Rawhide Creek and Park

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Rawhide Creek and Park, up there in Dallas County. Now, some places earn their names quiet-like: a family surname, a forgotten surveyor, somebody's maiden aunt. And then there are places that earn their names the hard way.

Rawhide Creek is the second kind. The story starts with a man named R. J.

West, born in 1811, who showed up in what would become Dallas County in 1845. That's early, friends. The county itself wasn't even organized yet; West helped do that, in 1846.

So we're talking about a man who arrived before the scaffolding was up and then helped build the building. And what did R. J.

West do once he got himself settled? He went to work. About four-tenths of a mile southwest of the creek that would carry his legacy, West set up a tanyard (right around 1846).

A tanyard, for those of you riding through on modern roads, is where raw animal hides get turned into leather. It's not a glamorous business. It is, however, a necessary one.

Here's where the name comes in. Demand for his product ran high; high enough that the hides coming out of West's vats weren't always fully cured. They were half-cured.

Rawhide, you might say. And those hides, in that condition, gave their name to the creek running nearby. The creek held onto that name.

And in 1969, a historical park was established there, making it official: a place set aside so the land itself could tell you who worked it first, and how hard he worked it. R. J.

West came to Dallas County before there was a Dallas County, helped organize it, built a tanyard on a creek, and left his enterprise stamped on the landscape in a name that's lasted nearly two centuries. That's not a bad run for a man and his vats.

What the marker says

Named for enterprise of R. J. West (b. 1811), an 1845 settler and an organizer of Dallas County in 1846. West had tanyard (4/10 mi. SW) on this creek about 1846. To meet demand, half-cured hides came from his vats, giving name "Rawhide" to the creek. The historical park was established in 1969.