Thomas Cree Homesite

Thomas Cree Homesite. First Tree. After serving as a teamster in the Civil War (1861-65), Thadium (Thomas) B. Cree worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1888 he and his wife came to the High Plains. They acquired this land and, with no trees for lumber, they built a dugout home. Cree traveled 35 miles at his wife's request to find a sapling and planted it here. He watered it from a nearby lake that he dug from a buffalo wallow. The tree never grew but lived many years despite blizzard, heat, and drought. Gov. John Connally dedicated an historical marker in 1963 to the first tree in the Panhandle., (Right Side Plaque): , First Tree , Texas High Plains , Set front dugout home by , Thomas Cree 1888 , Good luck symbol of settlers , throughout drouth, blizzard and heat., Cree's bois d'arc tree , died in the 1970s. County , residents planted a new , tree here in 1990 as a , memorial to the area's , early pioneers. , . , (Left Side Plaque): , The 33rd Anniversary National Convention, Men's Garden Clubs of America, meeting at Amarillo, June 14-17, 1965, formally recognized and paid tribute to the significance of Thomas Cree's little tree and to the memory of this heroic early gardener of these High Plains. , Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1967.