Triple Arrow Ranch

The Triple Arrow Ranch is a 1,000-acre (4.0 km²) ranch north of Spade near Littlefield, Texas, owned by Lamb County Judge William A. Thompson, Jr. (born 1944), and his wife LeNora Jo Thompson. On June 18, 2008, the Thompsons received an "Historic Texas Lands Plaque" in recognition of their efforts to preserve archeological sites on their property. The plaque is only the 22nd thus far awarded throughout the state by the Texas Historical Commission.^[1]

Native buffalo grass clings to the gently sloping land where the Thompsons' cattle graze. A stream that once flowed through the area has been reduced to a trickle, but otherwise the land seems unchanged over the centuries. Texas contains more than one million archeological sites, 90 percent of which are on private land, according to the Texas Historical Commission.^[1]

The Triple Arrow contains remnants of at least three historic dugouts used by buffalo hunters and ranchers. Each site has been designated as a State Archeological Landmark and are hence protected by the Texas Antiquities Code. The ranch is also home to one of the few remaining recognizable sections of the Mackenzie Trail, which was once the primary route for wagon trains traveling from Fort Griffin near Albany in Shackelford County, Texas, to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Much of this land is now used for farming. When the Thompsons purchased the Triple Arrow in the late 1980s, another interested buyer had planned to turn the acreage into irrigated farmland. Thompson said that in hindsight he understands that if he and his wife had not purchased the property and maintained it as a ranch, the historic sites would have been destroyed. The Thompsons have declined offers to drill for oil on the property.^[1]

Thompson sees the Triple Arrow from the historic perspective: "When you walk this stretch of ground alone, you don't really feel like you're by yourself," said Thompson in an interview with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal"^[1]

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