DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Old Buffalo Wallow out in Ector County. Now, what you're lookin at — that depression in the ground nearby — it doesn't look like much at first glance. Maybe a dip, maybe a low spot where rainwater pools.
But that hollow in the earth is older than the town of Odessa, older than the railroad, older than just about anything else you'd care to name out here on the west Texas plain. It survives from an epoch when great buffalo herds were still movin through this country, many of them trackin between what is now Canada and what is now Mexico, following two major trails right through the Odessa area. So how does a wallow get started?
Well, it begins with one buffalo — just one — rollin in the dirt. Maybe it's tryin to rid itself of pests. Maybe it's springtime and that heavy winter coat needs to come off.
The animal finds a patch of ground, drops down, and goes to work. And here's where it gets interesting. Another buffalo comes along and finds that same spot.
And another. And another. Countless animals, over time, usin the very same depression for the very same cleaning ritual.
The ground gives a little more each time. The edges widen. The center deepens.
What started as one restless animal scratching its back becomes something deliberate-seemin, almost architectural. Most wallows ended up eight to twelve feet across and two feet deep — efficient, the marker says, and I think that's exactly the right word for it. Now picture this whole region alive with animals on that kind of scale.
Buffalo existed in the millions across North America, ranging throughout the western and central plains of Texas. The plains Indians pursued them seasonally, and they had good reason to — the buffalo provided the food they subsisted on, the clothing they wore. The relationship ran deep, woven into everything.
Then came the late nineteenth century, and the ground shifted underneath all of it — figuratively speakin. Railroads bisected the buffalo trails, isolating the herds and, at the same time, opening up transportation of meat and hides to distant markets. Suddenly the buffalo wasn't just a commissary for the plains — it was a commodity.
And in Texas, in the 1870s, the slaughter was not just tolerated. It was encouraged. The army encouraged it, wanting to deprive the Indians of their commissary.
Settlers encouraged it, tired of watching crops get trampled and forage consumed by the passing herds. And hunters drove it, realizing quick profit, particularly from the hides. What had existed in the millions was reduced, systematically, to nearly nothing.
By the time Odessa was founded in 1886, the buffalo had all but disappeared from this area. And yet — that wallow is still here. The town came and went through boom and bust.
The railroads that helped end the herds have their own long history now. But that shallow depression in the dirt, worn down by animals rollin and rollin in the same spot across more seasons than anyone counted — it outlasted all of it. Some things persist not because anyone tried to save them, but because the earth remembers the weight of what once moved across it.
What the marker says
The nearby depression survives from an epoch when great buffalo herds migrated through west Texas, many moving between present Canada and Mexico over two major trails in the Odessa area. Wallows began with individual buffalo rolling in the dirt to rid themselves of pests or shed their heavy winter coats in springtime. Repeated wallowing in the same spot by countless buffalo created an efficient depression to accomplish the cleaning ritual. Most wallows were eight to 12 feet across and two feet deep. Buffalo existed in the millions in north America, ranging throughout the western and central plains of Texas. They were pursued seasonally by the plains Indians, who subsisted on the food and clothing the buffalo provided. In the late 19th century, railroads bisected their trails, isolating the herds and providing transportation of meat and hides to distant markets. In Texas vast buffalo slaughters were encouraged in the 1870s by the army, who wanted to deprive Indians of their commissary; settlers, who had crops trampled and forage consumed by the passing herds; and hunters, who realized quick profit particularly from hides. The buffalo had all but disappeared from this area when Odessa was founded in 1886. (1986)