Local conservationists in Presidio County are leading an effort to change the name of the roadside attraction known as Elephant Rock.
For decades, drivers traveling Highway 67 between Marfa and Presidio have passed a sign that points out a nearby rock formation’s resemblance to the big-eared, long-trunked animal. But in a new campaign, members of the Big Bend Conservation Alliance and People of La Junta for Preservation — a recently formed group led by local Indigenous scholars — argue that the more appropriate name is “cibolo,” a regional Spanish term for “bison.”
At a recent Presidio County Commissioners Court meeting, Oscar Rodriguez, a local historian with BBCA, told commissioners the proposed name change is a practical one. He thinks the rock formation could just as easily bring to mind a buffalo, and that “Cibolo Rock” could be a unique tourist attraction among the many Elephant Rocks on American highways.
But his presentation centered on the word “cibolo” as a name that brings together the diverse parts of Presidio County history — from local Indigenous heritage to Spanish settlement and ranching traditions.
According to Rodriguez’s research, “cibolo” derives from a Native word, incorporated by 16th century Spanish explorers on their travels through the region. In the early 1700s, a Spanish soldier in the La Junta area noted a community of Native people he called “Sibolo” near the springs that fed what is today Cibolo Creek, and founded a mission using the same name. In 1857, local merchant Milton Faver built a fort there called El Fortín del Cibolo — which eventually became part of Cibolo Creek Ranch, one of the county’s most prominent ranches.
Rodriguez said surveyors’ maps from the 1880s referred to the roadside rock formation as “Cibolo.” He believes it retained that name until the 1960s, when the state government was on the hunt for new roadside attractions and landed on the elephant idea.
“This is just a proposal to take back that name and by that means recognize this crossroads of Presidio County history, just taking it back to the name it has been for the longest time,” he said.
Organizers say their campaign has two parts. First, they’ve submitted an application for a state historical marker outlining the regional significance of the cibolo. Down the line, they plan to ask the county and the Texas Department of Transportation to put in a new sign renaming the landmark.
Over the last two weeks, an online petition in support of the effort has earned hundreds of signatures. But on social media, it’s also received dozens of comments opposing a name change. Some passionately reaffirm the elephant resemblance. Others are from locals attached to the long-standing moniker and skeptical of the symbolic value of a name change. “For as long as I have lived (and I’m no spring chicken) this has been called ELEPHANT ROCK…why rename it?” wrote one Presidio resident.
Christina Hernandez, with People of La Junta for Preservation, said she also grew up calling the landmark Elephant Rock.
“We're not trying to create an alternate history, or the removal, necessarily, of what people have come to call it. But we want that story told as to how that happened and what it means for it to have been renamed,” she said.
For Hernandez, the project is part of a broader effort to preserve Indigenous history in the region. In recent years, she’s been at the helm of the high-profile effort to protect El Cementerio del Barrio de Los Lipanes, a Lipan Apache cemetery in Presidio where her own ancestors are buried. She sees the christening of Elephant Rock as connected to development that threatened the burial site in the last century.
“When I look at this timeline, I think of nine-tenths of a family cemetery that was erased from the ground, literally, to create city lots. And then I look at the fact that there's some erasure around this monument that was named by relatives of mine, Indigenous people of La Junta,” she said.
Despite the pushback online, county officials are supportive of the project.
Presidio County Judge Joe Portillo noted that several traditional Apache words are still part of regular speech in the county. He thanked organizers for their work, and said he wasn’t impressed with the state process that officially named Elephant Rock.
“They didn’t do any research, they didn’t go back and seek input, they didn’t go back and ask anybody around the area. They just decided amongst themselves, ‘That kinda looks like an elephant,’” he said.
“All we're doing is going back and recognizing that there is a long history in this area that we've overlooked. We haven't given it the attention it deserves.”
Editor’s note: Oscar Rodriguez is the writer and host of the Marfa Public Radio program Caló. He is not involved in editorial decisions at Marfa Public Radio.
