How A 35-Mile ‘Honey-Do’ Made Texas Panhandle History

The Texas panhandle may not seem like much to those not from the area, but it is a place filled with an incredible, odd, and sometimes hilariously tragic history. From battles over county seats to some of the strangest town names in existence, the Texas panhandle is a place that captures the imagination. For instance, do you know the sadly funny story of the Texas panhandle's first tree?

The First Tree Was Planted in the Texas Panhandle

If you've ever been to the panhandle of Texas, you've had to notice the lack of trees. People joke that all of the trees in the panhandle had to be brought there, and that's exactly what happened with the panhandle's "first" tree. Thomas Cree brought the tree here as a sapling after the Civil War while working for the Union Pacific Rail.

The First Tree In The Texas Panhandle Was A 35-Mile "Honey Do"

According to the historical marker located at the official site of the first tree, Thomas B. Cree traveled over 30 miles to get a sapling. Why would a man travel over 30 miles, especially considering how long that trip would take, just to get a tree? The same reason most men do things.

His wife told him to.

The marker states that he traveled "35 miles at his wife's request." It makes doing dishes and taking out the trash sound like a walk in the park. I'll never complain again.

The Reason For Transplanting The First Tree...

There's actually a very reasonable explanation for why Tom's wife wanted him to undertake such a journey. When he and his wife settled on the high plains there was no lumber. No lumber meant having to build a dugout.

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If you aren't familiar with dougout houses, you can compare them to a hobbit's house from those Lord Of The Rings movies. The difference is that dugouts were furnished with fine furniture and singing dwarves. It was usually a pretty rough way of living, and most used them as a temporary means of shelter.

This 35-mile trek wasn't just for something to add to the feng shui of their yard. They needed something they could turn into lumber.

The Tragic End of The First Tree

Cree's little sapling never grew to be a massive tree. However, it survived blizzards, droughts, summer heat, and everything else the panhandle could throw at it. Despite being a failure at what it was needed to do, the first tree became an icon of the type of people who would carve a living out of the rugged Texas panhandle.

That is, until the 1970s

Good Intentions Could Be Blamed For Tree's Demise

According to legend, there was a woman who was put in charge of caring for this iconic tree. In the 1960s, the Men's Garden Clubs of America made a special trip just pay homage to the panhandle's first tree, and a historical marker was placed and dedicated to it.

The story goes that this woman charged with caring for the tree went out to clean up the site, and sprayed weed killer. We can assume she did so to clear out unwanted riff-raff from the historic site. Unfortunately, that spritz of weed killer would also prove the demise of the tree.

After this oversight, she was subsequently removed from the historical society. It makes you wonder. Was it just a simple oversight, or did she have some kind of vendetta against the hallowed first tree?

The Tree You See Now Isn't The Actual Tree

Now, when you visit the first tree you aren't actually visiting the "first tree." Instead, it is a "replacement" planted in 1990.

The historical marker doesn't state exactly how the tree died. All we have is the local legend about a former member of the historical society who didn't check labels well enough. The historical marker now simply states that citizens planted a new tree there to honor the early pioneers of the area.

The Tree May Be Dead, But The Legend Lives On

The most incredible part of this story is that it all started with a honey-do task. Now, well over a century later here we all are thinking about that little sapling, Thomas Cree, and Thomas Cree's wife nagging him into traveling 35 miles to get a tree so she wouldn't have to wake up in a dirt hole anymore.