The Big Bend of the Rio Grande, A Guide to the Rocks, Landscape, Geologic History, and Settlers of the Area of Big Bend

Written by the first superintendent of Big Bend National Park, Ross Maxwell, this book is a comprehensive guide to all aspects of the park, especially the area's geology and natural history. It includes a large, geologic color map, numerous photographs, a bibliography, a glossary, and an index to specific topics about or areas within the park. It's an essential resource for all Park visitors.

"According to legend, when the Great Creator made the earth and had finished placing the stars in the sky, the birds in the air, and the fish in the sea, there was a large pile of rejected stony materials left over. finished with His job, He threw this into one heap and made the Big Bend.

The rocks are strangely mixed up, most of the strata are lopsided or standing on end, and some of the mountains are turned upside down and piled where they do not appear to fit. Along the Rio Grande are deep, yawning canyons and above them are mountain peaks that rise above the flats like giant sentinels. The Chisos Mountains, with their ghost-like peaks, guard the northern approach to the river, and the Sierra del Carmen range, overlooking the southern bank, rises as a sheer wall to heights that dwarf the Palisades of the Hudson.

Mexicans and Anglo-Saxons both have taken part in settling the area. In the early days large herds of cattle moved about on a free range, dependent upon the location of grass and water; herds were driven in both directions across the Rio Grande without regulations imposed by either government. The big adventures in the settling of this vast frontier area are over, but history here is only yesterday and is close enough to intrigue both tourists and local inhabitants. It was the idea of preserving the area with its unique traditions that led to the proposal in 1935 to set aside as a National Park the southern portion of the Big Bend country"

For a guide to Big Bend Ranch State Park, please see GB0027.

Citation:
Maxwell, R. A., 1968, The Big Bend of the Rio Grande: A Guide to the Rocks, Landscape, Geologic History, and Settlers of the Area of Big Bend National Park: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Guidebook 7, 138 p.