It has been referred to as the biggest hole in Texas, second biggest hole in the US, it’s Palo Duro Canyon. It’s about 120 miles long with widths that range up to twenty miles. Its maximum depth is about 800 feet. It is often compared to the Grand Canyon. It has the same types of multi-colored, layered rock and soil.

Palo Duro in located on the Red River and was carved by the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the river. Water and wind erosion for millions of years created the canyon and its geological formations.
It is believed that for 10,000 to 15,000 years to the present, humans have inhabited the area, attracted by the water. The canyon seems to have always had enough game, edible plants and weather protection for humans to survive.

Apaches lived in the area when the Coronado Expedition visited in 1541. The Apaches were later displaced by the Comanche and Kiowa. The Comanche and Kiowa were good horsemen
who had learned to handle this product brought over by the exploring Spaniards.

In 1852, Captain Randolph Marcey mapped the area while exploring the headwaters of the Red River.

In 1874, Colonel Ranald Mackenzie was ordered to remove the Comanche and Kiowa from the canyon area and send them to a reservation in Oklahoma. Luck was with Mackenzie as he and his men managed to capture thousands of the horses that the Comanche and Kiowa owned. Without their main weapon, the horse, they could not put up a serious fight, nor would they have a good way to provide for themselves. They surrendered.