Hudspeth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,202. Its county seat is Sierra Blanca, and the largest community is Fort Hancock. The county is named for Claude Benton Hudspeth, a state senator and United States Representative from El Paso. It is northeast of the Mexico–U.S. border.
Culberson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,188. The county seat is Van Horn. Culberson County was founded in 1911 and organized the next year. It is named for David B. Culberson, a Confederate soldier and U.S. representative.
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 a national park of the United States 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.
Enchanted Rock is a pink granite mountain located in the Llano Uplift about 17 miles (27 km) north of Fredericksburg, Texas and 24 miles (39 km) south of Llano, Texas, United States. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, which includes Enchanted Rock and surrounding land, spans the border between Gillespie and Llano counties, south of the Llano River. Enchanted Rock covers roughly 640 acres (260 ha) and rises around 425 feet (130 m) above the surrounding terrain to an elevation of 1,825 feet (556 m) above sea level. It is the largest pink granite monadnock in the United States. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, a part of the Texas state park system, includes 1,644 acres (665 ha). In 1936, the area was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. In 1971, Enchanted Rock was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.
The Chisos Mountains, also known as the Chisos, are a mountain range located in the Big Bend area of the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, United States. The mountain system covers 40 square miles and is contained entirely within the boundaries of Big Bend National Park, making it the only mountain range in the United States fully contained within a national park. The Chisos Mountains are the southernmost mountain range in the mainland United States.
The geography of Texas is diverse and large. Occupying about 7% of the total water and land area of the U.S., it is the second largest state after Alaska, and is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which end in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. Texas is in the South Central United States of America, and is considered to form part of the U.S. South and also part of the U.S. Southwest.
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.
Wallisville is an unincorporated town in northern Chambers County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 460 in 2000. It is located within the Greater Houston metropolitan area.
Salt Flat is a ghost town in northeastern Hudspeth County, Texas, United States. It lies along the concurrent U.S. Routes 62 and 180, north of the Census-designated place (CDP) of Sierra Blanca, the county seat of Hudspeth County. Its elevation is 3,730 feet (1,137 m). Although Salt Flat is unincorporated, it has a ZIP Code of 79847. The headquarters of the nearby Guadalupe Mountains National Park uses this ZIP Code, although it is located closer to Pine Springs, which has no post office.
Cherry Spring is an unincorporated farming and ranching community established in 1852 in Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located on Cherry Spring Creek, which runs from north of Fredericksburg to Llano. The creek was also sometimes known as Cherry Springs Creek by residents. The community is located on the old Pinta Trail. The Cherry Spring School was added to the National Register of Historic Places Listings in Gillespie County, Texas on May 6, 2005. The school was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1985.
Crabapple is an unincorporated farming and ranching community 10.5 miles (16.9 km) north of Fredericksburg in Gillespie County, Texas, United States, located on Crabapple Creek, about halfway between Fredericksburg and Enchanted Rock State Park at an elevation of 1,775 feet. Crabapple School was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1994, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in Texas on May 6, 2005.
Morris Ranch is a ghost town, located 8.5 miles (13.7 km) southwest of Fredericksburg in Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. The area was begun as a thoroughbred horse ranch by New Yorker Francis Morris in 1856, and the town grew up around it. In 1962, the school district was merged with Fredericksburg Independent School District, and the Morris Ranch School ceased operations. The Morris Ranch Schoolhouse was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1980, and added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Texas, on March 29, 1983.
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.
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 and their Kiowa and Kiowa Apache allies. Although called a "trail," the Comanche Trail was actually a network of parallel and branching trails, always running from one source of good water to another. The trail was especially important from the 1830s to 1850s when the Comanche launched large scale raids from Texas into Mexico. Hundreds of warriors annually followed the trail southward in fall and returned with their booty, mostly livestock, in late winter or spring.
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.
Comanche Springs was an aquifer of six artesian springs geographically located between the Edwards Plateau and the Trans-Pecos regions of West Texas. The military fortification Camp Stockton was built around the springs, eventually growing become the city of Fort Stockton.
San Vicente was a village located in Brewster County, Texas, United States, within the protruding big bend of the Rio Grande. The village was geographically 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of the San Vicente Crossing in present-day Big Bend National Park. The uninhabited site provides a panoramic view of the Chisos Mountains and the Sierra San Vicente migrating into Northern Mexico.
