title: Prairie Dog Creek
text: # Prairie Dog Creek
  
  Prairie Dog Creek is a stream in the central Great Plains of North America. A tributary of the Republican River, it flows for 246 miles (396 km) through the American states of Kansas and Nebraska.
  
  ## Geography
  
  Prairie Dog Creek originates in the High Plains of northwest Kansas. Its source lies in west-central Thomas County roughly 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of Brewster, Kansas. From there, it flows generally northeast across northwestern Kansas. Southwest of Norton, Kansas, it is dammed to form Keith Sebelius Lake. From the reservoir's dam, the creek continues northeast to Harlan County in south-central Nebraska where it joins the Republican River to feed Harlan County Reservoir.
  
  ## History
  
  The Battle of Prairie Dog Creek (August 21, 1867) ended the Army's offensive operations against the Indians on the Kansas frontier for the year.
  
  In 1964, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation completed a dam on the creek southwest of Norton, Kansas for flood control, irrigation, and municipal water supply, creating Keith Sebelius Lake.
  
  