a commercial enterprise and provide some indication of frontier business

practices. The ranching frontier, of which the Singer occupation was a part, is

represented in the assemblage by the barbs from barbed wire and fencing

staples, artifacts exclusively related to ranching activities. Cowboys and other

ranch representatives also utilized other objects from store stock (Fig. 4.4; Truett,

1982). The temporal and functional attributes of material recovered during the

Singer Store research supports 41LU1 Area 8 as the location of the Singer Store.

148

CHAPTER VII

DISCUSSION

The primary objective of the Singer Store research was to acquire and

apply archaeological data in conjunction with historical data to the hypothesis

that the Lubbock Lake Landmark comprises the location of the first Singer Store

in Lubbock County. Positive correlation of the archaeological and historical

record requires the archaeological evidence to support known historic accounts

related to the Singer Store. Artifacts must be from the appropriate period,

confirm accounts describing a wooden structure, and reflect specialized behavior

related to a mercantile enterprise, including appropriate stock for a store on a

ranching frontier. Evidence from the site must be in accord with accounts of

specific events in the Singer Store history such as XIT fencing supplies

reportedly left at the store and the fire that destroyed the building in 1886.

Findings of the Singer Store research also address the research goal of

contributing to an understanding of how the 19th century United States frontier on

the Southern High Plains of Texas relates to the core society and how this

specific frontier illuminates study of frontier processes. Information about the

Singer occupation enables its placement in the progression of the frontier on the

Southern High Plains of Texas. Examining the frontier on the Southern High

Plains within the contemporaneous environmental and social context can

149

illuminate how the relationship between the frontier and core society influences

the expressed character of the frontier.

Archaeological Findings

Structure

Cut nails, window glass fragments, apparent remnants of lumber, and

pieces of a ceramic doorknob are artifacts that provide strong evidence for the

presence of a 19th century structure in 41LU1 Area 8 of the Lubbock Lake

Landmark. Based on exhibited manufacturing details, recovered cut nails

indicate a pre-1885 date for the structure. The variety of types and sizes of nails

reflect construction of a frame type structure. In box-and-strip construction,

longer common nails join together pieces of the frame. Nails of medium length

would be employed in attaching the 1”x12” lumber to the frame and the 1”x2”

lumber that covered the spaces between the 1”X12”s. Door or window frames

would require the use of finish nails and the largest common (9d or 10d) nails

could have functioned to hold hinges to doors or doorframes. The type of nail

occurring most frequently in the excavated assemblage is the common nail, used

for framing and siding. Many nails are broken or bent, indicating the nails had

been used in a structure rather than as supply or stock.

Large areas of charcoal and small pieces of wood that could be lumber

appear to represent structural remnants. Future testing for wood type would help

determine this. Pine is the most likely type of milled wood used in the

150

construction of a structure on the Southern High Plains of Texas. The closest

lumber source would be that milled in East Texas and that would have been pine

(Sasser, 1993). Pine still is used for framing at present.

Caliche cobbles encountered in the field recall the historic account

describing the caliche-cobble foundation of the Singer store. Discoloration on the

cobbles indicates limited exposure to fire less intensive than a hearth. Because

grass fire also can discolor caliche exposed on the surface, discoloration alone is

not sufficient evidence to conclude the cobbles represent portions of a foundation

for the Singer Store. The cobbles cluster in unit 3S3E, each weighing between

383.5 and 434.0g (13.5 and 15.3oz.). Individually, the cobbles would be too

small to serve as support for the structure. Singer’s (1981) description of “… a

few rocks at the corners….” for the foundation suggests caliche nodules were

used in combination.

Differentiation within the horizontal distribution of structure-related artifacts

(Fig. 7.1) suggests areas of specialized activity and may relate to the specific

location of the store building. Unit group A and a marginal portion of unit group B

show the highest density and diversity of structural artifacts and is the only

portion of the site from which window glass was recovered. The doorknob

fragments also came from unit group A. Occurrence of nails is high in unit group

A and in association with the charcoal concentrations in unit group C but

decreases in the eastern portion of unit group B, the shallow trench area.

151

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

NailsWindow glassDoorknobWood

Figure 7.1. Horizontal distribution of structure related artifacts recovered from


152

Merchandise

Many recovered artifacts match-up well with historic descriptions of stock

carried in the Singer store and reflect items noted in Singer’s 1891 newspaper ad

touting a “…full line of ready made clothing, hats, caps, boots and shoes, ranch

and trail supplies” (Lubbock Leader, 1891). Other artifacts relate to activity of

keeping a store.

Can and bottle remnants represented supply type goods. Hole-in-cap

cans dating to a period between 1880 to about 1900 came from 41LU1 Area 8

and 41LU31. Survey revealed more hole-in-cap cans on the surface between

the two areas. The limited quantity of material from 41LU31 excluded the site as

a candidate for the store’s location. However, the location of hole-in-cap cans

between the two areas strongly suggested activity in 41LU31 was somehow

associated with the store.

The artifacts represented at least two types of cans and, therefore, at least

two types of foodstuffs. The flat, rectangular cans were the type containing meat

or seafood. The cylindrical cans were too fragmented or too crushed to

determine can size accurately but most likely contained meat, fruit, or

vegetables. Reports of the store’s holdings listed canned beans among the stock

(Singer, 1981). A barrel ring, from outside the main concentration of artifacts,

indicated the presence of a barrel. Barrels served to store or transport bulk food

items sold by the store, such as flour, cornmeal (Singer, 1981), or other supplies

such as gunpowder (Coleman, 1960).

153

Glass was the second most common material encountered. The majority

of glass fragments represented the remains of bottles. Rather than food, most

likely the bottles held patent medicine or alcohol. Ceramic stoneware bottle

fragments were similar to remains of a ginger beer bottle previously recovered

from excavations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark (Holliday, 1987:24). Stoneware

bottles also served to hold ink and the remains of the ceramic bottle may be

related to Singer’s record keeping activities. Although consumption of alcohol

was discouraged or forbidden by some ranch managers (Haley, 1953), beer and

alcohol would have been an appealing commodity to the ranching related

clientele of the Singer Store. Rollie Burns mentioned having a glass of whiskey

at the store before returning to his ranching duties (Holden, 1932a).

The brass shoe nails and button fragments echo the ad’s listing of ready

made clothing, boots, and shoes. The number and diversity of button types

indicate an assortment of clothing types available at the store. The XIT receipt

(Fig. 4.4) lists a pair of pants among the purchases. The “prosser” button may

have been from a shirt or underwear and the row of metal buttons recovered

from excavation also may represent the remains of a shirt or jacket. The small

rivets could have come from clothing items such as jeans while any of the rivets

could have been part of tack items.

The numerous cartridge casings located in FA8-16 could be associated

with a number of activities occurring at the lake including buffalo hunting.

Excavation revealed casings across the excavation area but occurrences were at

154

a slightly higher density in unit group A. Most of the recovered casings were of a

smaller caliber than ammunition used for buffalo hunting. Almost all the casings

were from fired ammunition as indicated by the discharged primers. The

recovery of separate, unfired primers along with empty casings and the small

crushed funnel suggested re-loading of ammunition may have been an activity at

the site. Historic accounts (Coleman, 1960) included gunpowder, also used in

re-loading, among the stock in the store. The horizontal distribution of

ammunition related artifacts was not uniform but varies across the excavated

areas (Fig. 7.2). Cartridge casings occurred over all areas but were most

common in unit group A in association with the funnel and percussion caps or

primers.

-800

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Percussion CapFunnelCartridge

Figure 7.2. Horizontal distribution of ammunition related artifacts recovered from


155

Other items could be part of the store’s merchandise but more likely

represent supplies used in the business of store keeping. The pins most likely

were not part of the store merchandise as their condition indicated use. In the

late 19th century, straight pins served to hold together papers. Land payment

receipts studied in the Texas General Land Office Archive were pinned together

with pins like those recovered in 41LU1 Area 8. Since Singer traded on credit, as

indicated by his letter to Hank Smith, he would have kept records and may have

used the pins to keep papers organized. On the other hand, they may have been

used by Rachel Singer in sewing projects. Similarly, the brass paper brad would

serve to attach papers. Singer probably used the pen nibs found in Area 8 for

record keeping, preparing receipts, and in his duties as Post Master. Distribution

of the pins was limited to unit group A and the westernmost units of unit group B

(Fig. 6.22).

