Texas Parks & Wildlife, Volume 41, Number 8, August 1983 Page: 13
32 p. : col. ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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really wasn't named after its birds, but rather, for a
man: William Carey Crane, a one-time president of
Baylor University, and a staunch supporter of American
education. So much for that one.
The stories behind Marlin (Falls County) and Snook
(Burleson) read pretty much the same way. At first
glance, any seasoned angler would be tempted to be-
lieve the two towns were named after saltwater fishes.
It is true that an occasional snook is caught in Texas
coastal waters, and a number of marlin have been taken
farther offshore. But, when you pull out a map and look
over the whole picture, this explanation certainly
doesn't hold any water - fresh or salt. Snook is slightly
more than 100 miles from the nearest brackish water,
Marlin more than 150. Given this, it should come as no
real shock to learn that neither town was named after a
fish. Marlin honors early leader John Marlin, while
Snook pays tribute to Caldwell postmaster J. S. Snook,
who lobbied long and hard for a post office in this
community near the Brazos.
There are many more Texas place names that can fool
the outdoorsman, as well. The old town of Peacock, in
Stonewall County, drew its monicker from early mer-
chant J. W. Peacock, not from any colorful bird. Falcon
Reservoir, on the Rio Grande near Zapata, was named
after the old town of Falcon, which it inundated earlier
in this century. However, the town was named after no
bird. Instead, it honored Rita Falcon, wife of the man to
whom the land was granted more than 200 years ago.
There are many "fish names" that turn out not to be.
Pike (Collin County), Trout (Lamar), Bass Hollow (Ste-
phens) and Salmon (Houston) all can be a bit deceiving.
Pike seems to have been named for Pike, Kentucky, a
town which may or may not have been named for the
fish somewhere back there. Trout honored a pioneer
family with the same surname, and a similar explanation
apparently lies behind the naming of Salmon. Bass Hol-
low wasn't named for the native largemouths that
inhabit streams in that part of the state; rather, it got its
name from the fact that notorious 19th-century outlaw
Sam Bass and his gang once holed up in the brush and
rocks there.
If all of these near misses have you just a bit disap-
pointed in our forefathers, take heart. There still are
plenty of place names to go-and a number of them
really do owe their origins to wildlife.
For openers, there is Buffalo, in Leon County. Right
off, you might figure this to be just another wild goose
chase-after all, whoever heard of real buffaloes on
the edge of East Texas?
Well, former mayor and noted local historian W. C.
Coleman says he has, and folks around there listen to
him. "As best we can tell,"he says, "the city got its name
from the herds of buffaloes (actually bison, but who's
being picky) that watered here when the first settlers
came in to live."
Armed with this knowledge, we now can proceed to
claim that Buffalo Bayou, which flows all the way
across Houston, also was named for the thundering
herds, right? Wrong, says Dr. Tarpley. "Most of the
evidence we have show that the bayou was named notfor the animals, but for the large numbers of buffalo
fish caught there," he says. So much for jumping the
gun. As cautioned in the beginning, that is a good way
to be shot down.
We already have seen that Crane and Peacock are
false alarms in West Texas. However, that part of the
state boasts at least a couple of spots which aren't:
Turkey (Hall County) and Quail (Collingsworth). Turkey
originally was known to settlers as Turkey Roost
because of the wild turkeys that gathered there, but
this name later was shortened to the present one.
Quail, a tiny Panhandle town just outside of Wellington,
also was named for its bounty of game birds in the early
days.
Move eastward, to Jack County south of Wichita Falls,
and you find Antelope, which drew its name from the
herds of pronghorns which lived there in the first years
of settlement. As human activity in North Texas in-
creased, the pronghorns either fled or died out. Hunting
and changing land-use patterns forced these animals to
find new homes on the range. Today, all Texas prong-
horns live considerably farther west, where their num-
bers have stabilized and they still provide a hunting
resource.
Anyone who doubts that Texas pioneers were aware
of honeybees probably would reconsider after looking
at the number of towns, creeks and other places which
note the presence of these social insects. Honey was an
important food to settlers when they could get it, and
they did just that in such spots as Honey Grove (Fannin
County), Bee Cave (Travis) and Bee Creek (Ellis). But,
don't get carried away on this one. Beeville, in Bee
County, was named after Barnard E. Bee, who founded
the upstart Texas Army and later served as treasurer
for the Republic of Texas.
With the origins of many of these place names so
difficult and time-consuming to ferret out, it is refresh-
ing to find that at least one Texas community-White
Deer, in Carson County of the Panhandle -hangs out
its history for all to see. For longer than most of today's
residents can recall, the city has featured a large statue
of a white deer. According to Indian legend, a snow-
white deer lived near a creek in the area, and when
settlers moved in, they adopted the name for their new
town. Today the statue draws attention to the legend,
but it also has resulted in an increased bond among
townspeople, says city secretary Paulette Craig. "We're
awfully proud of our white deer," she claims. "There's
no telling how many times we've had to repair and
repaint it, because at least once every football season,
one of the rival schools we play will sneak into town and
paint the deer black, or saw off the antlers and steal
them. But we just keep putting the statue back together.
We've gotten attached to it, I guess."
In less visible ways, of course, Texans in other such
distinctively named places also have become endeared
to their pasts. While you won't find statues of animals,
fishes or birds in many of these cities and towns, you
will find, as Dr. Tarpley and others have learned, a
healthy supply of interesting stories. Then, it's just a
matter of separating the wheat from the chaff. **AUGUST 1983
13
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Texas. Parks and Wildlife Department. Texas Parks & Wildlife, Volume 41, Number 8, August 1983, periodical, August 1983; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1568777/m1/15/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.