Lubbock Lake Site

This bend in the Yellowhouse Canyon has seen the passing of man from the time of the prehistoric mammouth-hunting Llano culture of 12,000 years ago. An archeological site of great importance lies in the bottom of this valley; here is recorded the evidence of periodic visits by nomadic hunting groups and plains Indians. Springs and water holes made this spot a favored hunting and camping site in prehistoric and early historic times, but it is noted mainly for providing the first radio-carbon date on the Folsom culture of 10,000 years ago and the association of man-made artifacts with bones of extinct mammoths, horses, bison, and camels. Some historians think Coronado passed here in 1541 and Spanish expeditions coming from Santa Fe to the Concho River looking for fresh-water pearls passed this way in the middle 1600s. Later visitors were buffalo hunters and Indian fighters in the 1870s. A general store--first commercial building in the area--was built here about 1880 by George W. Singer. Patronized by ranchers, cowboys, and dwindling numbers of buffalo hunters and friendly Indians, Singer's became a post office in 1884 and a widely known landmark by 1885. The building burned, 1886.