Indications of furnishings in the store come from the cast iron fragments.

Some of the fragments were most likely the remains of a counter platform scale,

an essential item in a store selling bulk items by weight. Other fragments may be

remnants of a cast iron stove. The coal uncovered by excavations in Area 8

indicated the use of a stove. Rachel Singer most likely used a stove to prepare

meals served at the store. The remains of a broken spoon supported the

interpretation of cooking activities there, but could also be representative of

merchandise. Another indication of the presence of Rachel Singer was the

possible hairpin found in the same unit block as the spoon bowl.

156

The Shield nickel was the only currency item encountered in excavations.

The nickel rested near the bottom of a concentration of artifacts that gave the

appearance of being in a pile. The coin was minted 16 or 17 years prior to the

Singer’s arrival in Lubbock County. While money is a fundamental aspect of

storekeeping, limitations of the occurrence of currency items at the site could

include the confines of excavation, use of paper currency that would deteriorate

or be destroyed by fire, and economic conditions on the frontier or nationally that

could limit currency in circulation. Correspondence in the Hank Smith Collection

at Panhandle-Plains Museum dating from the 1870s and 1880s suggested cash

was not available readily and commerce relied heavily on credit transactions and

trade.

Distributions

The 1996 metal detector survey of 41LU1 Area 8 indicated subsurface

metal distributed across much of the area. Excavations in 1997 and 1998

investigated only a small portion of Area 8 and the targets identified by the metal

detector. Nevertheless, some differentiation in artifact distribution was evident.

Overall, the block of units surrounding the historic marker yielded a much higher

density of historic artifacts than outlying units. Metal targets in some outlying

units proved to be modern cans or scraps, demonstrating that not all the

subsurface metal targets were necessarily historic. Unit group A held the

157

greatest diversity of items with many low frequency artifacts (e.g., doorknob,

funnel, percussion caps, rubber items) recovered from these units.

Glass artifacts displayed a number of significant distribution patterns.

Melted glass and unmelted glass occurred together in the western portions of the

excavations but no melted glass occurred in the five trench units east of 2S5E or

in unit 6S2E (Fig. 7.3). Similarly, all but three shards identified as window glass

came from unit group A, with a dense concentration in the area of anomalous

sediments. Of the remaining shards, one shard (TTU-A95150) was in 3S2W and

two (TTU-A95968, TTU-A96361) were in 3S2E, with no window glass recovered

from the eastern or northern units. Generally, the largest shards came from the

westernmost units.

The northern units contained the large contiguous concentrations of

charcoal. It was not clear if the charcoal was the remains of discrete pieces of

lumber. Other artifacts, including nails and glass, overlay and were in the

charcoal concentrations. The limits of the charcoal concentrations remain

obscured but in other units, charcoal occurred only as small individual pieces.

Several cut nails came from redistributed dredge sediments overlying

intact strata. The dredge sediments originated in the main channel and were

dumped along the boundaries of Area 8. Significantly, artifacts within the dredge

indicated sediments to the east of Area 8 held historic material.

158

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

Easting

Nor

thin

g

Unmelted GlassMelted Glass

Figure 7.3. Distribution of melted and unmelted glass recovered from 1997 and

1998 excavations at 41LU1 Area 8 in the southwestern quadrant of the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Excavations revealed areas of anomalous sediments in units 4S0E, 4S1E,

and 5S0E. Unit 4S0E was excavated completely but in units 4S1E and 5S0E,

after encountering the anomalous sediments, only that area was excavated.

Density of artifacts across the whole of units 4S1E and 5S0E is unknown.

However, in unit 4S0E, the artifact distribution delimited a boundary that aligned

with the limits of the anomalous sediments in units 4S1E and 5S0E. The artifact

concentration within the area of anomalous sediments was not representative of

159

the whole artifact assemblage but instead included only a few types of material.

Glass was the most common collected artifact in the concentration. Window,

melted, and unmelted glass occurred with the greatest frequency. Other

materials recovered from the area of anomalous sediment included ceramic

sherds, brass straight pins, and metal scraps. Slate pencil fragments, a few

metal buttons, and a fence staple aligned along the boundary. Cut nails did

occur within the area but in no greater density than in other portions of unit group

A.

Historic Association

The Singers arrived in Lubbock County near the end of the free-range

ranching era. They left Estacado and built their first Lubbock store sometime in

1883, prior to the year’s tax assessments. The two trails passing the store

brought traveling customers. Although no enclosed ranches were nearby,

cowboys from free-range area ranches passed by as they herded cattle during

cooperative roundups, pursued mustangs, or, as with the McCommis family,

crossed the Llano Estacado on their way to or from New Mexico.

The XIT ranch began erecting fences during 1885 or 1886. Freighters left

the XIT wire at the Singer Store for pick-up by the fence contractors. Wire used

on the southern portion of the ranch was “a rough, four-point type of wire”

(McCallum and McCallum, 1965:124), as were the barbs recovered from

excavations in Area 8.

160

Fence staples also were part of the artifact assemblage from 41LU1 Area

8. However, the staples were concentrated in unit group A and the four-point

barbs came from the trench unit group B and were loose, not attached to wire.

Given the respective distributions of these two types of artifacts, the staples may

have been store merchandise and the barbs derived from the XIT wire. Fence

staples would be part of supplies used by the ranching industry and stocked by

Singer.

In the fall of 1886, when the Singers’ daughter Pearl was about 6 months

old (Debler, 1959), the store and all its contents burned to the ground. The

Singers rebuilt the store in a different location. As a result, the site of the store

should display characteristics reflecting those events. Excavations in 41LU1

Area 8 revealed artifacts demonstrating effects of exposure to fire. Because the

Singers were at the site for only about three years, the quantity of remaining

material would be limited.

Melted items were the most common indication of fire. Excavation

recovered both melted glass and melted metal from the site. Additionally,

remains of burned ammunition in the form of a melted cartridge case and

separate bullet are the consequence of contact with great heat or flames. Other

strong evidence of fire lies in the concentrations of charcoal. Time restrictions

prevented full exposure of the limits of the charcoal, but they continued beyond

the excavated area. The uncovered charcoal was in association with glass,

nails, and other artifacts.

161

Findings Summary

Results of the archaeological and historical research of the Singer Store

established a general location and time frame for the first Lubbock County

mercantile undertaking, resolving inconsistencies in the previously known Singer

history. Archaeological work showed that the historical marker commemorating

the store is an accurate representation of the store's location. Document data

resolved discrepancies in the date of the Singer occupation listed on the marker

and in various accounts of the store. However, details of the store’s appearance

still were unknown.

Regardless of any travels it may have enjoyed in intervening years, the

marker now rests in close proximity to remains from the Singer Store. A map

prepared by Green in 1961 (Kazcor, 1978; Fig. 7.4) shows a drainage extending

between Yellowhouse Draw and a railroad trestle on the southwest border of the

Landmark preserve. A spring once issued from the area near the railroad trestle.

The spring and drainage would have been to the south and southwest of the first

Singer Store. Perhaps the confluence of this short side drainage with

Yellowhouse Draw accounts for surveyor Twichell’s placement of the store at the

convergence of the Yellowhouse and Blackwater draws.

162

Figure 7.4. Topographic map of portion of the Lubbock Lake Landmark prepared

by Green and depicting location of a small drainage below railroad trestle along the southern edge (Kazcor, 1978).

163

Discrepancies in the dates given for the Singer Store and included on the

marker originated with dates in Rollie Burns’ memoir (Holden, 1932a; Coleman,

1960). Burns was among those present at the original marker installation. The

Singer children, while constituting a reserve of family memory, were very young

or not yet born at the time the first store building burned. Therefore, information

from this source was limited and requires corroboration from other sources. Tax

records and other dated, written documents were a more reliable source of

temporal data and indicate the Singers were still in Estacado in 1882 but

operating a store in Lubbock County in 1883. The Singers filed on a section of

land to the east of the first store’s location in the spring of 1886 and the original

structure burned in the fall of 1886. Historic accounts agreed on the time of the

store’s destruction.

Information from the artifact assemblage was consistent with reports of

items in the store’s inventory and with historic events. The date range for

diagnostic artifacts fell within the appropriate late 19th century period.

