The History of Big Bend
The Big Bend region encompasses a large diverse area, housing one national park and
various state parks, including Big Bend Ranch State Park, the largest in the state of
Texas. The Big Bend's boundaries vary depending upon whom you ask. Some only
consider the immediate area of Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, and the
local communities of Terlingua, Study Butte, and Lajitas as Big Bend Country. Others may include Alpine,
Fort Davis, Marfa, Marathon, Presidio, Sanderson and even on occasion, Van Horn
and Fort Stockton.
The Big Bend is rich in history. Shaped by the various Indian tribes, the
Spaniards, early American settlers and ranchers, cinnabar miners (those seeking their fortunes in the
mining of mercury), and now, a great diversity of present day inhabitants.
- Big Bend
Indians
- There are numerous petroglyphs, pictographs and old Indian camps in the Big Bend.
Learning to live off the land, the various tribes adapted to the harshness of the region.
The Indians harvested maize and mesquite beans, which they ground into flour
on a the rock using something similar to a
mortar and pestle. Metates, the Spanish word for these smoothly ground holes in the
rock, usually found in limestone, are located throughout the Big Bend. Some of
these have been used so continuously that the holes are a foot or more deep. In certain
places, pictographs of Indian hands and various drawings can found in the general vicinity
of camps containing large quantities of Metates. Arrowheads and other traces of
Indian existence can be located in the Big Bend. However, these are
NOT collectables and are protected under the antiquities act...collection or
possession of artifacts can bring you a stiff fine and jail time.
The Indians found medicinal uses for the harsh desert vegetation as well. For
more information on this and other pertinent information, please refer to the Plants & Cacti page of the Big Bend.
The Indians believed that after the Great Spirit had created the earth, placed the
stars in the heavens, fish in the sea, and the birds in the sky that there was a large
pile of unused materials left over. These he threw all together and created the Big
Bend.
- Spanish
Exploration
- As the Europeans were conquering the America's and Mexico, an expedition headed by Pamfíllo Narvaez, landed in Florida. Against advice
from their superiors, the party separated awaiting ships that never came. In an
attempt to reach the west coast of Mexico they made rafts from available trees, killed all
their horses and tried to create water flasks from the skin of the horse's legs, and using
the shirts off their backs, made sails. Many died on this voyage from exposure and
other elements. They landed near present day Galveston Island. The coastal
Indians saved them after their perilous journey and then enslaved them.
One man among them, Cabeza de Vaca, became a trader amongst
the Indians and in so doing learned that the Indians farther in the interior were not as
savage as their coastal counterparts. He escaped on foot with two other members of
his original party. In December of 1535, Cabeza de Vaca, crossed the Big Bend and
reached Presidio. In 1536, he was rescued close to the west coast of Mexico by a
Spanish raiding party. Along the way he kept journals and reports describing the
land, it's occupants, and his own personal experiences.
The Spaniards, in attempting to subdue the savage Indian tribes of both the
Apaches and the Comanche's, dispatched missionaries and soldiers rather than colonists.
A complicated religion and the inability to adjust to stationary life was something
the Indians were not capable of, as the Spaniards soon discovered.
The Indians maintained a
resistance against settlement by the Spaniards and later by the Americans. For
almost three centuries, little gain of the lands surrounding the Rio Grande was made.
The Indians held a majority of power and helped sketch the history of
this desolate area.
people came to learn about the Big Bend!