The History of Big Bend National Park

New BBNP News - New Superintendent

We are pleased to announce that Big Bend National Park has a new superintendent, Frank Deckert.  He served as chief naturalist at the National Park from approximately 1975-1980.  He has also published a book about the park entitled, Big Bend: Three Steps to the Sky.  Mr. Deckert, a 32 year veteran of the National Park Service, will begin his new duties on January 30th, 2000.

The National Park Service History

National Parks were created to preserve the beauty of America's wilderness and to protect our nation's heritage including revolutionary landmarks and the remains of prehistoric society and civilization.  Prior to the concept of parks, nature was viewed as something to conquer.  Civilizations began to encroach upon wildlife and wilderness.  A noted painter of American Indians, George Catlin, was also a man with a dream.  In 1831, he visited the Dakotas and became alarmed when he saw the westward movement of man into Indian Territories and the wilderness.  He dreamed of creating "a nation's park, containing man and beast, in all wilderness and freshness of their nature's beauty!"  The Federal Government, in 1864, set aside Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias to the state of California.  Control was determined by the state of California in this case.  In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as a public park for the benefit and enjoyment of the general public.   The Department of the Interior took over the care of Yellowstone, creating the first ever world's National Park.

In the 1890's, four more National Parks were established, Sequoia, General Grant, Mount Rainier, and Yosemite.  Defense of the newly established National Parks were left in the hands of Army engineers and cavalry units.  President Theodore Roosevelt was well noted to have a love of nature.  Devil's Tower National Monument is a massive magma formation in Wyoming and was named the first National Monument.  Congress however, changed some of the places from National Monuments and deemed them to be national parks.

14 National Parks and 21 National Monuments had been established by 1916.

Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park was established on June 12, 1944.  It had been authorized to become a National Park on June, 20, 1935.

 

 

The Mariscal Mine

Like the rest of the Big Bend, what now is a part of Big Bend National Park was once also part of the booming mining industry.  The Mariscal Mine is located off the present day River Road east.  Now a National Register Historic District.  It once produced, during 1900 to 1943, 1,400 flasks of mercury.  Each flask weighed in at seventy-six pounds each.  This was almost one quarter of the total amount produced in the United States.

In 1900, a farmer, Martin Solis, encountered cinnabar close to his farm.  Cinnabar, also known as Quicksilver is a  bright red ore which contains mercury.  Not long after, Ed Lindsey, a local U.S. customs agent and store owner (Boquillas, Texas) filed the first claim on Mariscal Mountain.  Named the Lindsey Mine, it operated during 1900 to 1905.  Difficulties including transportation of the ore (which comprised a   thirty mile mule trip to Terlingua) and a lawsuit that challenged his ownership, led Lindsey to sell his interests to Isaac Sanger of Dallas, Texas in November of 1905.   Sanger named his mine the Texas Almaden Mining Company.  It closed in four years because of a world-wide economic depression.  In 1917, the mine was purchased by a Midwestern inventor, W.K. Ellis.  The Ellis Mine did well until the end of World War I.  After the production of 894 flasks of mercury, Ellis shrewdly sold the mine.   It was purchased by William "Billy" Burcham.  During the summer of 1919, Burcham along with various New York financial backers created the Mariscal Mine.   The mine was named after the mountain it is located on.  In 1923, the mine closed due to a decline in the demand of mercury.  As World War II came upon us, the mine was yet again reopened.  Though it was reopened by Burcham, the name was changed again.  This time, it was known as the Vivianna Mining Company.  Although improvements had been made over the years, the mine did not render the profits he expected to and thus the mine closed for the ultimate time in 1943.  It accomplished a rocky forty-three year production of mercury.  For more information concerning mining in the Big Bend, more precisely the Terlingua region, and the process of mercury, please check out our page on "Quicksilver".