Architectural items indicated the presence of a wooden structure but were

insufficient to provide details of the structure’s size or appearance. The

occurrence of window glass was contradictory to Singer’s (1981) description of

the store having no windows. The discrepancy could be due to an erroneous

memory; the glass could have been a commodity for sale or, as reported with the

barbed wire, left by freighters for some one else.

164

Regional Comparisons

Confirmation of the presence of the Singer Store along with correlation of

the historic and archaeological record of the occupation facilitates the use of the

Singers’ story in examining the relationship of the Singer enterprise to the

advance of the United States frontier onto the Southern High Plains of Texas in

the late 19th century. The chronicle of the Singer Store, along with other

documented episodes in frontier history, illustrates processes of cultural change

and continuity such as competition, colonization, acculturation, and adaptation as

well as illustrating the interrelationship and interaction of social and

environmental components of the frontier system and how they generate the

expressed character of a frontier region. A review of other regional sites

provides a sense of how the frontier advanced and characteristics of some

components of the frontier system on the Southern High Plains.

The ranching industry was the immediate economic successor to buffalo

hunting on the Southern High Plains. Three different types of ranching

enterprises soon followed the buffalo hunters onto the Llano Estacado: sheep

ranching, open range cattle ranching, and closed range cattle ranching.

Transhumance pastores originated in the New Mexico sheep industry and

responded to market influences by expanding into Texas (Hicks and Johnson,

2000). Large cattle ranches, some funded by non-resident business interests,

also emerged to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the newly

empty and open grassland and growing beef market. The cattle ranches

165

prevailed in their competition with the small pastores operations, but pressure

from settlers seeking land, natural disasters, and the collapse of the beef market

served to end the era of large, free-range ranches (Murrah, 1981). The large

free-range ranches that survived enclosed their titled land with fences and,

eventually, sold off much of the land to settlers (Dunn, 1962; Murrah, 1981). The

final phase of frontier expansion on the Southern High Plains was the period of

settlement with town-building continuing into the first quarter of the 20th century

(Brunson, 1970). The Singer Store occupation at Lubbock Lake Landmark

occupied the period when ranching was undergoing transition from open range to

closed range and settlers were just beginning to explore what opportunities the

resources of the Llano Estacado held for them.

In 1874, less than 10 years before the Singer family ventured out onto the

Llano Estacado, Dodge City merchants built Adobe Walls, a trading post on the

northern bank of the Canadian River in the Texas Panhandle, some 150 miles to

the southwest of Dodge City. The post supported the numerous buffalo hunters

who moved their hunting operations into Texas after depleting the herds near

Dodge City. The endeavor was a mutual operation formulated by some of the

buffalo hunters and the merchants as a solution to the problem posed by the

great distance between the location of the buffalo herds and Dodge City. The

buffalo hunters agreed to transport the goods to Texas and, in exchange, the

merchants were to charge no more for their goods than would be paid in Dodge

166

City. Estimates placed the value of the total merchandise freighted on the initial

trip at $70,000, a substantial quantity of goods (Baker and Harrison, 1986).

Structures comprising the site included two stores, a blacksmith shop, a

saloon, and corrals for animals. Isolation from Dodge City precluded using cut

lumber for most of the construction. Instead, the merchants used local materials

to make their buildings. Logs procured from trees growing along the Canadian

River provided for “picket” construction style walls for some buildings and a corral

while sod cut from the prairie served to form other buildings. The furnishings in

the buildings were simple, consisting of chairs, tables, counters, shelving, and

wood stoves. One store held a sleeping area for the couple that worked there.

The woman was the only female at the trading post (Baker and Harrison, 1986).

The hunters pursued the buffalo in the region around the Canadian River.

Hunters would kill the animals and crews of skinners would follow, removing the

hides for commercial trade. Hunting outfits exchanged hides, not cash, for goods

carried in the stores. Merchandise available for purchase included hunting

supplies like gunpowder, lead, cartridges and primers, patch paper, and gun oil.

Flour, baking powder, butter, bacon, sugar, coffee, canned tomatoes, soup, and

fruit, and fresh peaches, dried apples, crackers, tea, salt, pepper, pickles, and

syrup were some of the food goods available to the hunters. The stores

addressed hunters’ clothing needs by offering trousers, shirts, shoes, and socks

in their merchandise. Other supplies included chewing tobacco, gin, matches,

167

rope, knives, utensils, wolf poison, axle grease, soap, feed corn, beer from

Leavenworth in glass bottles, and clay pipes (Baker and Harrison, 1986).

The incursion of the American buffalo hunters onto the High Plains and

Southern High Plains of Texas initiated conflict with Native American groups.

The hunters and trading post came under attack early on June 27, 1874 by

members from various bands of Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne tribes. Some

participants came off Indian Territory reservations established by the Medicine

Lodge treaties of 1867, although the Quahadi band of Comanches did not join in

ratifying the agreement (Rathjen, 1973; Baker and Harrison, 1986). The Dodge

City merchants responded by retrieving their goods and employees. A number of

buffalo hunters agreed to stay and defend the buildings, but by August, even they

had left. Some time between August and October, all buildings except the

saloon were destroyed, burned by Native Americans (Baker and Harrison, 1986).

Archaeological investigation into the site of Adobe Walls provided for a

comparison of material culture associated with the Singer Store. The remains

came from the refuse of the trading post or from items left behind after the Dodge

City merchants retrieved their stock. Glass bottles, fragments from metal cans,

ammunition refuse, and supplies for reloading ammunition dominated the artifact

assemblage. Fragments of window glass were among the recovered artifacts

relating to the structures at the site (Baker and Harrison, 1986). Window glass at

Adobe Walls demonstrated that the commodity was available on the frontier.

Indications of currency were limited although excavation produced Shield nickels

168

(Baker and Harrison, 1986). While both assemblages included remains of food

containers, clothing, ammunition, and architectural objects, only the Singer Store

artifacts included items related to the ranching industry. The difference reflected

the development of the frontier in a shift from short-term extractive hunting

industry to long-term development and management of Southern High Plains

resources inherent in the ranching industry.

The items at Adobe Walls reflected the 19th century connections to

industrialized parts of the country and the mass-produced goods manufactured

there. The assemblage consisted of items related to the hunter’s subsistence,

hunting supplies, or remains of the post’s structures. Although similar in

composition, the Adobe Walls occupation differed from the Singer Store in the

size of the source stock and number of buildings. In terms of resources, the

Adobe Walls merchants represented established, successful enterprises with

extensive assets while George Singer was an example of an individual of modest

means attempting to build a frontier business.

The Battle of Adobe Walls marked the beginning of the struggle between

the Native peoples and the interests of the United States for hegemony of

western Texas. Although ostensibly under the political control of Texas and the

United States, prior to the 1870s, raids and fear of raids had limited Anglo-

American expansion into much of western Texas. The ensuing series of

engagements collectively known as the Red River War effectively eliminated the

ability of the Native Americans to mount incursions into Anglo-American

169

settlements, opening the way for ranchers, settlers, and other economic interests

to develop fully throughout the state.

Commercial buffalo hunting ended with the depletion of the bison herds

(Rathjen, 1973). However, the American frontier continued its progression on the

Southern High Plains as the ranching industry expanded into the region. The

ranching expansion was an example of migration into a perceived under-utilized

resource. Pastores sheep herding and Anglo cattle ranching represented two

competing approaches to using the grassland of the Llano Estacado. The Anglo

ranching system eventually prevailed in competition between the two different

ranching traditions, due in part to its relationship to the Texas political and legal

systems (Carlson, 1982).

The pastores first initiated ranch use of the grassland of the Southern High

Plains, herding sheep along the river valleys as early as the mid-1860s (Taylor,

1980). In response to increased demand for mutton and wool, pastores sought

new grazing in Texas and some eventually established settlements (plazas)

along the Canadian River Valley. Stone corrals provided evidence that pastores

extensively utilized broad areas as far south as the central Southern High Plains

(Hicks and Johnson, 2000). The settlements remained until the late 1880s when

competition and pressure from Anglo-American ranchers and unfavorable land

laws led to the end of the plazas.

Similar market influences brought cattle ranching to the Southern High

Plains. Beef cattle ranching first began on the Southern High Plains of Texas in

170

the late 1870s (Dunn, 1962; Murrah, 1981). It began as an extension of ranching

industry instituted in other parts of Texas. Growth of new markets and use of the

open range meant little overhead and held the potential for substantial profits.

