The Panhandle's first railroad, the Southern Kansas Railway of Texas, was constructed in 1886. Reaching Amarillo in 1889, the railway pulled cars filled with immigrant families and their belongings. The settlers were farmers from the east and south who came west to find water and cheap land. George Tyng, an adventurous fortune seeker, began leasing ranch land in 1887. A rail station was constructed, and Tyng eventually settled on the name "Pampa," a South American word that means "plains." Tyng was fond of saying that someday Pampa would be the "Queen City of the Plains."
