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John Prather "Mule King"

Otero County · US 54 / NM Highway 506 -- mile marker 40.619999999999997 -- between access road and south side of NM 506 · location approximate

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Rancher John Prather worked well with the federal government through two world wars. From his 32,000-acre ranch atop Otero Mesa, he ran New Mexico’s largest Army mule-breeding program. But in 1957, the government condemned his land for part of McGregor Missile Range. Prather rebuffed the military and remained on his ranch. His story made national headlines, and is told in the book and movie “Fire on the Mountain.”

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Marker data: Official Scenic Historic Markers program, New Mexico Historic Preservation Division, Department of Cultural AffairsMarker texts come from the Division’s published marker spreadsheet, reproduced with the Division’s written permission. Where that spreadsheet records a coordinate, the pin is the Division’s own; where it records only a highway and mile marker, an address, a junction or a named place, or where its coordinate contradicts its own highway, mile and county, the pin is ours, resolved on public road and place data and marked approximate.

John Prather "Mule King"

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