Economic setbacks, innovations in breeding and improvement of stock,

technological improvements in fencing and windmills, and pressure to open the

land for agricultural settlement led to the end of open range cattle ranching

(Murrah, 1981).

The systems of open range ranching and pastores herding each leave

behind distinctive physical features. The earliest structures built by either

tradition relied on locally available materials. Pastores used sandstone or caliche

boulders to form corrals and fence lines to control and/or protect the herds (Hicks

and Johnson, 2000). Earliest pastores occupation sites were transitory camps

made while on the seasonal grazing circuits. Such sites left little physical

evidence other than rock corrals. When pastores began colonizing along the

Canadian River, they constructed their plaza buildings from locally available

stone or adobe. Additional components of the plazas were outbuildings and

irrigation systems or acequias for limited subsistence agriculture (Taylor, 1980).

The earliest structures erected by cattle ranchers were dugouts used as line

camps and even ranch headquarters. Cowboys occupied line camps while

keeping watch over distant reaches of the range. Headquarter buildings were

replaced with masonry or lumber structures with lumber brought from the nearest

railroad terminus (Freeman, 1990a).

171

Recent archaeological investigation of pastores sites on the central Llano

Estacado recovered a sparse archaeological assemblage. The sites displayed

stone structures of typical pastores construction and were situated in settings

favored by the herders - a sheltered location with a supply of grass and water,

usually a spring (Hicks and Johnson, 2000). Material recovered from the surface

included cut nails, window glass fragments, pieces of a cast-iron stove, cartridge

casings, hole-in-cap cans, tack or wagon hardware, and sheep dung (Hicks and

Johnson, 2000; J. Kent Hicks, personal communication, 2004).

By the late 1870s and early 1880s (Dunn, 1962; Murrah, 1981), ranchers

and settlers were moving onto the Southern High Plains. Favoring similar locales

or because some infrastructure already was in place, ranchers sited

headquarters or other ranch structures in places previously used by pastores.

Archaeological investigation of historic Anglo-American ranching sites on

or near the Southern High Plains is rare. Sites associated with early regional

open-range ranching history have been investigated just to the southeast of the

Llano Estacado on the Rolling Plains (Freeman, 1990b). The investigation is

limited to survey and some testing of two dugouts and a line camp. One of the

dugouts (41GR474) has a pre-1900 occupation component, possibly dating as

early as the late 1880s. The artifact assemblage from this earliest historic

component of the site is limited to bone fragments and one leather remnant.

Another dugout (41KT150), in use by OS Ranch cowboys in the 1890s, might

have served earlier ranch interests (Freeman, 1990b). The line camp (41KT4)

172

consists of remnants of the stone foundation and fireplace. Use of the land is

limited to ranching activities for the duration of its documented history. Artifacts

found at the site include cut nails, wire staples, a bottle, and glass fragments

(Freeman, 1990b).

Investigation of the headquarters of the Las Escarbadas division of the

XIT ranch (Jackson, 1977) provided information on the early enclosure ranching

phase on the Southern High Plains. The XIT ranch was a corporate venture

initiated when the state of Texas exchanged public land to fund a new capital

building (Haley, 1953). The management divided the holdings into five divisions,

separated with barbed wire fence. The pasture divisions allowed separation of

cattle for different uses, i.e. a breeding pasture and greater control of cattle

characteristics and quality. The company located the headquarters for the

division in Deaf Smith County on Tierra Blanco Creek at Las Escarbadas

Springs. The main building, built in 1886, had outer walls of fieldstone with a

foundation and footings of stone joined with a mud mortar and caliche. The

building measured approximately 5.5x21.3m (18’x70’) and provided a living area,

kitchen space, and office space for the division foreman. Additional buildings in

the compound provided living space for cowboys and other staff, a milk house,

and a stone-lined cistern (Hogan and Buchalter, 1977; Jackson, 1977).

Archaeological investigation of the headquarters compound followed

removal of the main building and reassembly at the Ranching Heritage Center in

Lubbock. The recovered artifacts reflected the usage of the building.

173

Occupation of the headquarters building spanned the period from 1886 to 1940.

At times, inhabitants included women and children (Hogan and Buchalter, 1977).

Artifacts associated with the main building included remnants of pottery dishes,

decorated ceramic ware, glass tumblers, lamp chimney, stove parts, marbles,

and square and wire nails. Recovered ceramic insulators demonstrated the

installation of electricity in the building. Recovered coins consisted of two

pennies and an 1865 “Real.” Artifacts associated with outbuildings included

remnants of wagons and agricultural machinery and windmill parts. A trash

dump contained material dating to the 20th century. Extant construction details of

the milk house included 2x6 joists nailed into a 6x6 beam with 16d nails

(Jackson, 1977).

As with some other large ranches, the owners of the XIT began dividing

and selling off ranch holdings in the 1890s (Haley, 1953). Eventually, lands of

the ranch became the property of small ranches and farms as more settlers

moved into the region.

The Singers arrived on the Southern High Plains as part of the first

settlement, Estacado. By the time they built their store in Yellowhouse Draw in

1883, hunting had depleted the buffalo herds ending the buffalo hunting era.

Customers of the store were men associated with various ranching ventures.

First were cowboys following the trail across the Llano Estacado to New Mexico,

out on a roundup, gathering animals that had strayed from their home range, or

pursuing mustangs. Pastores may have ventured near as they moved their

174

flocks to seasonal pastures on the Southern High Plains. Lastly, before

settlement and town building began in earnest, cowboys and ranchers came to

work the fenced ranches.

Details of the Singer Store structure and stock reflected 19th century

frontier conditions of isolation encountered by those seeking to settle on the

Southern High Plains. In building their store, the Singers utilized a combination

of purchased, mass-produced materials such as lumber and cut nails in

conjunction with a foundation of locally available caliche. The expense of

purchased material and transportation difficulties may have influenced the

building’s dimensions, reportedly measuring less than 38m2 (400ft2) in area.

Structures built at Adobe Walls predated those built at Estacado and the Singer

Store and utilized more locally available resources, due in part to the readily

accessible timber resources along the Canadian River. The Las Escarbadas

headquarters building continued the practice of incorporating local material with

mass-produced parts manufactured in industrial centers and brought to supply

towns by rail.

The same hardships may have been factors limiting the quantity of

merchandise stocked by Singer. Remains of merchandise and other items

destroyed when the store burned in 1886 also attested to the character of the

19th century frontier on the Southern High Plains. Can and glass vessel

remnants constituted the greatest number of recovered artifacts. These and

175

other merchandise originated in the settled, industrial portions of the country and

transported to the frontier via the relatively new technology of railroads.

Within a few years, the Singers and their store became part of the new

community of Lubbock, when they moved the store building to the north side of

the town square (Fig. 7.5). The Singers did not remain in Lubbock long,

however. After transferring their land claim interest to James McGuire, the family

moved away in 1887, bringing to a close the history of the Singer Store in

Lubbock. Consequently, the Singers missed being participants in later growth

and development of the town that became the trading center of the Southern

High Plains.

Figure 7.5. Photograph of early Lubbock. The second building from the right is reportedly the Singer Store (Bronwell, 1980). Photograph courtesy of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, Museum Photograph Collection, Box 1, Accession number 1948-7-9.

176

The Singers were participants in a frontier that progressed rapidly across

the Southern High Plains, with sequences of development occurring in quick

succession or even concurrently. Contributing factors included the degree of

economic and political development achieved in the core society and a

technological level that minimized isolation on the frontier. Historical and

archaeological research revealed the expression of such societal core

characteristics on the frontier.

The Southern High Plains frontier, in comparison with the core society,

was less complex in terms of population, institutions, and economic activity. The

participants in buffalo hunting, military actions, and ranching were predominantly

male. Until settlement, economies on the Southern High Plains such as buffalo

hunting and ranching were engaged in securing primary resources for interests

outside the frontier. No internal market system was in place prior to the growth of

settlements and most clients of the Singer Store were part of the ranching

industry. With limited population and industry, support for institutions such as

banking was lacking and no need existed for social institutions like schools or

churches. Prior to the organization of Crosby County, the closest government

offices were in Young County and residents had to travel there to tend to official

business or file documents for public record. As postmaster, George Singer was

the only government representative in Lubbock County.

