Prairie dogs were observed away from these colonies. On June 20 a young prairie dog ran into a culvert on the Knife Edge Section of the road. Others were observed on the north side of the road, at the head of the east prong of School Section Canyon, on the road west of Park Point, and on the road at the head of Long Canyon five miles from the nearest known colony in the Park. Possibly this last individual came from the Montezuma Valley north of the Park. Mr. Prater, after whom Prater Canyon is named, homesteaded on the Mesa Verde in 1899. He informed Quaintance that prairie dogs were present in Morfield Canyon prior to 1900 but were not in Prater Canyon in 1899. Prater said he drowned out a few that came into Prater Canyon before 1914. In 1942, Chief Ranger Faha wrote in his Annual Animal Census Report that he had interviewed an old time resident (name not noted) who stated that prairie dogs were not present on the Mesa Verde until about 1905 or 1906 and that Helen Morfield, the daughter of Judge Morfield who homesteaded in Morfield Canyon, brought the first prairie dogs on the Mesa Verde. Estimates of the prairie-dog population in the Annual Animal Census Reports for 1935 through 1941 were: 1935--800, 1936--650, 1937--650, 1938--650, 1939--no report, 1940--1500 and increasing, 1941--slight decrease. After 1942 more adequate records were kept by Chief Ranger Wade and other Park Service personnel. On August 9, 1943, occupied burrows of prairie dogs were found to be thinly scattered down Prater Canyon from the head of the canyon at the Maintenance Camp to a point about one hundred feet below the lower well. The largest concentration was in the vicinity of the upper well near Prater's Cabin. Little new digging that would indicate a spreading population was noticed. Seemingly desirable, but unoccupied, habitat extended at least two miles south of the inhabited area. In Morfield Canyon, burrows were found from a point one hundred yards north of the fence at the south boundary of Section 17, south for a mile and one-half to a point one-third of a mile into Section 29. The greatest concentration was in the vicinity of Morfield Well. South of this point the burrows were found only along the narrow dry sides of the canyon and in sage-covered areas at slightly higher elevations than the rest of the floor of the canyon. Seemingly desirable habitat extended at least three miles to the south and one mile to the north of the occupied area. The report of the study in 1943 concluded with the statement that artificial control by poisoning would be unwise and unnecessary. Requests were being made at that time to exterminate prairie dogs in the Park on the basis of the unproved assumption that prairie dogs move from the Park to surrounding range land where extermination was then being attempted by poisoning.