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John Prather "Mule King"

John Prather "Mule King" is a New Mexico historical marker in 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.”

The Historic Preservation Division notes that its marker spreadsheet may be out of date and in places inaccurate, and that it does not know where every marker now stands. These pages carry the spreadsheet’s record; a marker listed here may have moved or may no longer stand. the program’s page ↗

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection

Historical maps covering this location

State of New Mexico. General Land Office, 1927, covering the location of John Prather "Mule King", with a pin at the marker's coordinates
State of New Mexico. General Land Office, 1927, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.
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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.

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