Various forms of competition contributed to the character of the Southern

High Plains frontier. The pursuit of a common quarry by Native Americans and

177

Anglo buffalo hunters led to competition between native groups and the United

States military. Cattle ranchers were able to exclude pastores’ sheep herds from

the range. At the time cattle ranchers brought their herds to the ranges of the

Llano Estacado, the buffalo no longer constituted a challenge to grazing cattle.

However, ranchers targeted other animals considered foes. Campaigns against

predators helped eliminate wolf populations. Wolf poison was a stock item at

Adobe Walls (Baker and Harrison, 1986). Wolf remains recovered from the site

of the Singer Store occurred above or in the uppermost elevations of feature

FA8-16. These remains may represent an animal killed as part of this elimination

effort. The once vast prairie dog colonies suffered depletion as well. Ranchers

considered them pests competing with cattle for grass. Ranchers faced

competitive pressure from settlers also. Eventually, settlement pressure, losses

from unfavorable weather, and market conditions contributed to the end of the

large ranches on the Southern High Plains (Murrah, 1981). The Singer Store

originally served those engaged in ranching but was part of a small frontier town

when the Singer family left.

Unlike North American colonial frontiers, the 19th century United States

frontier on the Southern High Plains constituted a cosmopolitan frontier that

enjoyed close ties to its core society. Geographic relationship and technology

enhanced communication and commerce between the two regions and allowed

participants to take advantage of the frontier’s opportunities. By functioning as

178

the local Post Office, the Singer Store provided a communication link between

the frontier and other places.

Established markets in settled portions of the United States and even

Europe provided sufficient economic incentive to balance out the risks and

difficulties undertaken by buffalo hunters, merchants, and ranchers moving onto

the Llano Estacado. The core society provided capital to fund and provision the

earliest frontier enterprises of buffalo hunting and the large beef cattle ranches.

For the settlers of Estacado, high prices and limited availability of land in the

established portions of the country prohibited many from owning land. The

frontier represented a chance to become landowners.

Products manufactured in the industrial portions of the core society

provided support for the frontier and an expanding rail system made them

increasingly accessible to all regions of the country. Technological innovations

such as barbed wire and windmills originating in the core society helped shape

development of the frontier. Available mass-produced goods along with the

developing transportation system minimized the need to rely only on local

resources. Reports of the merchandise sold by the Singers (Holden, 1932a;

Coleman, 1960; Singer, 1981) and archaeological evidence illustrated the

frontier’s connection with industrial centers. Almost all food, tools, ammunition,

clothing, and building materials originated outside the Southern High Plains

frontier.

179

The connection is evident archaeologically through out the manifestation

of the Southern High Plains frontier as material brought in from manufacturing

centers dominated historic artifact assemblages. Although the assemblages vary

in character according to association with type of frontier component, they are

very similar in types of materials (e.g., canned goods, glass containers, and cut

nails).

The proximity and level of social and technological development of the

core society engendered a Southern High Plains frontier in which the degree of

isolation was much lower than in early European frontiers in North American.

While the character of the frontier and its relation to the core served to somewhat

alleviate hardship, pioneers still had to contend with uncertainty and unfamiliarity

in a strange environment and were taking risks in investing in a developing

production system. Even large ranch endeavors, backed by investor capital,

failed after the disastrous droughts and harsh winters of the mid-1880s (Murrah,

1981).

The Singer Store located in Yellowhouse Draw in Lubbock County

occupied a point on the Southern High Plains frontier continuum between the

simple, earliest economic activities of buffalo hunting and ranching and the

increasingly complex social and economic institutions associated with settlement.

George Singer, as a merchant, represented an increase in the complexity of the

frontier. The success of the Singer Store did not rely on an extractive activity like

buffalo hunting or ranching, but on service to those so engaged. As a supply

180

point and Post Office, the Singer Store served as a link between the frontier and

the settled, industrial core society. With the move of the Singer Store to the new

settlement of Lubbock, George Singer, and the Singer family entered the final

stages of frontier development on the Southern High Plains.


Archaeological and historic findings support Area 8 of the Lubbock Lake

Landmark as the site where George Singer built a store. Diagnostic artifacts

yield manufacture dates in accord with the reported range of occupation. The

artifact assemblage as a whole is consistent with reports of the structure,

merchandise, and associated events of the store’s history. Additionally,

discussion of regional historic archaeological sites bracketing the Singer Store

occupation demonstrate the position occupied by the Singers in the development

of the 19th century frontier on the Southern High Plains. Evidence from the sites

and their related histories emphasize the nature of the frontier and its relation to

the established portions of the nation and illustrate how the character of a frontier

is closely tied to the social and physical attributes of the local environment as

well as to conditions in the core society.

181

CHAPTER VIII

CONCLUSION

The Singer Store research utilized archaeological and historical

information to ascertain the location of the first commercial venture in central

Lubbock County. Additionally, information derived from the recovered artifacts

helped to place the occupation within a broader framework of regional frontier

developments and enhance the understanding of how the region progressed

from frontier to settlement. .

The primary hypothesis guiding the Singer Store research was that

evidence of a 19th century occupation reported at the present site of the Lubbock

Lake Landmark would be apparent in the archaeological record. The three

phases of archaeological investigation succeeded in identifying three areas

containing material from the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Testing in the three

areas further indicated 41LU1 Area 8 as having the greatest density of material

and the most likely site of long duration occupation.

Excavations in 41LU1 Area 8 recovered material appropriate to the period

of the Singer Store and in accord with events described in historical accounts.

Architectural artifacts in the assemblage included square nails, portions of a

ceramic doorknob, and window glass. Additionally, extensive areas of charcoal

182

were uncovered, indicative of a burning event. All these items indicated the past

presence of a wooden structure that had burned. The Singer Store burned to the

ground in 1886.

Other recovered material derived from supplies held in the store.

Numerous glass and metal fragments remained from containers holding food

provisions. Among these artifacts were segments from hole-in-cap cans

manufactured between 1880 and 1900. The recovery of brass shoe nails and

various sizes of brass rivets attested to the inclusion of shoes and clothing in the

store inventory. The larger brass rivets also could have been part of bridles or

other tack items. Numerous brass cartridge casings could have been

merchandise or indications of hunting behavior.

The presence of brass straight pins, pen nibs, slate pencil segments, and

a paper brad attest to other activities pursued at the site. An archived store

receipt and other documents prepared by George Singer provide examples of

record keeping activities that would have utilized some of the recovered artifacts.

Historical research clarifies the chronology of the Singer’s endeavors on

the Southern High Plains. Tax records demonstrate the Singers had a small

store in Crosby County in 1881 (Estacado store), but had moved to a Lubbock

County location by 1883. In the spring of 1886, the couple filed a claim on a

section of land east of the excavated store location. After fire destroyed the first

Lubbock County store, the second store would have been ¼ to ½ mile

downstream on Survey 12 Block A, the Singer’s section. This location may have

183

been in the draw and still within the Landmark boundaries. However, the new

store most likely has an upland location bordering the present National Landmark

boundary in an area greatly disturbed by modern activities. The Singers move

that rebuilt store into the new town of Lubbock in 1891.

Documents and artifacts uncovered during the research provided insight

into the role filled by the Singer Store on the Southern High Plains. By the time

the Singers came to Yellowhouse Draw, commercial hunting had decimated the

great buffalo herds. Ranching, the main economic enterprise of the region, was

undergoing a transformation from the practice of free-range grazing to an

enclosure system. Artifacts like fence staples and barbed-wire barbs as well as

documented dealings with cowboys reflected the Singers’ specific ties to

ranching. The Singer Store served as a supply depot for those traveling through

and about the Southern High Plains and, in its role as Post Office, as a link to

more distant places.

Events preceding and accompanying the arrival of the Singer family on the

Southern High Plains exemplify the action of a number of frontier processes

interacting with existing social and environmental factors to create cultural

change on the Southern High Plains. The process of competition, as

demonstrated in contests between American buffalo hunters along with the U. S.

military with Native Americans, domestic sheep and cattle with native bison,

Hispanic sheepherders with American ranchers, and ranching interests with

farming settlers, was a major factor in ushering in new stages of frontier

184

development. Finally, social and economic factors favoring agrarian interests

engendered the farm-dominated character of the region today.

