Daniels Farm House | |
Nearest city | Rio Grande Village, Texas |
---|---|
Coordinates | 29°11′8″N102°58′18″W / 29.18556°N 102.97167°W |
Area | 0.2 acres (0.081 ha) |
Built | 1918 |
Built by | John O. Wedlin, John R. Daniels |
NRHP reference No. | 89001627 [1] |
Added to NRHP | October 20, 1989 |
The Daniels Farm House represents one of the last vestiges of West Texas pioneer farming in Big Bend National Park, Texas. Most of the small-scale farms in the Big Bend area quickly fell into ruin after the park was established in 1944. Larger-scale ranch structures survived in greater numbers, but the small-scale irrigated bottomland farms have not. The farm is located next to the Rio Grande.
The original landowner was Jesus Estrada, who sold the land to John O. Wedlin, a Swedish immigrant. Wedlin, who had farmed wheat in Kansas, leveled the fields, installing a pump-powered irrigation system, establishing one of the first such farms in the area. Wedlin also built the house now known as the Daniels Farm House as a storage shed for farm equipment. Wedlin lived about a mile away, raising wheat for eight years. He sold the farm to cattleman Joe M. Graham of Del Rio, Texas in 1926. Graham, who owned the Lou Buttrill Ranch in the northern Big Bend, used the grain from the Daniels operation to feed his cattle, turning them out in the fields in winter. The Grahams expanded the operation, but sold the northern 200 acres (81 ha) of the property to John R. Daniels and Mary Coe Daniels of Presidio in 1937. The Daniels moved into the former storage shed, using it as their residence and adding a room to house a small store that catered to local residents in the Boquillas community. Daniels converted about 100 acres (40 ha) to cotton. When the park was established in 1944, the Daniels moved away. [2]
The house is a two-room adobe building, about 44 feet (13 m) by 15 feet (4.6 m). The house was roofed with cane latillas over aspen log vigas in a style traditional to the area. The house's surroundings retain traces of the irrigated farm environment and possess good historical integrity. [2]
A small portion of the Daniels Farm comprising the house and its immediate surroundings is incorporated in the National Register of Historic Places listing, established on October 20, 1989. Much of the immediate area has been incorporated into the National Park Service's Rio Grande Village, otherwise known as Boquillas. [1] [2]
Brewster County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in West Texas and its county seat is Alpine. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region, and borders Mexico. Brewster County is the largest county by area in the state - at 6,192 square miles (16,040 km2) it is over three times the size of the state of Delaware, and more than 500 square miles (1,300 km2) bigger than Connecticut.
Big Bend National Park is an American national park located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States, and was named after a large bend in the Rio Grande/Río Bravo. The park protects more than 1,200 species of plants, more than 450 species of birds, 56 species of reptiles, and 75 species of mammals. Additional park activities include scenic drives, programs led by Big Bend park rangers, and stargazing.
Boquillas del Carmen, frequently known simply as Boquillas, is a village in northern Mexico on the banks of the Rio Grande. It is the northernmost populated place in the municipality of Ocampo, which lies within the Mexican state of Coahuila.
The Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River is a U.S. National Wild and Scenic River that protects 260 miles (420 km) of the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Texas, in the United States. The designation was first applied in 1968 to a 55.7-mile (89.6 km) stretch of the river in New Mexico; an additional 191.2 miles (307.7 km) of the river in Texas was added in 1978, followed by another 12.5 miles (20.1 km) in New Mexico in 1994.
Boquillas or Boquilla or variant, may refer to:
Boquillas was a small settlement in Texas, United States, located on the northern banks of the Rio Grande. It was located within Brewster County, five miles (8 km) northeast of San Vicente. The place existed to service the mining operations at Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande.
The Rio Grande Ranch Headquarters Historic District is a historic one-story residence located 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Okay in Wagoner County, Oklahoma. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places September 9, 1992. The site's Period of Significance is 1910 to 1935, and it qualified for listing under NRHP criteria A and C.
Lajitas is an unincorporated community in Brewster County, Texas, United States, near the Big Bend National Park. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 75 in 2010.
The Buckner Homestead Historic District, near Stehekin, Washington in Lake Chelan National Recreation Area incorporates a group of structures relating to the theme of early settlement in the Lake Chelan area. Representing a time period of over six decades, from 1889 to the 1950s, the district comprises 15 buildings, landscape structures and ruins, and over 50 acres (200,000 m2) of land planted in orchard and criss-crossed by hand-dug irrigation ditches. The oldest building on the farm is a cabin built in 1889. The Buckner family bought the farm in 1910 and remained there until 1970, when the property was sold to the National Park Service. The Buckner Cabin was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The rest of the Buckner farm became a historic district in 1989. Today, the National Park Service maintains the Buckner homestead and farm as an interpretive center to give visitors a glimpse at pioneer farm life in the Stehekin Valley.
Glenn Springs is an uninhabited place in the state of Texas, United States, which is of historical importance. The Glenn Springs area was a natural spring providing water for Apache and Kiowa routing the Grand Indian Crossing passage at Boquillas. The Comanche tribes beseech the fresh water crossing on the Comanche Trail during their equine incursions from and to the Mexican Plateau, Sierra Madre Oriental, and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt regions of Mexico.
