Big Bend Summer Reading (Andre)

Well, believe it or not, before we left on this adventure, it had been a LONG time since I just read a book for pleasure. (Okay, that took some admitting!) Many years actually. Since I did so much work, besides my day job, the reading time I did have was usually given to professional reading – books, articles, and journals to keep me current in the world of education. Certainly I read, and still do, newspapers and magazine for pleasure, but to sit down with a whole book. That did not fit into my former life.

How a change of circumstances can set a new course…….

 For one, we now ‘work’ in a bookstore – the visitor center we staff has a good supply of books on the history, flora, and fauna of Big Bend. Additionally, there is a larger visitor center in the park that has even more books. And, there is a small lending library in the park. Secondly, I no longer have multiple jobs as I did back home, just to volunteer in the park 4 days a week allows for more time for such pleasures. Further, we are in a new world, so wanting to learn about this place has increased the desire to read. And, as you might have caught from previous posts, we don’t have TV here, so even more reason to read!

 What follows are the books that I have read in our 3 months here in Big Bend. As you peruse the list, you might notice a common theme or two. (By the way, the list does not include many pamphlets, guides, field books or other similar materials we have ‘consumed.’)

 

Amon Carter, The Texan Who Played Cowboy For America: This was a great biography of Amon Carter who lived in the first half of the 20^th century and was the publisher and founder of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It tells the story of a person who mixed the newspaper business with his passion of selling West Texas as the best place in the world, certainly better than Dallas. He was instrumental in the establishment of Big Bend and was the person who presented the deed to the park lands to his friend FDR on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

 

Beneath the Window, Early Ranch Life in the Big Bend Country:  This is a first person narrative written by a woman (Patricia Wilson Clothier) who spent the first 14 years of her life living on a ranch in what is now Big bend National Park. She lived here in the 1930s and 40s and recently died. She writes of the joy of growing up in this beautiful, isolated, and at times harsh environment.

 Big Bend, A Homesteader’s Story: This is a first person narrative of J. O. Langford who bought, sight-unseen, several parcels of land in the Big Bend area in 1907 that contained hot springs on the Rio Grande. He purchased the land for his failing health and as a hoped-for source of income for his family. He set out to stake a claim to this land with his pregnant wife and 3 year old daughter and all their belonging loaded in a wagon pulled by two burros! They did okay, established a house, small bathhouse, and lived here for more than 30 years. 

 Big Bend National Park and Vicinity, Images of America: This is a book in the series “Images of America” that tells the story of small towns across the US largely through pictures and local lore. This edition was written by a park historian and chronicles those who lived in the area of Big Bend prior to the establishment of the park in 1944 and how the park has changed over the years.

 Boquillas Crossing: This is a novel written by a local wildland firefighter and yoga instructor – how’s that for a combination. This is a fictional recounting of one man’s journey to the Big Bend area in the 1920s to work in the a local mercury mine who gets entangled in the Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa, the US Army, and eventually falls in love and marries a woman from Boquillas, Mexico.

 Empire of the Summer Moon: This was a highly recommended book on the history of the Commanches as well as a great source of insight into the often bloody and violent collision between the Commanches and first the Spanish and then Anglos pushing south and west into Commancheria – the land of the Commanches, basically southwestern Texas to Oklahoma and west into Colorado. The Commanches are described in the book as one of the most violent tribes of native Americans – one that defeated the Apaches and Spanish and took until the late 1800s for the US to ‘tame.’ The Commanche War trail which was used to raid the Mexican lands south of the Rio Grande each September goes directly through Big Bend National Park.

 I’ll Gather My Geese: This is another first person narrative of life in the Big Bend area prior to the establishment of the National Park. The author, Hallie Stillwell, is somewhat of a legend in West Texas as a frontier woman who wore pants, killed animals, and worked as a cowboy on the ranch she and her husband ran just north of the Rio Grande and just east of the park. At 20 years of age in 1918 she married her 40 year old husband and moved from the small town of Alpine, Texas to a ranch that still bears her name. Hallie died in 1997 at the age of 100. In the book she reflects on the challenges and wonders of living in this part of the world.

 The Naturalist’s Big Bend: This is a short overview of the plants, animals, insects, reptiles, birds, geology, and all things that combine to make Big Bend National Park. The book describes and discusses the volcanic origins of the area, the many species of wildlife that inhabit the park, and the various ecosystems that comprise Big Bend.

The Story of Big Bend: This is a history of the Big Bend area and how Big Bend became a national park. The short story is that by the 1930s Texas still did not have a national park and people in the surrounding towns (Alpine, Marathon, Sanderson, Study Butte, etc.) felt that a national park would bring needed economic activity to the area! It also didn’t hurt that there were amazing mountains, deserts, and river valleys to share with America. Nor did it hurt that during the Depression, ranchers who lived in the area that was to become Big Bend National Park were eager, mostly, to sell their land as drought and the dust bowl era had squashed many dreams and hoped-for futures.

As you can gather, I have been immersing myself in learning about Big Bend and the Big Bend area. It has been a fascinating opportunity to go from knowing very little about an area to gaining a working knowledge. Which leads to an interesting question.

Laura and I were walking in a cactus garden at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas a few weeks ago. We were talking about how we could recognize many of the cactus species in the garden even though we could not have named many a few short weeks before. Which led me to thinking, if you did this (consume lots of information and knowledge about a local area) many times, is there a limit to how much a brain can hold? We may spend some time exploring that question!