Gillett served as sheriff of Brewster County, and operated a ranch in Alpine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Joseph Daniel Jackson came to the area in as part of Company B of the Texas Rangers assigned to protect the railroad. By , he had settled near Alpine and taken up ranching, branching out later to merchant and civic leader. Jackson is known locally as the father of Sul Ross University due to his efforts that helped lead to the establishment of the school.
Sul Ross University, named for Texas Governor Lawrence Sullivan Ross, was created by an act of the 35th Legislature in as a state normal college to train teachers.
The population grew from in to 5, in due for the most part to industries that relied on natural resources. From the turn of the 20th century through World War II, the Terlingua Mining District was a boom town due to the extraction of cinnabar, a mercury ore, in the Chisos Mountains. Silver and lead from mines on the Mexican side of the river in the Boquillas area were shipped north, as were candelilla wax produced at factories at Glenn Spring and Mariscal and the guayule rubber from a factory in Marathon.
Brewster County became targeted by incursions of bandits from Mexico, due at least in part to Pancho Villa. In June , Governor James E. The request was denied by Maj. Frederick Funston, who believed such security was a state issue. Although a number of events took place to effect policy change, the tipping point was the May 5, , raid at Glenn Spring. Only nine soldiers had been stationed in the area for protection against the bandits. Estimates vary as to the number of Mexican raiders who attacked the soldiers, from 60 to several hundred.
The raid caused a larger military presence in the area. President Wilson mobilized the National Guard to reinforce the Army, and by the end of , an estimated , guardsmen were stationed along the border from California to Texas.
As the mines and wax factories played out after World War I, raiders from across the border abated. During the influenza epidemic , an African American nurse Viola Pettus living in the border area of Brewster County became legendary for her courageous and selfless treatment of anyone with the disease — including raiders and refugees from Mexico, and local members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Big Bend National Park was established as a state park in by the state legislature, and expanded the same year by Governor Miriam A. In , the United States Congress passed legislation founding it as a national park. Big Bend opened to the public in Big Bend Ranch State Park opened to the public in ; at , acres 1, km 2 , it is the largest state park in Texas. Fellow columnist Wick Fowler joined in the fun and became a charter member.
Allen Smith in and has become a November tradition, celebrated across the state and nation. According to the U. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 6, square miles 16, km 2 , of which 6, square miles 16, km 2 is land and 8. It is the largest county in Texas by area. Several towns sprang up along the rails, the most significant of which were Alpine, then called Murphyville, and Marathon.
These two quickly became shipping points and important supply centers for the booming cattle industry. Five years after the coming of the railroad, in , Brewster County was marked off from Presidio County, as were Jeff Davis, Buchel, and Foley counties.
Brewster County was named for Henry P. Brewster , secretary of war under David G. Buchel and Foley counties were not organized and were attached to Brewster County for judicial purposes.
The first Brewster County elections were held on February 4, , when Murphyville was selected as county seat; on March 14 of that year a contract was let for the construction of the Brewster County courthouse and jail.
In Brewster County had just residents, while Buchel and Foley counties had only and 25 residents respectively. By Buchel and Foley counties had still not been organized, and in that year their territory was officially added to that of Brewster County, making the latter the largest county in Texas.
About this time the mercury-mining industry exploded in southern Brewster County. Scattered agricultural communities had existed for years on both sides of the Rio Grande, but had been largely ignored by the county government in Alpine, due to their isolated position and relatively small and heavily Hispanic populations. In , however, a Presidio merchant named Ignatz Kleinman made the first significant discovery of mercury in the Big Bend, setting off a mining boom that made the Terlingua Mining District one of the leading sources of mercury in the nation in the first half of the twentieth century.
The dominant personality in the development of mercury mining in Brewster County was Chicago shoe manufacturer Howard E. Perry, whom the local Mexican Americans punningly nicknamed "El Perrito" the little dog for his tenacity. Perry built his Chisos Mining Company, established in , into one of the largest mercury mines in the nation; by , it was supplying 20 percent of the mercury in the United States.
The population of Brewster County increased more than percent between and The rise from in to 2, in was due in part to the addition of Buchel and Foley counties, but between and the population more than doubled, to 5, This increase resulted largely from the development of mercury mining and other industries that exploited natural resources. Southern Brewster County became an important source of wealth for the northern rail towns from which various products were shipped.
Mercury mined at Terlingua and on Mariscal Mountain was shipped north, as was the silver and lead from mines on the Mexican side of the river in the Boquillas area, the candelilla wax produced at factories at Glenn Spring and Mariscal, and the guayule rubber from a factory in Marathon.
By the residents of Alpine decided that their town deserved to be the site of a summer normal institute; this school eventually grew into Sul Ross State University. The isolated position of many of the mining and industrial settlements that grew up in southern Brewster County made them tempting targets for raiders from Mexico, especially during the turbulent early years of the Mexican Revolution.
As early as the spring of , J. Langford, who owned a resort at Hot Springs, on the Rio Grande, was asking for military protection from bandits from across the river. In response to such needs, troops were stationed at several locations in the Big Bend. The mere presence of a handful of troops, however, did not eliminate the threat.
Perhaps the most famous incursion from across the Rio Grande was the Glenn Spring Raid of May 5, , in which bandits overwhelmed nine cavalrymen posted at Glenn Spring to protect against just such an event.
After World War I raiders from Mexico became less of a problem, at least in part because many of the mines and wax factories that had tempted them were played out. The population of Brewster County dropped from 5, to 4, between and Cattle ranching remained an important local industry, however, and the Highland Hereford Breeders Association was organized in to promote the cattle ranched in Brewster and Jeff Davis counties. Brewster County ranchers had 99, cattle in , all but of them beef cattle.
In and the number of cattle dropped to 59, and 57, respectively, but by had climbed back to 91, The rise was paralleled by an increase in the number of people, from 4, in to 6, in In the s, however, the local cattle industry was hit hard by depression and drought, and the population of Brewster County dropped from 6, to 6, Despite the efforts of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, most Big Bend ranchers were forced to shoot their stock because they could neither feed nor move them, and the number of cattle dropped from 91, to 39, by the end of the decade.
By many local cattlemen had given up ranching and moved away, and much of their land eventually ended up in Big Bend National Park. On October 27, , Governor Miriam A. Ferguson signed legislation establishing a greatly expanded Big Bend State Park. The camp, eighty-five miles from the nearest town, was the temporary home of more than laborers, mostly Hispanic.
Notify me of new posts via email. Retired journalist, editor and foreign correspondent -- and a touring cyclist since The original purpose of this blog was to chronicle a cross-country bicycle trip that began Sept. Augustine, Fla. To see an account of that journey, go to the "Archives" column below, click on "September " and view posts beginning on Sept.
Previous posts are about preparations for the trip. Now that that journey is finished, this blog continues to offer musings on bicycling, books, writers, Americana, Texana, travels, trivia and other stuff that pops into my head. Enter your e-mail address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Email Address:. Sign me up! Jim's Bike Blog. Skip to content. Like this: Like Loading October 14, at pm. Carpe Diem! October 15, at pm.
October 24, at pm. Bob Torres. January 2, at pm. I belive that Karl Rove was in your area, hunting this week. Did everyone run for cover? Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:.
Email required Address never made public. Name required. Jim Peipert Retired journalist, editor and foreign correspondent -- and a touring cyclist since Subscribe to this blog Enter your e-mail address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
0コメント