Elk River Alligators

[W. Gray]

There were a number of posts on the "Elk River Alligators" back in 2006 and some again in 2010.

From this newspaper item, I cannot see how the alligators could survive several years in the Elk and seem to recall they might have been shot the same summer they were released.

Shiner Gazette, Shiner, Texas, September 3, 1925


The alligators were first seen by oil workers crossing the K-11 [K-99] Pine street bridge in south Howard. They told F. E. Hottinger owner of a drug store and he drove down to the bridge and killed both of them. One was 9 feet 2 inches and the other 6 feet 9 inches. They were stuffed by an amateur taxidermist. One or both went on display in the drugstore for several years.

[upoladeb]

Wow Gray you been around a long time if you recall them gators at all!

[W. Gray]

Wow Gray you been around a long time if you recall them gators at all!

I am not that old--well maybe I am. Sometimes I wonder how was it that I got here so fast in my life.

Rather than having any firsthand knowledge of the Elk River alligators, I was trying to remember what I had written in a 2007 article for the old Howard newspaper concerning those reptiles and how they got into the river.

As a youngster, I do remember a closed Hottinger's Drug Store in Howard. Even though it was closed It had a lot of displays in the windows that I liked to look at on my way to and from the Plaza theater (12 cents admission for children). The alligators were not on display, though. Someone on this forum has mentioned that they had deteriorated badly over the years. The taxidermy was done by an Elk County deputy sheriff who was a hobbyist working out of his garage and may or may not have been all that good.

[upoladeb]

I didn't mean to be rude and call you old,i figured somehow I miss understood should have put LOL after the post.

[W. Gray]

I didn't mean to be rude and call you old,i figured somehow I miss understood should have put LOL after the post.

I didn't think you were rude and did not take any offense.