Archaeological evidence from regional frontier-period sites helped

demonstrate the character of a frontier is related to social and technological

conditions in the core society. The majority of archaeological material at all sites

originated in manufacturing centers in other parts of the country, illustrating how

the settled portions of the country provided material support to facilitate frontier

advance. The predominance of material originating in other places also reflected

on the transportation system that enabled a trade network for distribution of

goods from manufacturing centers. Material culture on the Southern High Plains

frontier differed from that of the settled society in quantity and diversity, but many

items used on the frontier were the same as those found elsewhere. However,

the sparse character of the assemblages also attested to a small population

pursuing the very specialized industries of hunting and ranching. The Southern

High Plains frontier emerged on the periphery of a society with established

industrial centers, a rapidly progressing transportation system, and an increasing

and mobile population. In contrast, early North American frontiers were isolated

from their societal core and developed in a pre-industrial technological

environment (Lewis, 1984).

Specifics of the historical and archaeological research demonstrated that

frontier life on the Southern High Plains of Texas was simpler than that in settled

areas. Historic accounts and artifact data indicated the stock of the Singer Store

185

was limited and tailored to serve the ranching interests that dominated the

region’s economic subsistence. As Lubbock and Crosby counties were not yet

organized (1886 for Crosby County and 1891 for Lubbock County), political and

judicial institutions were far away in Young County. Similarly, social institutions

such as schools and churches did not exist on the frontier except for those

established at Estacado after sufficient number of settlers arrived. The lack of

social institutions had a direct affect on George Singer who had been a

schoolteacher before coming to Texas but adapted to frontier conditions by

becoming a merchant.

Evidence related to the Singer Store helps define the character of the

regional frontier at a given point in time. Further historic and archaeological

research at a regional level in conjunction with the Singer data serves to illustrate

how frontier processes acted to create the present Southern High Plains. The

experience of the Singer family on the Southern High Plains is notable for they

participated in a number of stages of frontier development. They arrive in the

region as part of the first settlement (Estacado) then ventured onto the plains as

a single family to provide supplies to those engaged in the ranching industry.

Finally, the family moves their store into the new town of Lubbock to contribute

to building the town and community. This unique history serves as a baseline for

other regional studies. Information from the Singer Store would compliment

studies of other frontier enterprises such as the towns of Estacado and early

Lubbock or the development of the IOA ranch.

186

REFERENCES Adams, William Hampton 2002 Machine-Cut Nails and Wire Nails: American Production and Use

for Dating 19th-Century and Early-20th-Century Sites. Historical Archaeology, 36(4):66-88.

Anderson, Adrienne 1968 The Archaeology of Mass-Produced Footwear. Historical

Archaeology, 56-65. Bailey, Vernon 1905 Biological Survey of Texas. U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Washington D.C. Baker, T. Lindsey and Billy R. Harrison 1986 Adobe Walls: The History and Archeology of the 1874 Trading

Post. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas. Barkes, Eunice and Eileen Johnson 1978 Report on the Survey and Testing of 41LU31 Lubbock County,

Texas. The Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock. Submitted to the Texas Antiquities Committee, Austin.

Baxevanis, Susan E. 2002 Test Excavation Program at 41LU31 for the 1993 Field Season. In:

Eileen Johnson (ed.), Holocene Investigations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark. The 1991 through 2000 Work. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock Lake Landmark Quaternary Research Center Series, 11:243-246.

Berryman, Judy Ann 1983 Tin Can Alley: Suggested Typology for the Study of Tin Cans.

Unpublished masters thesis, San Diego State University, San Diego.

Billington, Ray Allen and Martin Ridge 1982 A History of the American Frontier. MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc.,

New York.

187

Blakeslee, Donald J., Richard Flint, and Jack Hughes 1997 Una Barranca Grande, Recent Archaeological Evidence and

Discussion of its Place in the Coronado Route. In: Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint (eds.), The Coronado Expedition to Tierra Nueva: The 1540-1542 Route Across the Southwest, pp. 370-384. University Press of Colorado, Denver.

Bomar, George W. 1995 Texas Weather. Second edition, University of Texas Press, Austin. Bronwell, Nancy Brooker 1980 Lubbock: A Pictorial History. Donning Company, Virginia Beach,

Virginia.

Brooks, Elizabeth and Jacque Emel 2000 The Llano Estacado of the U.S. Southern High Plains:

Environmental Transformation and the Prospect for Sustainability. United Nations Press, New York.

Brune, Gunnar 1981 Springs of Texas. Branch-Smith, Inc. Fort Worth. Brunson, B. R. 1970 The Texas Land and Development Company: A Panhandle

Promotion, 1912-1956. University of Texas Press, Austin. Burns, R. C. 1923 First Buffalo Kill Brought Prestige to Young Texas Explorer.

Lubbock Avalanche Journal, December 2, 2(30):1-2. Burton, Gerry 1969 Singer Store Waits for New Future. Lubbock Avalanche Journal,

Morning Edition, June 25, 47th Year, Number 208, Section A, pp. 1 and 12.

Calkins, Carroll C. 1978 Illustrated Guide to Gardening. The Reader's Digest Association,

Inc., Pleasantville, New York. Carlson, Paul H. 1982 Texas Woolybacks: the Range Sheep and Goat Industry. Texas

A&M University Press, College Station.

188

Chicago Daily Tribune 1876 Recent Removals ProQuest Historical Newspapers Chicago

Tribune (1890-1984), pp. 5, Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963), May 21, 1876.

1895 C. M. Linington is Forced to Suspend, ProQuest Historical

Newspapers Chicago Tribune (1890-1984), pp. 9, Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963), Aug 17, 1895.

Choate, Larry L. 1991 Distribution and Natural History of Mammals on the Llano Estacado

of Western Texas and Eastern New Mexico. Unpublished master’s thesis, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.

Clifton, Robert T. 1970 Barbs, Prongs, Points, Prickers, and Stickers: A Complete and

Illustrated Catalogue of Antique Barbed Wire. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Cobb, G. W. 1914 The Development of the Sanitary Can. In: Arthur I. Judge (ed.), A

History of the Canning Industry, pp. 94-97. The Canning Trade, Baltimore.

Coleman, Max 1952 From Mustanger to Lawyer. Craftsmen Printers, Lubbock, Texas. 1960 From Mustanger to Lawyer. Carleton Printing Co., San Antonio. Conner, Seymour V 1962a The First Settlers. In: Lawrence Graves (ed.), A History of

Lubbock, pp. 45-67. West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock. 1962b The Founding of Lubbock. In: Lawrence Graves (ed.), A History of

Lubbock, pp. 68-97. West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock. Corran, H. S. 1975 A History of Brewing. David and Charles, North Pomfret, Vermont. Cox, Mary 1972 History of Hale County. Plainview, Texas.

189

Crane, R. C. 1925 The Settlement of Indian Troubles in West Texas in 1874-5. West

Texas Historical Association Yearbook, 1:3-15. Crosby County Tax Records 1882 Crosby County Tax Records Davis, Norman M. 1971 The Complete Book of United States Coin Collecting. The

Macmillan Company, New York. Davis, William B. and David J. Schmidly 1994 The Mammals of Texas. Texas Parks and Wildlife Press, Austin. Debler, Pearl Singer 1959 Oral history interview on file at Southwest Collection, Texas Tech

University, Lubbock. Denton, Mark 1977 Field notes from the 1977 excavation in Area 8 at Lubbock Lake.

On file at the Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock. Dunn, Roy Sylvan 1962 Agriculture Builds a City. In: Lawrence Graves (ed.), A History of

Lubbock, pp. 239-299. West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock. Edwards, Jay D. and Tom Wells 1993 Historic Louisiana Nails: Aids to the Dating of Old Buildings.

Geosciences Publications, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. The Fred B. Kniffen Cultural Resources Laboratory Monograph Series, 2:1-83.

Fontana, Bernard L. 1967 The Archaeology of Post-18th Century Ranches in the United

States. Historical Archaeology, 1:60-63. Fontana, Bernard L. and John C. Greenleaf 1962 Johnny Ward’s Ranch. The Kiva, 1-115.

190

Freeman, Martha Doty 1990a Ranching on the Western Rolling Plains, 1877-1945. In: Martha

Doty Freeman and Douglas K. Boyd, Phase II Historical Investigations at Justiceburg Reservoir, Garza and Kent Counties, Texas. Prewitt and Associates, Austin, Reports of Investigations, 72: 51-97.

