Marker Inscription
Industry, Commerce, Transportation
Historic Place
Quitaque Railway Tunnel
The landmarks the nation chose to remember.
About this site
Quitaque Railway Tunnel is a historic place in Quitaque, Floyd County, dedicated in 1977. It is one of 35 historic sites cataloged in Floyd County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas.
The site sits at 34.2421, -101.1224 near Quitaque. The nearest cataloged historic site is Gray Mule (cemetery), about 3.0 miles away. Others within a short drive include Camp Resolution of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, Rushing Chapel, and Della Plain.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #2077001442. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
History
The Quitaque Railway Tunnel, better known as the Clarity Tunnel, is an abandoned railroad tunnel in Floyd County cut through the sandstone of the Caprock Escarpment about ten miles southwest of Quitaque. The Fort Worth and Denver South Plains Railroad Company began construction in 1927, using Irish and Swedish immigrant crews, and opened the line in 1930; a 1973 train wreck led to the tunnel being shortened from its original 790 feet to roughly 582 feet. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and named a Texas State Antiquities Landmark in 2003, it became part of the Caprock Canyons State Park Trailway after the line was abandoned in 1989 and now shelters a large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats.
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Nearby in Floyd County
Cemetery
Gray Mule
Quitaque
Historical Marker
Camp Resolution of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition
South Plains · 1986
Cemetery
Rushing Chapel
NE Floydada
Historical Marker
Della Plain
Floydada · 1982
Cemetery
Dougherty
Dougherty
Cemetery
Forest Lawn
Floydada
Cemetery
Floydada
Floyd County · 2009
Cemetery
County Memorial Park
N Floydada