George W. Singer Frontier Store Strongbox — Lubbock County

George W. Singer opened his one-room store near the Lubbock Lake springs in Yellow House Canyon circa 1881–1882, at the junction of military trails from Fort Griffin, Fort Stockton, and Fort Elliott. Cowboys gambled overnight in the never-locked store while Singer slept at his nearby home. In 1886 a deranged visitor set the store afire; ammunition inside exploded and killed the arsonist. Singer rebuilt half a mile up the canyon before moving to downtown Lubbock in 1891. Regional folklore sometimes places emergency specie buried when the original store and goods were destroyed. Coordinates approximate the Lubbock Lake Landmark and Yellow House Canyon headwaters in northeastern Lubbock County.