November is not the best time for camping in most states, but Big Bend National Park in Texas is an exception. The weather was excellent. Last November was my second visit to the park, but I’m always amazed at how diverse the area is. The Rio Grande forms its most distinctive boundary for 118 miles. At Santa Elena Canyon the river cuts through solid rock and creates walls that rise to 1,500 feet and a dizzying opportunity to follow a trail along the northern wall.
A trip through the vast park offers spectacular desert flats, mesas that rise above it all, as well as the Chisos Mountains, thickly forested, with winding roads and the potential for bear sightings. A hotel, restaurant, and visitor center are quite popular there as well. The park has a wide variety of trails where one can glimpse some of the 1,200 plant species, including 60 cactus species, as well as 450 species of birds found there.
While Big Bend National Park is not the most visited in the states, there were plenty of visitors there. Visitor centers throughout the park offer videos and educational exhibits to explain how it was formed and the animals that live there. There is also a fossil exhibit that shows remains of sharks, dinosaurs, and other early life found in the park.
One thing that always intrigues me are the books at visitor centers about early settlers. On this trip, I purchased Big Bend: A Homesteader’s Story, written by J. O. Langford with the assistance of Fred Gipson, the author of Old Yeller. In 1909, Langford, a chronically ill thirty-one year old man, purchased a homestead, sight unseen, that hosted a curative spring located at the big bend of the Rio Grande. Langford, desperate for a cure, saw the purchase as a way to gain back his health.
While this area had a long history of habitation by Indian and Hispanic residents, due to the rugged nature of the area, Langdon and his family were the first white people to establish a home there on a long-term basis. In the book, we learn his wife, Bessie, didn’t hesitate to accompany him in this endeavor, and his little girl, Lovie, is a constant source of joy and companionship through all the challenges they encounter.
Of course there are the issues of whose land this was in the first place. Langford discovered upon his arrival that there was a family of Spanish descent “squatting” there. When Enrique, who he had hired to transport his family there, introduces him to the family, Langdon concludes, “Here I was, a stranger, with a mere piece of paper, considering whether or not I should allow a family to live on land that had probably been their home for generations,” so he decides to let them stay and pay rent. As it turns out, this family is important in helping Langdon and his family get established there.
While offering the spring for vacationers and those seeking a cure, Langdon also takes on other roles, such as teaching at a school in a neighboring community. His account tells the story of the long established communities there and how his family came to be a part of that.
History is messy and intriguing. Reading about that history from different perspectives challenges us to think more fully about how life within our country, and in this case a national park, evolved. The land we own as a nation and are fortunate to enjoy today is a history lesson within itself. Books like Langdon’s Big Bend: A Homesteader’s Story give us a glimpse of that. Big Bend National Park’s visitor centers, trails, and many historical sites tell that story too.
Karen T Miller 