Discover Oklahoma: Mooreland business is right on cue

BY MELYN JOHNSON Comments 0
Published: October 11, 2009

MOORELAND — On Main Street in Mooreland sits a fascinating business and unassuming industry leader. Visit the Prather family business where the game of pool, and the equipment used, has a whole new meaning. The most beautiful pool cues in the world are made here. Whether you consider the Prather cue a work of art or a piece of sporting equipment, few will argue that they are the premier pool cues on the circuit today.

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To learn more about Prather Cue or to schedule a tour, go online to www.prathercue.com or call (800) 364-6913.

For more Oklahoma attraction ideas or free travel brochures, go online to www.TravelOK.com or call (800) 652-6552.

The woods used in Prather pool cues include maple, bloodwood, bocote, boke masserbirch, boire, canarywood, chechen, chittum, cocobolo, rosewood, ebony, eucalyptus, granadillo, holly, kingwood, lacewood, lemonwood, moradillo, mesquite, olivewood, osage orange, padauk, pernambuco, purpleheart, ramone burl, redheart, satinwood, shedua, snakewood, tulipwood, zebrawood and ziricote.

These woods come from all over the world. Inlays are done from abalone, ivory, azurite malachite, banded malachite, turquoise, corian, coral, ivory, giraffe, imitation and realmother of pearl, jade, lapis, leopard skin jasper, micarta, rhodonite and others. They dye their own veneers for the cues.

Prather pool cues are such a work of art that they have graced an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute of Art in New York City.

Dan Prather began by making parts for pool cues. He is known as "the original cue parts supplier." The needs increased as did his skill, and today he makes pool cues that go to players and collectors around the world.

An interesting part of the tour is seeing the machines he put together to do the precise work needed to make the Prather cue. He and his family are an important part of an ancient game.

According to Mike Shamos, curator of the Billiard Archive, billiards evolved from a lawn game similar to the croquet played in the 15th century in Northern Europe and France. Play moved indoors to a wooden table with green cloth to simulate grass. Balls were shoved with wooden sticks called "maces."

Interestingly, the cue stick was developed in the 1600s. When the ball lay near a rail, the mace was very inconvenient because of its large head. So the players would turn the mace around and use its handle to strike the ball. The handle was called a "queue" meaning "tail" from which we get the word "cue."

Equipment improved rapidly in England after 1800. Chalk was used to increase friction between the ball and the cue stick even before cues had tips. The leather cue tip, with which a player can apply side-spin to the ball, was perfected by 1823. Visitors from England showed Americans how to use spin, which explains why side-spin is called "English" in the United States but nowhere else. The British themselves refer to it as "side." The two-piece cue arrived in 1829. By 1850, the billiard table had essentially evolved into its current form.

The word "pool" means a collective bet or ante. Pool room today means a place where pool is played, but in the 19th century a pool room was a horse racing betting parlor. Pool tables were installed so patrons could play between races.

You can learn more by touring Prather Cue in Mooreland, located east of Woodward in Woodward County. The Prather family enjoys having people come by to see their work and visit the facility.

Melyn Johnson is destination development field representative for the state Tourism and Recreation Department.