One of the ranches within the eight-mile stretch of North Palo Duro Canyon is the Currie Ranch, located on the northern and western side of the canyon. The history of ranching on the Currie Ranch goes back to 1877, when Leigh Dyer, Colonel Charles Goodnight’s brother-in-law, drove 400 cattle up the canyon to the area near Canyon, Texas, and started the first ranch in Randall County. He wintered his cattle near the Fal de Hour in the valley surrounding the falls (The Great Falls, formerly part of the Currie Ranch), and built the first house of any significance one mile north of Canyon, Texas.
In 1878, Leigh Dyer sold the land to the surveying firm of Gunter, Munson, and Summerfield. Gunter, Munson, and Summerfield fenced in the eastern part of Randall County in a pasture approximately 240,000 acres in size, which was the first fence in the Texas Panhandle area.
In 1882, Gunter bought out Summerfield and moved onto the ranch. He called the ranch "T-Anchor" which was the official beginning of the ranch by that name.
In 1882, the T-Anchor ranch herded 10,652 cattle from near the south line fence to the ranch headquarters. Before they began the drive, it took a trotting horse an hour to encircle the herd. The drive took about six hours and was the largest cattle drive on record in the country.
In 1883, the Gunters sold out to Munson who in 1885 sold the ranch to Cedar Valley Land and Cattle Company, an English-based company. The cattle drives stopped in 1887 when the Santa Fe railroad came to Amarillo.
Canyon, Texas came into being in 1889. With the county taxing the 80 sections, the ranch finally failed. Hudson and Powers leased the block and operated it until 1902.
John J. ("Jinks") Currie was born near Toronto, Canada, February 4, 1868, to Martha and Hugh Currie. In 1889, the family moved to the area near Happy, Texas, where Hugh’s property adjoined the western border of the JA ranch.
In 1909, Jinks bought the Currie Ranch consisting of 28 sections including a large portion of the North Palo Duro Canyon. Jinks fostered the concept of protecting wildlife on the ranch which has carried forward to this day.
In the late '30’s, Jinks sold part of the ranch to a Mr. Harding that included the land under Lake Tanglewood, The Great Falls and Devil’s Kitchen. Harding opened the area to the public and had a restaurant, a dance pavilion, and featured site-seeing around the Falls and Devil’s Kitchen. Graduates of the area high schools had graduation parties there. For a while it was a popular recreational area. It was later sold to J. Levi, and, subsequently, reacquired by Jinks.
When Jinks Currie died in 1945, the ranch fell under the ownership of David Hugh Currie and John J. Currie, Jr. Hugh was given the southern land and lower Palo Duro Canyon and John obtained the upper Canyon and the land north of the canyon. John Currie built his home where the Harding improvements were, later clearing out the deteriorating structures. Hugh built his home, Cedarways, in a draw below the original Currie ranch headquarters.
In 1950, scenes from the western, The Sundowners, were filmed in the canyon.
In 1962, John and Hugh culminated an agreement with Roy Stockton, who was to construct a dam. While under construction, the dam washed out in a heavy rain in the summer of 1962. Other investors came along and assisted Roy in completing the dam, and the community of Lake Tanglewood was born.
In 1980, Hugh Currie died and his portion of the ranch fell to his sons, Hugh Bob Currie and James David Currie, and grandchildren David Currie, Bob Currie and Susan Currie. David Currie, Bob Currie and Susan Currie Rogers, now own that portion of the ranch on the canyon rim where the proposed transmission lines would cross. Jim Currie also own portions of the ranch over which the lines will cross.