1990b Site Investigations. In: Martha Doty Freeman and Douglas K.

Boyd, Phase II Historical Investigations at Justiceburg Reservoir, Garza and Kent Counties, Texas. Prewitt and Associates, Austin, Reports of Investigations, 72:99-114.

Gammel, H. P. N. 1890 The Laws of Texas. Gammel Book Company, Austin. Gracy, Alice Duggan 1945 Willis Day Twichell, Civil Engineer. Panhandle Plains Historical

Review, 18:79-90. Green, F. E. 1962 The Lubbock Reservoir Site: 12,000 Years of Human Prehistory.

Museum Journal, 11:83-123, West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock.

Green, Stanton W. and Stephen M. Perlman 1985 Frontiers, Boundaries, and Open Social Systems. In: Stanton W.

Green and Stephen M. Perlman (ed.), The Archaeology of Frontiers and Boundaries, pp. 3-13. Academic Press, New York.

Haley, J. Evetts 1953 The XIT Ranch of Texas and the Early Days of the Llano Estacado.

Lakeside Press, Chicago. Hall, Claude V. 1947 The Early History of Floyd County. Panhandle-Plains Historical

Review, 20:1-147. Hanson, James 1975 Metal Weapons, Tools, and Ornaments of the Teton Dakota

Indians. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. Haragan, Donald R. 1983 Blue Northers to Sea Breezes: Texas Weather and Climate.

Hendrick Long Publishing Co., Dallas.

191

Hardesty, Donald L. 1985 Evolution on the Industrial Frontier. In: Stanton W. Green and

Stephen M. Perlman (ed.), The Archaeology of Frontiers and Boundaries, pp. 213-229. Academic Press, New York.

Harris, R. Cole 1977 Simplification of Europe Overseas. Annals of the Association of

American Geographers, 67(4): 469-483. Hicks, J. Kent and Eileen Johnson 2000 Pastores Presence on the Southern High Plains of Texas.

Historical Archaeology, 34(4):46-60. Hicks, Karen 2002 Singer Store Research Program for the 1996 through 1998 Field

Season. In: Eileen Johnson (ed.), Holocene Investigations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark: The 1991 through 2000 Work. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock Lake Landmark Quaternary Research Center Series, 11:247-268.

Hine, Robert V. 1984 The American West: An Interpretive History. Harper Collins, New

York. Holden, William Curry 1930 Alkali Trails: or Social and Economic Movements of the Texas

Frontier 1846-1900. The Southwest Press, Dallas. 1932a Rollie Burns, or, an Account of the Ranching Industry on the South

Plains. The Southwestern Press, Dallas. 1932b Letter to L. F. Sheffy, Correspondence, General, 1932, January-

May and undated; W. C. Holden and Frances Mayhugh Holden Papers, 1836-1989 and undated, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.

1936 Our Romantic History. In: Anonymous, A Guide to the South

Plains of Texas, pp. 44-45. The Texas State Highway Department, Division No. 5, Lubbock.

1962a The Land. In: Lawrence Graves (ed.), A History of Lubbock, pp. 1-

16. West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock.

192

1962b Indians, Spaniards, and Anglos. In: Lawrence Graves (ed.), A History of Lubbock, pp. 17-44. West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock.

Holliday, Vance T. 1987 Cultural Chronology. In: Eileen Johnson (ed.), Lubbock Lake.

Late Quaternary Studies on the Southern High Plains, pp. 22-25. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.

1988 Genesis of Late Holocene Soils at the Lubbock Lake

Archaeological Site, Texas. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 78:594-610.

1990 Soils and Landscape Evolution of Eolian Plains. The Southern

High Plains of Texas and New Mexico. In: P.L.K. Knuepfer and L.D. McFadden (eds.), Soil and Landscape Evolution. Geomorphology, 3: 489-515.

1995 Stratigraphy and Paleoenvironments of Late Quaternary Valley Fills

on the Southern High Plains. Geological Society of America Memoir, 181:1-136.

Hunt, Charles B. 1974 Natural Regions of the United States and Canada. W.H. Freeman

and Co., San Francisco. Irish, Kenneth 1959 Singer Descendent Pays Visit to Site of Father’s Old Store.

Lubbock Avalanche Journal, Evening Edition, September 8, 36(1)B:1, 4.

Jenkins, John Cooper 1986 Estacado: Cradle of Culture and Civilization on the Staked Plains

of Texas. Crosby County Pioneer Museum, Crosbyton, Texas. Johnson, Eileen 1983 Lubbock Lake Landmark Master Plan. National Endowment for the

Humanities, Washington, D.C. and the Texas Antiquities Committee, Austin.

1987a Lubbock Lake. Late Quaternary Studies on the Southern High

Plains. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.

193

1987b Vertebrate Remains. In: Eileen Johnson (ed.), Lubbock Lake. Late Quaternary Studies on the Southern High Plains, pp. 49-89. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.

1993 Late Holocene Investigations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Volume 1. The 1988 Work. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock Lake Landmark Quaternary Research Center Series, 5:1-243.

1995 Late Holocene Investigations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark.

Volume II. The 1989-1990 Work. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock Lake Landmark Quaternary Research Center Series, 8:1-447.

2002 Holocene Investigations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark: The 1991

through 2000 Work. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock Lake Landmark Quaternary Research Center Series, 11:1-324.

Johnson, Eileen and Vance T. Holliday 1987 Introduction. In: Eileen Johnson (ed), Lubbock Lake. Late

Quaternary Studies on the Southern High Plains, pp. 3-13. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas.

1989a Introduction. In: Eileen Johnson (ed.), 1987 Fenceline Corridor

Survey and Testing Program. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock Lake Quaternary Research Center Series, 1:1-41.

1989b Lubbock Lake: Late Quaternary Cultural and Environmental

Change on the Southern High Plains, U.S.A. Journal of Quaternary Science, 4(2):145-165

1993 Introduction. In: Eileen Johnson (ed.), Late Holocene

Investigations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark. Volume 1. The 1988 work. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock Lake Landmark Quaternary Research Center Series, 5:1-22.

1995 Archaeology and Late Quaternary Environments of the Southern

High Plains. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, 66:519-540.

Johnson, Eileen, Vance T. Holliday, Michael Kazcor, and Robert Stuckenrath 1977 The Garza Occupation at the Lubbock Lake Site. Bulletin of the

Texas Archeological Society, 48:83-111.

194

Kaczor, Michael 1978 A Correlative Study of the West Texas Museum Excavations at the

Lubbock Lake Site, 1959-1961: An Example of Applied Museum Collection Management Techniques within a Research Analysis Design. Unpublished Masters Thesis, Texas Tech University, Lubbock.

Kelley, Jane Holden 1974 A Brief Resume of Artifacts Collected at the Lubbock Lake Site

Prior to 1961. The Museum Journal, 15:43-78. West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock, Texas.

Kendrick, Grace 1971 The Antique Bottle Collector. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New

York. Ladkin, Nicola 1995 Analysis of Ceramics and Glass Seed Beads. In: Eileen Johnson

(ed.), Late Holocene Investigations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark. Volume II. The 1989 and 1990 Work. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock Lake Landmark Quaternary Research Center Series, 5:313-330.

Lawton, Barbara Perry 1998 Magic of Irises. Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, Colorado. Levine, Francis 1991 Economic Perspectives on the Comanchero Trade. In: Katherine

Spielmann (ed.), Farmers, Hunters, and Colonists: Interaction Between the Southwest and the Southern Plains. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Lewis, Kenneth 1984 The American Frontier: An Archaeological Study of Settlement

Pattern and Process. Academic Press, Inc., Orlando. Lewis, Patrick, Matthew Gill, Briggs Buchanan, and Stuart Selwood 2002 Lubbock Lake Survey Program for the 1991 through 1997 Field

Seasons. In: Eileen Johnson (ed.), Holocene Investigations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark: The 1991 through 2000 Work. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock Lake Landmark Quaternary Research Center Series, 11:19-48.

195

McCallum, Henry D. and Frances McCallum 1965 The Wire that Fenced the West. University of Oklahoma Press,

Norman. McCommis, Della 1927 Letter to R. C. Burns. R. C. Burns papers (microfilm) on file at the

Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University, Lubbock. Mercer, Henry C. 1960 Ancient Carpenters’ Tools. The Bucks County Historical Society,

Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Michel, R. J. 1884 Letter to Hank Smith. Hank Smith Papers, Folder 25, File #48.

