Prairie Dog

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say, right out there in Ector County. Now, before we get into this, I need you to sit with that title for a second. Prairie Dog.

Sounds straightforward enough. Except, and the marker will tell you this plain as day, it is actually a squirrel. Not a dog.

A squirrel. Gets its name from its bark, which I suppose is the most dog thing a squirrel can do, and apparently that was enough for whoever was handin' out names on the Texas plains. The theatrics, as they say, are in the details.

Now, settlers found the prairie dog useful, particularly in droughts, when it served as food. So this little barking squirrel carried some real weight in lean times. Life on the frontier had a way of making you appreciate whatever was on hand.

The prairie dog lives in clusters of burrows, and those clusters have a name. They call it a Town, which feels right, because apparently these animals thought big. One old-time town, and the marker is not exaggerating here, was a hundred miles wide and extended, almost unbroken, two hundred and fifty miles southward from Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River.

A hundred miles wide. Let that settle in while you're drivin'. Of course, not everything about a prairie dog town was charming.

Those burrows were hazardous to running horses, and they often caused broken bones among horses and riders. And if that wasn't enough, prairie dogs ate grass roots, destroying the cattle feed that ranchers depended on. So they were food in a drought and a menace in the field, and the land had to hold all of that at once.

Extermination has wiped out most colonies across the state. What once stretched nearly unimaginable distances across the Texas plains is largely gone now. Which makes what you might be looking at out here in Ector County something worth noticing.

This colony was established in 1959 by the Odessa Rotary Club. A deliberate act. A decision to bring something back, or at least keep a piece of it present, right here where the West Texas wind blows the same as it always has.

A barking squirrel in a town built by a civic club. Texas has always had a talent for that kind of thing.

What the marker says

Actually a squirrel. Gets name from its bark. It was food for settlers, especially in drouths. Lives in cluster of burrows called a "Town". Burrows, hazardous to running horses, often have caused broken bones among horses and riders. Also prairie dogs ate grass roots, destroying cattle feed. One old-time town was 100 miles wide and extended, almost unbroken, 250 miles southward from prairie dog town fork of Red River. Extermination has wiped out most colonies. This colony was established in 1959 by Odessa rotary club.