Former Site of Hogtown

Hogtown, also called Clear Creek, was a creature of the Southern Kansas Railway, a Santa Fe subsidiary that began building into the Panhandle in 1886. Its tracks crossed Hemphill County in 1887 and reached the town of Panhandle in 1888, and the line spawned three townsites in the county: Mendota, Canadian and Glazier. Getting across the river was the hard part. The Handbook of Texas says the Canadian's deep gorge and the quicksand in its bed make it difficult to bridge; the railroad's bridge was finished in the summer of 1887.

What the plaque says

Forerunner of town of Canadian. Sprang up, 1886, as a tent city for railroad gang working on Southern Kansas line. Named for poor appearance-- like a hogpen. After landowner Sam Pollard and railroad disputed price for land, line moved across river, taking populace with it. (1969)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area — 1.4 mi
  Five thousand acres of sand sage and cottonwood bottomland along the Canadian River east of Canadian, bought by the state in 1950 for wildlife research and open to walkers with a permit.
• Canadian River Wagon Bridge — 3.4 mi
  The longest pin-connected bridge in Texas, 3,255 feet of Parker trusses across the Canadian River at Canadian, built for wagons in 1916 and reopened as a footpath in 2000.
• The Citadelle Art Museum — 4.0 mi
  A 1910 Baptist church saved from demolition in 1977, made into a family home filled with art, and given to Canadian in 2009 as one of the Panhandle's few art museums.
• River Valley Pioneer Museum — 4.0 mi
  The Hemphill County museum in Canadian, a Santa Fe division town of 1887 on the river breaks that held one of the first commercial rodeos in Texas and voted itself dry in 1903.

More markers nearby

• Anvil Park Ranch — steps away
• Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area — 1.4 mi
• Canadian River Trails — 3.5 mi
• Robert R. Young — 3.5 mi