The Sainted Mother of the Texas Panhandle

“One who spent her whole life in the service of others.”

--Epitaph of Molly Goodnight

It was the still nights that were the worst for Molly. In the calm windless night, the screams would carry for miles. She was too polite to say the words aloud but she privately cursed the buffalo hunters and their booming guns. They would both start their calamity at daylight. She cursed them for their greed, for they killed en masse, ceaselessly. She also cursed them for their callousness, their cold hearts could let them sleep hearing the calves of their victims scream for their mothers in the dead of night.

The complete decimation of the North American Bison was the goal of the American government. They sent hunters by the wagon load and incentivized the destruction. It was a matter of time until the bison were on the brink of extinction and the natives, Comanche in this case, were placed onto reservations. 

Molly’s husband, Charles Goodnight, is a legend of Texas. As a scout for Gen. Ranald McKenzie he got a front row seat to the final conflicts with the natives. When these conflicts subsided Goodnight had some ideas about how to use the land. He was soon a partner in the first cattle ranch in the panhandle and owned a large portion of what is now Palo Duro Canyon. It was here that Molly and he eventually settled. Having no children, Molly became a mother figure to many, many cow hands as the ranch progressed.

As the last of the bison were being hunted into legend, and the calves were calling in the night, Molly decided to do something. She had a section of the canyon fenced off and raised those calves, bottle feeding when necessary. At the time this was absolutely unheard of.

Molly and Charles’ legends grew and they both passed into Texas lore for their legacy of kind-hearted generosity and philanthropy as well as being at the forefront of one of the biggest industries in Texas, ranching. The little bison herd she raised grew as well, reaching well over 200 head. For context, when the government made it a goal to eradicate the bison they were pretty successful. As they started to make a comeback it was discovered that they had bred with cattle to do so. The JA Herd, named for the JA Ranch that Goodnight partnered in, was of the purest North American Bison blood left on the planet. 

Many years after the death of both Charles and Molly Goodnight, Charles’ former partner in the ranch, John Adair, donated the herd to the State of Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and were eventually given a home at Caprock Canyon State Park. There the new line of bison thrives and expands, all due solely to the “Mother of the Panhandle.”