Big Bend National Park history · History of Big Bend National Park
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History of Big Bend National Park
History of Big Bend National Park
Big Bend National Park has an unusually rich history, the effects of which are present everywhere you look. The landscape is living testament: shaped over millions of years by volcanism, erosion, and enormous seismic events, it also still holds untold numbers of dinosaur fossils and sea creatures from when the area was engulfed by an ancient ocean.
Humans have inhabited the park for more than 10,000 years ? first were Native American tribes such as the Chisos, about which little is still known and, more recently, the Comanche and Mescalero Apache; all of whom have left their mark in the form of rock art, mortar holes, and shelters. Mexicans and Anglo settlers would establish a presence later, building homes, farms, ranches and mines (some of which persisted until as recently as the 1960s), of which many ruins can still be found.
Lobbying from locals and other admirers of the area (notably frontiersman Everett Townsend, the "father of the Big Bend National Park") convinced the state of Texas to set aside land for the park in 1933 (originally named "Texas Canyons State Park"). 1944 marks the formal establishment of Big Bend National Park, and it has been slowly growing ever since ? thousand-acre tracts are still being purchased, including the Harte and Fay Ranches in 1989 and 1994. There are tentative plans to integrate the park with its neighbor to the west, Big Bend Ranch State Park, including trails that may connect the two.
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Big Bend National Park Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.