Home of the White Buffalo
There is perhaps no greater symbol of western heritage than the mighty buffalo. It is estimated that 30 to 60 million bison once roamed the American Great Plains. Pre-colonization, before the species was nearly wiped out, word spread of a rare buffalo whose snow-white hide stood out amongst billowing herds of brown. Legend says the Native Americans known as the Lakota tribe were visited in the midst of a deadly famine by a beautiful woman draped in white. The woman taught the tribe spirituality and harmony. She then turned into a white buffalo, blessing the Lakota with bountiful herds of bison, before disappearing into the land. Since then, indigenous people have worshiped the white buffalo as the most sacred being on earth.
Adherent to the legend is the extreme rarity of an albino buffalo. Approximately only one in ten million bison are born albino, in comparison to the one in 20,000 humans with the mutation. Even during the species’ abundance, only seven white buffalo were reported killed by Anglo hunters, one of which lived in our very own Lone Star State. Even now fewer than fifty white buffalo have ever been documented across all of America.
One very special white buffalo was the catalyst for the entire town of Snyder, Texas. On a hunting trip in 1873, twenty-year-old J. Wright Mooar ventured into the Texas Panhandle In a crowd of roughly 4,000 bison, he caught the eye of a glistening white buffalo. Mooar recruited the help of a buffalo skinner and crawled close enough to take a lethal shot, bringing the four-year-old female calf down.
Mooar received great fame for his prized kill, even being asked to display his prestigious white pelt at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. With fame and fortune, Mooar was able to establish a ranch property in Scurry County, becoming one of the first to populate the area. Not long after, the town of Snyder was founded as the home of the infamous white buffalo hide.
To this day, the white pelt has remained in the family of J. Wright Mooar’s descendants. An exhibit in the Scurry County Museum tells the story of the hunter’s famous kill and the significance buffalo hunting played in the founding of Scurry County. On display are buffalo hides and special artifacts including the .50-90 Model 1874 Sharps that Mooar owned in 1874.
To honor the sacred sacrifice of the creature, two statues were placed around town. The first was an official Texas State Historical Marker erected in 1967 for J. Wright (Mooar or Moore)Moore on the northwest side of the courthouse, with a replica of the white buffalo made from a native stone. A second statue was then placed in the Snyder Chamber of Commerce office. When an expert noticed the white buffalo’s hide was that of a female instead of a male, Snyder quickly raised funds to replace the courthouse statue made from fiberglass with a classy bronze calf painted snow white.
Additionally, in 1981 the chamber’s Women’s Committee promoted the first annual White Buffalo Day celebration, which is still continued to this day. Annually, on the first weekend in October, Snyder locals gather in the downtown square to shop sidewalk vendors, special offerings from storefronts, and a community garage sale. The day is packed with hometown performances, a car show, live music, backyard games, and even a miniature fair!
The white buffalo remains a symbol of abundance and fortuity for present-day Snyder. Our town is full of cordial people, prosperous businesses, and beautiful landscapes. We are grateful the white buffalo once walked our land, blessing Snyder’s eternal future.
