Origin of name "Wolf Pen Creek"

5,556 Views | 21 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by CanyonAg77
CanyonAg77
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AG
Post over on outdoors made me wonder....exactly how did Wolf Pen Creek get its name? Who keeps wolves in pens? Or is there some other origin story?

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/3111695
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CanyonAg77
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AG
Apparently, it is not an uncommon name, with places in WVa, GA, Maine, and Arkansas named Wolf Pen or Wolfpen. The one in West Virginia claims to have been named after a trap for catching wolves. None of the others has an origin explanation.

I wonder if "pen" has an archaic meaning no longer in use. It may have simply meant an area where animals habituated.

For instance, this odd little wiki entry:
Quote:

Tor, pen, and how were said to all mean "hill" in different languages (torr and penn from British, how(e) from Old Norse haugr),

Perhaps its meaning is "Wolf Hill"?
Harkrider 93
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AG
Back when the Batt was named the Longhorn, there was an article about a student who was attacked and killed by wolves about 100yds in front of the Academic Building.

Maybe they lived around the bowling alley and went out for breakfast near campus.
AggiePhil
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AG
Wolf Pen Creek itself runs between Carter Creek and the A&M golf course. Couldn't tell you how it got its name though. Did some research on Newspapers.com and The Battalion but found nothing about the origin. Probably just something the old timers started calling it back in the 1800s and it stuck.
bobinator
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AG
We could all just agree to make something up and have it become B/CS canon.

"Yeah back in the 1800's there was a ranch there that was having problems with wolves. The pack would separate a cow and drive her down between the treeline and the creek where she couldn't escape. So 'be sure to avoid the wolf pen' became a common phrase related to that area. When they officially named the creek it stuck. "
CanyonAg77
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AG
There was a web site that claimed to list all the haunted places in Texas. So I looked up my old hometown. The story was that there was a farm where the haunting was centered on the old slave cabins.

My hometown is on the high plains, which was known as Comancheria, because they ruled the area until the 1870s. They kept slaves (often white), but they weren't in any cabins.

And my hometown was settled in the 1890s.

So yeah, people make up crap all the time.
toolshed
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AG
Texas historically had Red Wolves, but they've since died out. There are some coyotes I believe around Galveston that they've found to have some of the DNA of the old red wolf lines. There are "sightings" of them in East Texas and probably other places. But nothing verified that I'm aware of, not that I'm in the loop or anything. Just what I recall reading in the past.
bobinator
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Wolves were actually a concern in the early days of A&M according to "Keepers of the Spirit."
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Harkrider 93
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You are correct. I read a really old school newspaper article that talked about a student being killed by wolves while walking to class.

All I had to worry about was yelling "Howdy, Mr. _____!!!" before he could say it to me.
Clucky
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A lot of the land that is East of the bypass was once owned by Charles Wolf V. Being the 5th Charles Wolf, he often went by "Pen" .

The creek runs through much of what was once his property, so instead of an enclosure of animals, the creek was most likely named after the fifth in a family with the surname Wolf.
CanyonAg77
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AG
Interesting and logical. Thanks a lot. I've heard of III going by Trey, and our local Texas Rep is IV, goes by Four. First I've heard of a Pen.

I was in the Band with a guy who was an IV, his family had been in the Brazos Valley for at least those four generations. Another was an Army brat who wa a III. I don't believe either passed the name on down.
Pantera
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AG
There is a place in Milam County a few miles from where I grew up that used to be used for hunting wolves and fox. It's a huge plot of land that had high fences installed that start underground so the wild animals brought in from the northwest couldn't escape and they would hunt them on horses and with dogs like in Europe. I don't think they have used it for hunting in many many years but I still hear people talk about a coyote/wolf hybrid any time a big coyote is shot anywhere along the Little River.

Maybe a similar thing happened here?
AggiePhil
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AG
I've heard of Chip for II and Trey or Trip for III but never Pen for V. Very interesting!
Federale01
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Pen for the 5th makes sense, pentagon and all.
CanyonAg77
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AG
BTW, shouldn't it be Pen Wolf Creek, not Wolf Pen?
CanyonAg77
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AG
Quote:

Maybe a similar thing happened here?
Not in the 1800s
doubledog
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Clucky said:

A lot of the land that is East of the bypass was once owned by Charles Wolf V. Being the 5th Charles Wolf, he often went by "Pen" .

The creek runs through much of what was once his property, so instead of an enclosure of animals, the creek was most likely named after the fifth in a family with the surname Wolf.
Brazos county 1879



You can buy this map at
https://printart.com/product/walsh-brazos-county-texas-walsh-1879.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuraIwZK56QIVh7zACh0pcwycEAQYBCABEgLLIfD_BwE
AggiePhil
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AG
Not seeing Wolf or Wolf Pen on that map.
Clucky
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Oh, that's because I completely made that whole story up. Just, on the spot.
KidDoc
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AG
Clucky said:

Oh, that's because I completely made that whole story up. Just, on the spot.
Brilliant!
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
CanyonAg77
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AG
Clucky said:

Oh, that's because I completely made that whole story up. Just, on the spot.

Disappointing

I'm back to "Wolf Hill"
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