Research Center at Panhandle-Plains Museum, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas.

Mobely, John B. 1923 Cattle, Farms Led to Lubbock’s Birth. Lubbock Avalanche Journal,

December 9, 2(35)3:1, 8. 1927 Letter to J. Evetts Haley. J. Evetts Haley Collection, Haley

Memorial Library and History Center, Midland, Texas. Moir, Randall W. and Melissa M. Green 1988 Analysis of Historic Artifacts. In: David H. Jurney, Susan A. Lebo,

and Melissa M. Green (compilers), Historic Farming on the Hogwallow Prairies: Ethnoarchaeological Investigations of the Mountain Creek Area, North Central Texas. Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Joe Pool Lake Archaeological Project, 2:235-249.

Morgan, H. Wayne 1971 Unity and Culture: The U. S., 1877-1960. The Penguin Press,

London. Morris, John Miller 1997 El Llano Estacado: Exploration and Imagination on the High Plains

of Texas and New Mexico, 1536-1860. Texas State Historical Association, Austin.

Murrah, David J. 1981 C. C. Slaughter: Rancher, Banker, Baptist, University of Texas

Press, Austin.

196

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 1982 Climate of Texas. NOAA Environmental Data Service, National

Climatic Center, Asheville, North Carolina. Nelson, Lee H. 1968 Nail Chronology as an Aid to Dating Old Buildings. American

Association for State and Local History Technical Leaflet 48, History News, 24(11):1-12.

Newcomb, W. W. Jr. 1961 The Indians of Texas: From Prehistoric to Modern Times.

University of Texas Press, Austin. O'Brien, Karen L. 1995 Historic and Modern Dump Sites at Lubbock Lake Landmark. In:

Eileen Johnson (ed.), Late Holocene Investigations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark. Volume II. The 1989 and 1990 Work. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock Lake Landmark Quaternary Research Center Series, 5:331-404.

O’Brien, Karen L. and Karen Hicks 2002 Test Excavation Program of Mid-Twentieth Century Dump Sites at

Lubbock Lake Landmark. In: Eileen Johnson (ed.), Holocene Investigations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark: The 1991 through 2000 Work. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock Lake Landmark Quaternary Research Center Series, 11:281-284.

Orser, Charles E. Jr. and Brian M. Fagan 1995 Historical Archaeology. Harper-Collins College Publishers, New

York Paul, Rodman W. 1988 The Far West and Great Plains in Transition, 1859-1900. Harper

and Row, New York. Pearce, W. M. 1882 Letter to H. C. Smith. Hank Smith papers, Folder 23, File #44, on

file at the Research Center, Panhandle-Plains Museum, Canyon, Texas.

Perry, Richard J. 1991 Western Apache Heritage: People of the Mountain Corridor.

University of Texas Press, Austin.

197

Petroski, Henry 1990 The Pencil: a History of Design and Circumstance. Alfred A.

Knopf, New York. Post Office Department 1884 Records of the Post Office Department (POD), 1773-1976. On file

at the National Archives, record group # 28, Washington, D.C. Rathjen, Frederick W. 1973 The Texas Panhandle Frontier. University of Texas Press, Austin. Rock, James T. 1984 Cans in the Countryside. Historical Archaeology, 18:97-111. Romero, José Ynocencio 1946 Spanish Sheepmen on the Canadian at Old Tascosa. Panhandle-

Plains Historical Review, 19:45-72. Runkels, Frank A. 1964 The Garza Site: A Neo-American Campsite Near Post, Texas.

Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, 35:101-126. Rybczynski, Witold 2000 One Good Turn Deserves Another: A Natural History of the

Screwdriver and the Screw. Scribner, New York. Sasser, Elizabeth Skidmore 1993 Dugout to Deco: Building in West Texas, 1880-1930. Texas Tech

University Press, Lubbock. Sears, Roebuck and Company 1902 1902 Catalog. Sears, Roebuck, and Company. Boston. Sellari, Carlo and Dorothy Sellari 1989 The Standard Old Bottle Price Guide. Collector Books, Paducah,

Kentucky. Sherman, Perlina (Lina) Underhill 1935 Letter to George R. Bean. George Renshaw Bean Papers, 1854-

1967 and undated, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.

198

Sierchula, Mickey 1974 Field notes from the 1974 excavations in Area 8 at Lubbock Lake.

On file at the Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock. Singer, Charles 1981 Oral history interview on file at Southwest Collection, Texas Tech

University, Lubbock. Singer, George 1887 Letter to Hank Smith. Hank Smith papers, Folder 28, File #55, on

file at the Research Center, Panhandle-Plains Museum, Canyon, Texas.

Smith, H. C. 1887 Letter to George Singer. Hank Smith papers, Folder 28, File #55,

on file at the Research Center, Panhandle-Plains Museum, Canyon, Texas.

Smythe, Colonel R. P. 1930 The First Settlers and the Organization of Floyd, Hale, and Lubbock

Counties. West Texas Historical Association Year Book, 4:17-34. Spaight, A. W. 1882 The Resources, Soil, and Climate of Texas. Department of

Insurance, Statistics, and History, Austin Spikes, Nelly Witt and Temple Ann Ellis 1952 A History of Crosby County, Texas. The Naylor Company, San

Antonio. Sprague, Roderick 2002 China or Prosser Button Identification and Dating. Historical

Archaeology, 36(2):111-127. Steffen, Jerome 1979 The Frontier, Comparative Studies. University of Oklahoma Press,

Norman. 1980 Comparative Frontiers, a Proposal for Studying the American West.

University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. Tax Rolls of Crosby County 1881 Tax Rolls of Crosby County, microfilm. Texas State Library and

Archives, Genealogy Division, Austin.

199

Tax Rolls of Lubbock County 1883 Tax Rolls of Lubbock County, microfilm. Texas State Library and

Archives, Genealogy Division, Austin. Taylor, A. J. 1980 A Survey of New Mexican Pastores in the Panhandle-Plains, 1876-

1886. Texas Historical Foundation, Austin. Texas General Land Office. 1942 Abstract of All Original Texas Land Titles Comprising Grants and

Locations to August 31, 1942. Volume 5. Austin. Tharp, Benjamin Carroll 1939 The Vegetation of Texas. Texas Academy Publications in Natural

History, Anson Jones Press, Houston. 1952 Texas Range Grasses. University of Texas Press, Austin. Thompson, Jerome L. 1987 Modern, Historic, and Fossil Flora. In: Eileen Johnson (ed.),

Lubbock Lake. Late Quaternary Studies on the Southern High Plains, pp. 26-36. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.

Toulouse, Julian Harrison 1971 Bottle Makers and Their Marks. Thomas Nelson, Inc., Camden,

New Jersey. Tremont Nail Company 1983 11th Annual Catalog of General Merchandise. Tremont Nail

Company, Wareham, Massachusetts. Truett, Fred M. 1982 Texas Was His Land: Willis Day Twichell, Pioneer Surveyor. Eakin

Press, Austin. Webb, Walter Prescott 1931 The Great Plains. Grosset and Dunlap, New York. Wedel, Waldo 1961 Prehistoric Man on the Great Plains. University of Oklahoma

Press, Norman.

200

Wells, Robin 1973 Frontier Systems as a Sociocultural Type. University of Oklahoma

Papers in Anthropology, 14(1):6-15. Worcester, D. E. 1944 The Spread of Spanish Horses in the Southwest. New Mexico

Historical Review 19:225-232.

201

PERMISSION TO COPY

In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master’s

degree at Texas Tech University or Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, I

agree that the Library and my major department shall make it freely available for

research purposes. Permission to copy this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted

by the Director of the Library or my major professor. It is understood that any copying

or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my further

written permission and that any user may be liable for copyright infringement.

Agree (Permission is granted.)

_______________________________________________ _________________ Student Signature Date Disagree (Permission is not granted.) ______Karen K. Hicks_______________________________ November 25, 2005 Student Signature Date

Chandra Prakash Bhongir, Civil Engr, May04 - TTU DSpace Home

Documents

Transcript of Chandra Prakash Bhongir, Civil Engr, May04 - TTU DSpace Home