Milton Faver was a pioneering cattle rancher in Presidio County, Texas, the preeminent cattle baron of the Big Bend in the nineteenth century, and one of the most important individual contributors to Big Bend history. Also known in his time by the honorary title, don Melitón, he founded Cibolo Creek Ranch halfway between Marfa and Presidio, Texas in 1857. He was one of the earliest Texas trail drivers, driving his cattle to market in New Orleans in the 1850s and to other markets later. Although his birthplace is not known with certainty, he was most likely born and raised in Missouri around 1822. Local lore contends that, while in his teens, he fought a duel and fled south, believing he had killed his opponent.
Castolon, also known as La Harmonia Ranch and Campo Santa Helena, was a small community in southwestern Texas, United States, located in what is now Big Bend National Park along the Rio Grande. The location was first settled in 1901 by Cipriano Hernandez, who farmed the area and built the original Castolon Store, now known as the Alvino House.
Rancho Estelle was the home of James Sublett, one of the first large-scale farmers in the Rio Grande valley of Texas, within what is now Big Bend National Park. Prior to founding the ranch, Sublett and his partner, Clyde Buttrill, farmed the bottomlands along the river in the area of what is now known as Castolon or La Harmonia, downstream from the later ranch. After the partnership with Buttrill broke up, Sublett bought four sections of land, initially calling it Grand Canyon Farms, and later Rancho Estelle.
The Homer Wilson Ranch, also known as the Blue Creek Ranch, was one of the largest ranches in the early twentieth century in what would become Big Bend National Park in the U.S. state of Texas. The ranch was established by Homer Wilson in 1929 at Oak Springs to the west of the Chisos Mountains. Ultimately comprising 44 sections of land, amounting to more than 28,000 acres (11,000 ha), the Oak Canyon-Blue Creek Ranch was acquired by the State of Texas in 1942 for incorporation into the new park. A large portion of the ranch comprised portions of the old G4 Ranch, established by John and Clarence Gano in the 1880s. Wilson's ranch focused on sheep and goats, the first such large operation in the Big Bend area. Wilson continued to live at the ranch until his death in 1943; his family moved from the ranch the next year. Wilson, born in Del Rio, Texas in 1892, had studied petroleum engineering at the Missouri School of Mines and was a World War I veteran. The ranch, with the headquarters at Oak Springs and its operational center at Blue Creek, was one of the largest in Texas, and the most significant ranch in Big Bend.
Hot Springs, also known as Boquillas Hot Springs, and Langford Hot Springs is a former thermal spring resort in what is now Big Bend National Park in Texas. Hot Springs was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The Comanche Trail, sometimes called the Comanche War Trail or the Comanche Trace, was a travel route in Texas established by the nomadic Comanche nation.
The raid on Glenn Springs occurred on the night of May 5–6, 1916, when Mexican Villistas and Carrancistas attacked the towns of Boquillas and Glenn Springs, Texas. In Glenn Springs, the raiders burned several buildings and fought a three-hour battle with a small force of American soldiers who were stationed there. At the same time, a second party of rebels robbed a general store and a silver mine in Boquillas. Four Americans were killed and the rebels took two hostages to Coahuila. In response to the attack, the United States Army launched a short punitive expedition into Mexico, fought with the rebels, and rescued the captives.
María G. "Chata" Sada was a Mexican-American businesswoman, informal educator and midwife in Boquillas Canyon. Sada ran the last store and restaurant in the Boquillas area, "Chata's Place" between 1901 and 1936. Eventually the land it stood on became part of the Big Bend National Park.
The Elephant Butte Irrigation District is a 6,870 acres (27.8 km2) historic district in New Mexico and Texas which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. The listing included three contributing buildings and 214 contributing structures, in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, Sierra County, New Mexico and El Paso County, Texas.
The Mexico-United States international park, also known as El Carmen Big Bend Complex, is a proposed transboundary protected area straddling the part of the U.S.–Mexico boundary delineated by the Rio Grande. Proposed by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Mexican President Manuel Ávila Camacho in 1944, the goal remains unfulfilled. The proposed bi-national park is along a 268 mile stretch of the river, which is approximately 14% of the border between Mexico and the United States. It consists of 3 protected areas and parks in Texas and 4 in Mexico, which include Big Bend National Park, the Maderas del Carmen, Ocampo, and Cañón de Santa Elena flora and fauna protection areas, Monumento Río Bravo del Norte, Big Bend Ranch State Park, and Black Gap Management Wildlife Area. As it is a region of protected areas and parks, the El Carmen Big Bend Complex area is the habitat for many types of birds, mammals, plants, and insects. Due to this, the area is a prime spot for ecotourism for both the United States and Mexico along the border. Recent issues of increased border security and environmental concerns have emphasized the need for reopening the discussion, which is currently led by organizations such as the National Park Service in Big Bend National Park, the Sierra Club, and Rotary International.