The Pease River is a river in Texas, United States. It is a tributary of the Red River that runs in an easterly direction through West Texas. It was discovered and mapped for the first time in 1856 by Jacob de Córdova, who found the river while surveying for the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad Company; it was named after Texas Governor Elisha M. Pease. In December 1860, the Texas Rangers recaptured Cynthia Ann Parker and her daughter from the Comanche Indians at an engagement along the river. The river begins northeast of Paducah in northern Cottle County and runs eastward for to its mouth on the Red River northeast of Vernon. Its course flows through "flood-prone flat terrain with local shallow depressions, surfaced by sandy and clay loams"; part of it forms the county line between Hardeman and Foard counties. The river has three main branches, the North Pease, Middle Pease, and Tongue rivers; the beginning of the main river is variously given as where all three branches come together, or where only the North and Middle Pease Rivers intersect. Satellite and topographical imagery, however, clearly shows that the Tongue River empties into the Middle Pease before the latter's meeting with the North Pease.
North Pease River
The North Pease rises southeast of Cedar Hill on the Caprock Escarpment in eastern Floyd County and runs through Motley, Hall and Cottle before meeting the Middle Pease River. It begins at and descends over, cutting a wide, sandy bed through mostly flat terrain; most of the area through which it passes is remote ranchland.
Middle Pease River
The Middle Pease river rises northwest of Matador at the confluence of Mott and Boggy Creeks in western Motley County; it flows about for in an eastward direction before joining the North Pease in northeastern Cottle County. It runs through flat, isolated ranch territory; the only settlement ever established on its banks was the now-ghost of Tee Pee City. The state has established a region called the MatadorWildlife Management area along its course in northwestern Cottle County.
Tongue River
The Tongue River, or South Pease River, was named allegedly for a 19th-century disease, called "Black Tongue", that killed many area buffalo. It rises west of Roaring Springs in southwestern Motley County and flows east and northeast through rugged ranch- and canyonland. The geographic feature of Roaring Springs, downstream from the river's source, was a popular gathering place for Indians, cowboys, and others. A ranch club is now located near the spring, where State Highway 70 crosses the river.
